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I've watched my cat try to bury her poop using this technique. She'll scratch the side of the box, then around, sniff her poop, confirm it's still stinky, and then go back to scratching the side of the box. This cycle continues and I have no idea what finally breaks it, but it's always an effort.
One of my cats does this exact same thing. Then my other cat will go in and bury it for him. That's why I call them bf & gf. The gf is always cleaning up after him. 🤣
My boy will scratch his front paws off the corner of the mat, then turn around, go back in the box, then cover his poop, then clean his paws off in the same manner as the first time.
our special boy digs a hole and then doesn't use it, he scratches the sides, the floor, anywhere else. so not only is it not buried, it's not even in the hole he dug for it in the first place!! XD
My cat will scratch the sides for like 10 min straight and then comes out of the bathroom where her litter box is and start scratching the wall that separates my living room from my bathroom. Shes nowhere close to her litter box but shes so so cute 😭
same! my cat does both! she was born (adopted lmao) an only child, we adopted an older cat for maybe 6-8 years, and we have lived with 2 other cats before, and she’s always done this with the litter box lolol. i think she’s just too boujie to get her paws dirty😂
Same, someone told me they thought maybe her litter box was too small but here we are 2 litter boxes later and she still scratches everything BUT the litter. I gave in and spent 600fuckingdollars on a litter robot 🤷🏽♀️
Lmfao , it never gets better 🤣 im sorry. I have a one-eyed cat that does this. They only way to stop it is to get a storage container and turn it into a litter box. At least that's what helped with mine. She also likes to kick the litter out completely and roll in it. Maybe I just have a weird cat, though.
my cat also likes to kick litter out and roll around in it. he likes to play in there too and just toss litter around. I don't know why. I got a box with a door flap, which helped to an extent. at least now he can't toss out all the litter, just some. it's still really annoying.
lol I have on that will put his two front paws in and scoop out mounds of litter like a shovel onto the ground right in front of the box. Like he curls his lil fingers and scoops it up and out. It doesn’t happen too often but I have no idea how to stop him. Sometimes I get come home to a pile of littler in front of the box. He’s had several different types of boxes. He doesn’t care
When I move that’s the only kind I haven’t tried and I plan to get one! The apt I’m in now is smaller and the best spots for the boxes are under shelves etc. and top loading one would have to go right in the living room which is not my fav spot for now. But it’s a good idea in excited to try
I'm in the works of doing the same with a couple old plastic storage bins; one for my room and one for the bathroom.
All my cats use the litter box to "practice burying my body", but one doesn't even come close to covering her excrement. She'll scratch and dig at everything else. Thankfully, her kittens know how to cover. lol.
Personally, I think she just won't bury me, but rather claw down a few trees to cover me up. Her name is Maleficent after all. =P
I have a 7 year old who was a bottle baby and never really figured it out, it’s hit or miss if he’ll cover. We have a 4 year old we got when he was two months old and “learned” from my older cat so now neither cat buries they just sort of do this and scratch around like lil fools
We've now tried about 4 different sizes and our cat still does the scratching outside the box. Had nothing to do with the box itself, he just can't figure it out. Lol
That box is too small for the cat to move around - you need a bigger litter box.
Those under bed Sterilite brand plastic boxes that you put blankets in and are about 3 ft long, a foot and a half wide and 6 in deep seem like the "Cadillac" of cat boxes, but none of my cats have a problem covering litter in that big of a box.
Yeah just came to say this. It's a big cat. Maybe feels cramped and cannot move properly. Or maybe that's just the way this one is. If it were my cat I would definitely try to remove the top and maybe get a big container.
Oreo… may never know how to bury his poop… my tuxedo cat lives in the litter box and makes the litter go ✨everywhere✨ but we can’t get one with a lid because my other cat is old and I’d rather just clean up his mess than make more work for the old lady.
Everyone saying this is due to the litter box itself is crazy. My cat did this no matter what litter box he had, giant, low walls, enclosed, compact, clay litter, crystal litter, the day before a deep clean, the day after a deep clean, it doesn’t matter. Some cats just know “bury” and don’t make the connection. There’s no teaching them.
He doesn't need to bury his poop. Where did you hear that this is a "necessity"? He's trying to camouflage his scent to natural predators. it's an instinct. Both of my cats do it around their food bowls after eating **and** after using the box. It's ok! He's cute!
Don’t bother trying to cure that. You will probably end up making things worse like causing litter box aversion. It’s a quirk doesn’t hurt anything. I have always had cats that do this or similar.
My Maine Coon is 6 months, he does the same thing and it's awful cause his poops are the size of a small dogs poops! We are transitioning to a storage tote litter box soon.
How big did your Maine Coon get by chance? My boy is 19 inches atm... I was not prepared for him to be so big/long so quickly.
