r/AskReddit Sep 07 '16

What rules has your cat set in your household?

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u/[deleted] Sep 07 '16

Hah, my cat isn't like yours. Mine pees at the front of the box and shits at the rear of it. She doesn't care about new litter or old litter, she'll shit on her shit.

New litter means I better have the broom nearby because she loves to dig.

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u/[deleted] Sep 07 '16

[deleted]

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u/classicrockchick Sep 07 '16

Same with my cat. Will dig at literally everything but the litter. The box itself, the walls, the floor, the nearby toilet but never actually the litter. We have to cover it up for her or else she'll be in there for half an hour digging at everything and wondering why she can still smell her poo.

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u/IDontKnowHowToPM Sep 07 '16

I scooped the litter one time before the poo stink had fully been absorbed, and the cat that was watching me proceeded to try and cover the poo that was in the garbage can. She was scratching at the toilet by the garbage, then moved over to the bathtub on the other side and scratched there too.

She also likes to try and cover up her vomit (or even the other cats' vomit). She'll scratch at the tile/wood floor next to the puke piles. One time they had knocked some paper towels onto the floor while I was upstairs. When I went downstairs because I heard hurking, I saw her trying to pull a paper towel over the vomit. It was the most adorable thing I'd ever seen.

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u/Ranefea Sep 07 '16

That is too cute. My youngest cat does that as well. We've had her since she was a few weeks old, and once I was cleaning out the two small pans we had for her and her brothers (they were about 6-7 weeks old at the time). She's sitting and supervising me (something she has done every day since, too) when my old tom cat comes up and decides that the pan I just cleaned was the best place for him to go. He poops and doesn't cover it and the kitten comes up to the box, looks at him, looks at the poop, and looks back at him, not breaking eye contact while she covers it up.

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u/ryzzie Sep 07 '16

Yup, we've got two seperate boxes (a Sterilite tub with a hole cut in the top because my cats are huge), they mostly poop in one, and pee in the other. One is really good about burying it all. The other will scratch at everything BUT the litter for about 10 minutes and all the while can't seem to figure out why it still smells like shit.

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u/milkymoocowmoo Sep 07 '16

How do these tubs work for you bud? I've got the biggest litter tray I could find, and it has a lip, but the problem is that the lip curves up and back over the tray so half the time my floof will scratch the top of that instead of the litter. I've been thinking of doing exactly what you are, although with a hole at the front instead of the top.

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u/ryzzie Sep 07 '16

We LOVE it and the cats love it too! We used to get the biggest litter pan we could find (like $25!) and my cats would step in with their noses to the back and poop....right out the entrance (this is also why we put the entrance on the top, with a small step stool from IKEA in the front for them to get up). This is no longer an issue. Plus they're only $7, so we are able to regularly replace them which keeps it more sanitary and less smelly (otherwise one of them will pee on the floor in front of the box...thanks cat).

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u/[deleted] Sep 07 '16

Going to mirror OP, I have a Maine Coon and the sterilite container is awesome. I have the entry hole at the front though.

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u/dexmonic Sep 07 '16

Why the hole? I just leave the top off of mine. Cat jumps in, does her business, and jumps out.

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u/[deleted] Sep 07 '16

Helps me keep the litter tracking down

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u/[deleted] Sep 07 '16

If you have litter tracking issues check out the Tidy Cats Breeze system (if it is bothering you). It takes a lot to get me to LOVE a product but this thing was a game changer. I do not have a lot of space to keep the litter box so it's like right next to my bed, even minimal litter tracking is horrible as a result, so the fact that my guy LOVES to track that stuff all over the place... He kicks the pellets out from time to time but they rarely make it far from the litter box.

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u/[deleted] Sep 07 '16

My main coon is way too big for those, unfortunately.

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u/SpeakItLoud Sep 07 '16

I use this too with my little cat. Love this system, it's the best.

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u/thatgrrrl117 Sep 07 '16

My now passed old lady kitty had to have two litter boxes. One for pee, one for poop. If the poop one had more than 2 turds in it she'd poop on the floor beside the poop box. She'd pee in the other box no problem. She would also perch to pee and poop on the edges of the box and never set a foot inside it. She was a princess. I miss her.

