Covering poo

[Prokupatuscrakedatus]

All the books and vets tell you that cats cover their poo.

Sev has an oversized litter tray in his own bathroom - I have just seen him poo - by accident, I am not a poo watcher:
He steps on the rim of the tray, does his business, and then carefully touches the box sides next to him with his paw moving it ever so slightly. DD tells me he always does this.
Now I wonder - is covering genetic or learned behaviour? He was with his mother until he was three months old.

its learned behaviour, but three months is plenty old enough to have learned from mum. are you using the same type of litter as was used when he was with his mum? do you know if mum had any problems in this area? if she was orphaned early she may never have learned herself. Is he showing any other signs that he might be a slower learner?

Thank you for you anwer - he does not mind what quality or type of litter he uses (He has been with us since 2015.)
But: His mother was a pregnant rescue and Sev has other 'quirks' - so perhaps she could not teach him properly, because she did not learn it either?

Well he’s giving it a go at least.

The oldest of mine covered, the younger ones not. When the oldest died (7 years old), the now oldest started covering.

Could be about dominance or look at me, since mine do it differently when outside?

I don't know, but not abnormal .

Generally cats cover unless there's a turf war going on.

Leroy spends fucking ages scratching at the sides of the tray, the wall, the floor, the toilet (tray is next to toilet), but not the actual litter. Which would work. 🤦🏼‍♀️

It very much looks like:
Yes, human, I know I am supposed to cover it, but - eeugh-, you do it!

We have two from the same litter, girl cat always covers hers but boy cat doesn't. He'll scratch the walls of the tray for ages but not the litter. Sometimes his sister then comes along and covers it for him!

Now that sounds almost too human ....

mine hovers with one paw and swipes madly at the floor with the other. he’s a rescue, had him since he was 5 months and he’s always been a bit special, bless him. he is glorious, tho.

Sev is / was a tom, too - a male problem?

Yes, affects all species imo.

Fatty & Snorg who we're both badly treated covered theirs. Cheddar who was loved scrapes the side of the tray instead. She produces the biggest and smelliest poos I've ever known from a cat!

Mine covers it up if outside but scratches the walls of the covered tray or the kitchen floor if inside.

Weirdly she then does a victory lap around wherever she is in the house or garden at 100mph. Most bizarre! I don’t think she is in pain. It’s like she’s sat still for half a minute dumping and needs to make up for lost gambolling time!

Sev sings a little victory song.
At first I thought he was in pain and took him to be checked. But no, it is just his way.

Ours have a covered tray and delight in scraping the sides (in a schreech screech like Norman Bates at your shower curtain) to alert us . They don't manage to get any of the litter anywhere near theor deposit though.

"CatSlave , I have dumped and as it niffs a tad, I'd appreciate if you'd lift it . Now . "

They have a garden and microchip cat door but will come indoors to pooh, then saunter out again

Our damn fool cat wees in the litter tray, poos in the bath and still does the scratching at the clearly hard and immoveable surface afterwards (have learnt to keep 1cm of water in the bath now so that's stopped it). Just bought a different litter -world's best - and she seems a bit happier to do no 2 in it than the old wood pellets.

It’s his way of telling you to jump to it!.

Ours hated wood pellets too.

I have 4 cats and only one bothers to cover it in a litter tray. Even out in the garden they don't cover it which makes it easy for me to scoop and bin it

Anyone else's cat wait for them to come home, before using the litter tray. cheddar will have a poo after breakfast.(typically just after I've scooped). If I've been out for a while she no longer greets me, she goes straight into the litter tray.

Ollie won't go outside even for a wee. If he needs one he comes back in. Covers by sitting outside his tray and daintily scraping the litter over

Leroy demands my full attention when he is using "the little cat's room". I love him with all my heart and soul, but I don't really want to have to watch him take a dump.

But then he’d have to wait for his tray to be clean again.

Jacky has taken to using his tray while i am using the loo. an uneasy eye-contact is maintained. it’s very unsettling.

I thought scraping the sides of the box was a weird Cheddar thing. I'm glad that it's seems fairly common behaviour. She really does make a song and dance about it. Can here her all over the house. But then again she is a very noisy cat!

Our darling cat scrapes the roof and sides of the tray too but never the litter itself.
She used to come back in to poop then just suddenly stopped we kept the tray though because we generally keep her in at night but she hadn’t used it for months until it got colder and she wouldn’t dare take her poor little bottom outside in the frost. I found out she’d used it again when the dog told me by sticking her head and and clearing out the poop for me 🤢