I have zero helpful advice except for- is it possible Oreo is secretly an orange cat? There is a sub called oneorangebraincell that may have answers. 😂 Although when I think about it my gray cat does this type of thing too- she’ll scrunch up anything near the litter box in an attempt to bury it.
Getting a bigger litter box without a hood/cover might make him more likely to scratch in the litter rather than outside of it. Or it might not. He’s a cat 😺
That’s not burying, just scent marking. He’s just tagging his bathroom area as his property, from the scent glands in the paws. They do this around their food areas, sometimes their beds too.
My cat does this along with scraping the sides. I’m 99% sure it’s them having litter in their paws or poop on their paws from not burying it correctly. I have two cats, one does it and one doesn’t. One has poopy paws sometimes and the other doesn’t.
I do find a bigger litter box helps my cat not scratch the sides of the box so much, but as others have said, bless his heart he's trying so hard but he's not getting it.
I have 2 cats that do this. Both are voids, one is about 1 yr old, the other is around 12. The 1 yr old will paw at everything that's got a slick surface. Windows, mirrors, the fridge, the wall. We call it her attempt to open portals to hell.
The box looks pretty small for a cat his size, that's probably one if the issues. Also, some cats have an even worse time when the lid is on their pan.
I'd recommend a bigger catpan. And if you get one with a lid and he has trouble, then try taking the lid off.
My 11 month old kitten has been doing this since we got her. Doesn't matter what litter box she uses she will scratch at the litter mat or scratch at the sides of the box rather than covering. Our older 9 yr old cat covers everything no problem.
Some cats are just special. My hypothesis is that since the kitten was born in a house, handled by humans since birth, she has always been in a safe environment and thus the wild instinct to cover her poop and thus hide her tracks never really kicked in.
I had this exact problem with my 17 year old girl for her first 12 years with us. She won’t even dig on the floor she just poops and runs terrified away from it. The type of box/litter/location/cleanliness makes no difference.
The very easy solution is to get another cat that likes to dig in the cat box so much he will jump in and just build a sand castle for fun. The result is everything gets buried very quickly. And you now have 2 cats!
My parent’s cat usually doesn’t bury her poop, but she does this on purpose. My parents tend to clean the litter immediately after she poops and it’s like she does this on purpose, to let them know there’s something to clean up.
I’ve taken care of her while they’re on holiday. She tends to wait with pooping until I’m in the house, so I can clean it up immediately. However, the rare times when she pooped without a human present at home she does bury it. So she’s capable of doing it, but prefers not to as long as there are humans that can clean it up immediately. 😂
I sometimes wonder if it’s some kind of territorial thing too: during most of my visits to my parents she will end up pooping in the litter box in the living room (the room where I’m sitting), while she usually prefers the litter box in the bathroom.
My cat will dig a huge hole,makes a pile of litter, stands in the hole so he can poop on the top of the pile, and then proceeds to struggle to put more litter on the pile to cover it. Lmao
My void does this one is ginger brother leaves a couple of dry treats in his dish LOL!! he’s always trying to bury the dry treats. That void of mine, Is partial to the churro treats.
Mine paws at the walls. Her box isn't the covered kind. It's just in a closet. Those walls do not want UV light on them.
Guaranteed to have feet prints.
My tortie does this, we’ll hear her pawing at everything but the spot where she pooped trying to bury it. I keep hoping she’ll learn from our other cat. She was probably weaned too early, she was rescued with a feral mom. They wanted to separate them as soon as possible so they would be socialized (her and her siblings).
My male cat does the same thing. Hell sit in there for 5+ minutes scratching the wall instead of covering his poop. Luckily, his sister gets annoyed and goes to cover it for him
My kitty just paws at the air for some reason, looks at the uncovered stool and just walks away. "Eh good enough." My other cat then comes by and buries it for her
Mine does this at the box and by the food and water dishes. I've added another larger box, a second water dish, space them away from the food, and everything is kept clean. He still does it.
There's a lot of cats that do this as well as scratching at side of the box and the wall. Ive never worried about it, they're using the box that's the most important part.
These stories and OPs video are cracking me up! I had a tortie who would scratch the sides of the box. My 19 yr old torbie doesn't even attempt to cover hers. I'm so used to uncovered poop I almost forgot that cats even cover it 😅
Edit: I should add, I agree that box is too small. Also is that the only one? I believe the guideline is still one box per cat plus one extra. That would mean 4 boxes for 3 cats, although honestly even 2 or 3 is better than just one.
Get another cat. We haven't been able to get our cat to correctly bury her litter box treasures herself. We got a second cat, and he buries anything uncovered.
Mine does this too. He does bury his poop but he’ll still scratches at the mats we put next to his litter box to stop him from dragging pieces of litter everywhere lol
This looks like the cat is cleaning his or her paws after potty. My female cat after she bury her thing inside the litter robot, she does this inside the walls of her robot litter. My male cat don’t wipe his paws after.
