Weird litter tray dance

[LifeAdvice]

I’m after some advice. I have a 10 month old kitten almost cat. I adopted him from a Shelter at 6 months (vet thinks), and he has been with me for 4 months. He’s an independent, adventurous soul, and right from day one has been itching to see the house, outside, everywhere. With me, he is an indoor cat, and has 2 kitty litter trays, with clumping litter in them.

Life prior to me was a bit chaotic, as far as I know. I think he had several homes in that first 6 months - initial birth home, second home that could afford to keep him, then well meaning people who offered to take him to give the prior owners a break, but when it became clear they didn’t want him back, and these people weren’t set up to keep him and/or didn’t want him, they took him to the Shelter.

I don’t know what his litter type or situation was in any of the homes. He may have even been an outdoor cat (he is not with me). In the Shelter they used in trays with a piece of newspaper on the bottom and a handful (literally a handful) of something that looked wood chippy/recycled waste. However it was clear this was kind of just for ‘show’, the newspaper was for absorption and they cleaned out the tray by binning everything and washing with vinegar within a few mins of the cat soiling it. They were in small cages so this made sense.

When I got him he was fully litter trained from day 1, and has never missed the tray. However, he clearly doesn’t like the clumping litter. He seems to be a bit annoyed at how his feet disappear into it when he gets into the litter tray, then once he has done his business (either type), he stands on the thin high edge of the litter tray walls and proceeds to scratch them (the top of the plastic walls). The scratching is like what I would expect him to do to try and cover his waste, but obviously it has no effect on plastic! After a minute of doing this balancing act and scratching he stops and leaves. Clearly this means his waste is still exposed and not covered (not a problem with urine and clumping litter, but poop is visible. Also no really a problem. I pass the litter tray room every few hours and scoop it up into a litter genie.

Does anyone else’s cat do this weird dance?

I asked a friend’s advice, who said if he is using the litter tray, just let it go. But it just seems so uncomfortable and odd! However I am reluctant to start trying a bunch of different litter types for no reason.

Thoughts, wise cat owners?

Photo tax!

Yes! Cheddar sounds like she's digging to the centre of the Earth. She's actually scraping the sides of her tray. She doesn't bury her poo and omg it stinks. I just cover it over afterwards. I've tried explain to her that she's not actually burying it. But she looked at me like I'd lost my mind.

I think she's just a bit thick, rather than it being a behavioural issue!

Maybe he wants to cover but doesn’t like the feel of the litter?

I use the wood based litter that it sounds like the shelter may have used.
Asda do small bags so you could see if he prefers it.
groceries.asda.com/product/cat-litter-accessories/smart-litter-wood-pellet-litter/910000205700

My cat does this too. She also scrapes at the kitchen walls when she’s finished eating. It can go on for a while!

I suspect it's yet another quirk that our beloved, and incompressible felines do, just to keep
Us on our toes.

We use the wood pellet type litter your shelter did. Enough so there's a thin layer on the bottom of the tray. Our cat will always try and bury her poo, sometimes she manages and other times she just scrapes at the newspaper until she appears satisfied despite poo left uncovered! I think it's normal for cats to do the poo cover dance without actually achieving anything. You might want to try the wood litter though in case yours likes it better and he might manage to cover the poo most of the time (which it sounds like you would prefer).

I had an older cat (male) who never managed to bury his poos.
He used to scrape a mountain and then poi on the top. (?)
Each to their own...
As long as they're not crapping elsewhere I'd go with it.
You might want to look into another type of litter that he finds more comfortable.

My cat does this although to be honest she’s not the sharpest tool in the box. When our other cat joined our family (we rescued him as a stray cat) he would patiently wait until girl cat had finished and would wander into the litter box and cover up the mess for her! I like to think that he thought he needed to earn his keep and impersonate Cinderella. He’s truly settled in now and unfortunately doesn’t bother cleaning up after her any more.
She’s a British Shorthair and we suspect she is of the opinion that her sh*t doesn’t stink……

Thanks everyone.

I’m not bothered by him not covering his business (it smells more, but makes it easier to see when I need to pop in and scoop it out!) it’s more that the cat looks so uncomfortable trying to balance on the edge of the litter tray and scratch afterwards, and I don’t want him to do this uncomfortable dance for no reason! Occasionally he over balances, and a little paw goes into the litter tray (or worse! In the poo!) and then I have little poo footprints on the edge of the litter tray.

Maybe he is trying to shake the fine clumping litter dust off his feet? Although it’s not a shaking, it’s a definite scratching/raking of the plastic sides.

A mystery!

Have you tried a lidded tray that a) means he can't balance on the side and b) may contain the poo smell a bit.

I am writing this at 4am after being woken by my cat downstairs scraping the litter loudly and noisily for what felt like 10 minutes..... why poo in the middle of the night? Cat had a play and has gone back to bed. I'm wide awake now!!

Cheddar gets very offended if I suggest her poo is anything less than fragrant. She's adamant it doesn't smell. I agree that a lidded tray might help. Although he will just scratch the sides of that as well. But he won't overbalance.

Have you tried a lidded tray that a) means he can't balance on the side and b) may contain the poo smell a bit.

Laughs the pitiful laugh that can only come from someone with a lidded litter tray in their bedroom Nothing will contain the poo smell, and the cat that lives in the bedroom uses the litter tray with head out of the flap and two paws on the door frame.

@Kittyshopping

My cat does this too. She also scrapes at the kitchen walls when she’s finished eating. It can go on for a while!

Yep mine does both these things. He's just not very bright, bless him.

Try wood pellet litter or just non clumping.

I would try him with a different kind of litter and see what happens, some cats are a bit fussy about litter and don't like the feel of certain textures on their feet. My cats always scratch around for ages in their box, but I've never seen them try to get on the edge of the tray like you're describing.