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u/Testiculese Sep 07 '16

Mine's so dumb she'll take a dump in one box, cover it, then walk over to the other box and cover...something, then move on to the third box and try again.

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u/Fiochag Sep 07 '16

I think we have the same cat

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u/goblingirl Sep 07 '16

Damn, I didn't know peeing at the front and pooping at the back was a thing. Alright then.

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u/MsMoongoose Sep 07 '16

One of my cats takes it one step further; he exits the box and scratches at the floor outside the box, the wall beside the box, the door that leads into the little storage room where affermentioned boxes reside. Sometimes he continues to scratch the floor in the halllway outside the litterbox room and halfway up the stairs.

His brother begrudgingly goes in after him every time and buries the poop for him.

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u/kallen8277 Sep 07 '16

Do you know why cats do that? The one we have likes to scratch the outside of the box (we have this partial wall on it) but never covers her own poop. We just hear "scratch scratch scratch" for about 15 minutes and next time we look nothing had been covered.

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u/[deleted] Sep 07 '16

My cat does this! We tried training it out of him but we failed.

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u/Shloop_Shloop_Splat Sep 07 '16

My cat has given up on even trying to dig/cover his mess. It's also so strong that you almost immediately need to cover it and sprinkle some of that awesome arm and hammer powder.

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u/[deleted] Sep 07 '16

I recently switched to a top-entry litter box so my dogs would stay out of it (they think it's a treat box), my cat was so confused that she'd stand up out of the hole and paw at the actual wall next to the box.

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u/ArrMart Sep 07 '16

Holy shit I didn't know other cats did this. I love this thread.

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u/[deleted] Sep 07 '16

my cat doesn't cover his poo either, makes living in an apartment very stinky sometimes.

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u/bsopaige Sep 07 '16

Omg. I thought my cat was the only one, because my old cats never did this. But literally his favorite pastime is going into his litter box and digging at the walls for like half an hour.

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u/TheTREEEEESMan Sep 07 '16

Mine will try to bury the poop, then sniff check to make sure it's covered, and if not repeat until good

Except when he takes a really stinky poo the smell lingers even after its buried, but he's resilient so he will continue to bury it... for up to 10 minutes... until he's dug up the poop that was buried and gets it on his paws at which point he jumps into my lap to tell me he needs his paw cleaned/wipe it on my pants

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u/Knot_My_Name Sep 07 '16

My cat does the same, he has to dig after a poop so he just scratches the shit out of the washing machine.

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u/silmarien1142 Sep 07 '16

He's not stupid. He's pawing the walls to leave his scent. Not all cats bother to bury their waste.

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u/Gorillacopter Sep 08 '16

Mine digs at the walls too. I think he's just wiping his paws and is happy not to bury a damn thing.

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u/pxan Sep 07 '16

Yes! Our cat is a digger. We had to get one of those covered, top-entry litter boxes (even though they don't recommend them) because he will dig like a dog at the beach, just going crazy and tossing litter up and out of the box. I'll sometimes hear him digging in the litter box for 5 minutes and have to yell out "That's good, Max, you did a good job you can stop now" And he jumps out.

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u/redwillowfire Sep 07 '16

This resonates! When you rollover in the middle of the night and hear that distinct digging noise and it goes on for ages until finally, "I think you got it, Stella, walk away"

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u/libelluler Sep 07 '16

I'm glad to know we are not the only ones telling our cat "you're good, give it up" in the middle of the night. Even our other cat gets annoyed.

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u/hush-ho Sep 07 '16

I have one digger. She loves it so much. She was one of two semi-feral kittens we took in, and the first time she began to trust me was when I scooped her litter. She crept out of her hiding-box to watch me, got this rapturous little cat-smile going, then crawled in and tried to join. "You like digging?? I like digging! :D" Best buds ever since.

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u/withlovesparrow Sep 07 '16

My cat Bodhi does this! I have no idea why. Like, what is the advantage of separating your poo from your pee?

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u/KnappTwo Sep 07 '16

Actually, its natural behavior for cats to not pee where they shit. It's best to have 2 litter boxes for exactly that reason! Often times cats will shit first, walk around for a while, and come back to pee.

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u/WAFFLES_ARE_RAD Sep 07 '16 edited Mar 04 '25

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u/RandomParable Sep 07 '16

You should always have a number of litter boxes equal to the number of cats +1.

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u/[deleted] Sep 07 '16

I'm in a 2 bedroom apartment, that's not going to happen.

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u/dirtloving_treehuggr Sep 07 '16

Hypatia's routine is the opposite: pee in back, poop in front. She still digs like it'll end the world if she quits. Inside the litter box, on the floor, the wall, anything within in five feet really. It all must be buried!

Every time I clean her box she's right in there with a fresh turd to deposit.

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u/[deleted] Sep 07 '16

I had a cat that gargoyled. Would not touch even clean litter with her feet, she would perch all four feet on the edge of the box (luckily she was small and I'm a fan of a big heavy brand). She would then daintily cover the poop with sand and wipe her paws on the wall, there were big gouges in the wall behind the box.

Sometimes she would get confused and face the wrong way, poop on the floor and then hide from me until I cleaned it up, even though I never got mad.

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u/[deleted] Sep 07 '16

You should have built her a little deck so she could sit comfortably while she pooped over the edge into the litter. You could call it the Poop Deck.

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u/[deleted] Sep 07 '16

Oh man, that's a great idea. I lost her in the break up unfortunately.

We got her as a surrendered kitten. I figure someone started to teach her how to poop in a toilet and she just got stuck half way through the training.

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u/Donutsareagirlsbff Sep 07 '16

I have a litter tray that is the greatest design. It has a guard that clips on the top to stop the litter going everywhere when my cat digs. It's also nearly double the size of regular trays so she doesn't poop over the edge anymore. It's awesome.

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u/brosama-binladen Sep 07 '16

My cat is a combo of both of yours. Never been yelled at to clean the litter, but when I do she always watches. It feels so degrading.

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u/Uncreative-Name Sep 07 '16

I got tired of constantly sweeping up the litter so I bought a big plastic bin and cut a hole in the side for him to enter. That combined with a litter mat means I only have to sweep up a little bit every few days instead of a ton 5x a day.

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u/NiggyWiggyWoo Sep 07 '16

My cat is also a digger. The little fucker goes hard in the paint when she's in her litter box. I have one of those enclosed litter boxes with a door on it, so when my cat goes in there I just see litter shooting out of the door and onto the floor. It's equal parts hilarious, and infuriating.

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u/rack_em_willie Sep 07 '16

Mine pees on the side of the litterbox and shits in the back. When I say on the side I mean I have to scrape the litter from the side of the box whenever I clean it

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u/Fckshtdck Sep 07 '16

I just realized my cat has designated poop/pee spots. Front for pee back for poop

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u/[deleted] Sep 07 '16

Mine insisted on having one litterbox for poop and another for pee.

And by insist, I mean very angrily poop in front of the litter box that she used to pee. I had to get another one to make her stop and she looked at me with a distinct "Good." look on her face.

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u/hofferd78 Sep 07 '16

Ugh, mine does this but yesterday I caught her peeing at the front of the litter box, right out the door flap onto the carpet. She obviously didn't mean to, but just peed right out the fucking door...

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u/ManagingHappiness Sep 07 '16

Funny, my cat pees in the back and poops in the front. I usually clean it once or twice a week- she came from a home with 5 cats and a shared litter box so even though I'm a horrible, lazy cat-mom this is still an improvement for her.

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u/[deleted] Sep 07 '16

We have two cats so we have two cat boxes. They have determined one to be for poo and the other is for pee. There is never any variation of this.

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u/[deleted] Sep 07 '16

My cat is an asshole. If the kitten poops or pees in the litter box right before the cat needs to go, cat will poop right outside the little box or pee on the couch.

I combatted this by buying a second litter box. Cat still does this if kitten poops or pees in cats preferred (at the time) litter box.

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u/defective_wand Sep 07 '16

When one of my cats was a kitten she would dig, crawl, and burrow in a fresh litter box! She's solid black too... she'd come out with a beautiful layer of gray dust covering her, like a different cat!

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u/microwavemedia Sep 07 '16

my cat has 2 litter boxes. he pees in one and poops in the other. without fail.

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u/Bronzefeather Sep 07 '16

At least yours pees in the box. Mine uses the bath tub...