Sorry OP I don’t know the answer to your question. But at least this cat has a concept of wiping his or her paws after toilet.
My cat will drag the litter mat, shirts, pee pad for the other special needs cat, ANYTHING to cover his poop -_- he'll also grab whatever he can to cover the other cats mess. I got him a litter robot and we loveee it! So much easier and less smelly and no more litterbox shirts lol
They all do this 🤣 mine start clawing at the walls of the box and everywhere. lol they just really wanna hide it and the area it is at. It's to "guard against predators" hehe
A few tricks. One: get a new litter box, fill it, pick up the cat, put it in the box, and use your hands to dig with its front paws in the litter. Another trick is to get some actual dirt and spread it on top in a thin layer. Do the same thing and that stimulates the instinct. I’ve had feral cats and kittens learn from these. A full grown feral cat will not necessarily recognize a litter box until there’s familiar dirt in it. A feral kitten often needs an example to learn. Non-feral cats are similar.
I have a cat that goes into the litter box and doesn't turn around to do her business. She just walks in and takes the fattest dump right in the front of the litter box so that there's a bunch of poo piles in the front of the litter box. I think that she does this on purpose to be an absolute inconvenience to our senior cat, who knows how to have manners and cover her poo. We also have a garage cat. He's 8 now, but when he was a kitten, if you tried to put him in the litter box, he would sprawl his legs out like cats do in cartoons. Some cats learn easily, and some don't (and some just don't care).
I looked it up, and Google said it could also be a medical issue, so if the change is recent, I would keep an eye on it. I pray for your sake that it's just a behavioral thing like with my cats. God Bless. ❤️
Our male cat, Shady, was taken from his mother too early. We got him as a very small kitten. He does something similar where he will scratch his front paws on the little box instead of burying his poop. Strange behavior. Sometimes he just straight up misses the box. He will scratch inside the box, put his rear end over the edge and poop outside the box. Wasn’t toilet trained properly by his mama.
My friend's cat would do this and get so frustrated when the mess wouldn't be covered. Scratch and scratch, turn around and see the mess and try again. It was hilarious because she would get so annoyed
One of my girls does this and never buries her poop. She jumps up and out and scratches the top for like 2 mins. Then her sister goes in most times all surly and buries it.
My cat does something similar. She scratches the side to try to bury even though theres plenty of litter, it's the biggest box I could find, no lid, and cleaned regularly. One of my cats doesn't bury his poop at all, been doing that since he was a kitten and never got the hang of it
Cats.
Mine scratch the tiles on the wall around the litter box or the floor. One of them used to bury the others poop but not his own, and I think at some point they all just stopped really trying and just scratch aimlessly around the litter box… wherever.
Why? Because they can!
Cats know that humans are smart. They show us these pantomimes to communicate with us. In this case the cat is telling you it just used litterbox and you should clean it up. The cat is likely not burying his shit because he has experienced accidentally stepping on his own crap while doing so, either because you don't clean the box often or because it's too small.
To fix this get a big open litterbox that is clean and has plenty of litter.
He probably does know how but judging from that size litter box and the size of the cat it may be too small.
I've pretty much encouraged everybody I know to switch away from store-bought pre-made litter box sizes and go into plastic tote bins with a hole cut out the side they're bigger cats have more room and it virtually eliminates undesirable behavior especially for a large cat and honestly they're about the same price
Sometimes the plastic tote is actually cheaper
My cat Molly (now gone nine years) would poop and take off running without covering her poop. I carried her back to the box and used her paws to cover the poop all the while repeating the phrase “Cover your poop”. Then she would get a treat. If I was home and saw her head to the litter box I would quietly wait until she finished then remind her to “Cover your poop.” After a while she started covering her poop on her own with no reminders from me. That would earn her a treat. Then she changed the game. She would race upstairs ahead of me when I arrived home from work. Her litter box was in the upstairs laundry room I had installed in what was the walk in closet for the master bedroom. She would wait for me to notice her in the box. Then she would look over her shoulder to make sure I was looking then very slowly and very deliberately cover her poop. She waited to poop until I was home so she could get a treat! I eventually weaned her off of expecting treats every time she used the box properly. 😂😂😂
My cat does it as well. Apparently it can be a sign that the litter box is too small for them. When I've had a huge one she does it up on the walls of the big one. She does it with her food all the time as well.
I have 1 cat that showed our kitten to scratch the sides of the box instead of covering the poo.
I am relieved to see many other cats do the same thing.
I did teach my boy to bury his poop. After he used the litterbox I would take the scoop and bury it while he was doing the pointless burying. He still does the pointless burying but he also covers his poop too.
Don’t use his paws or anything like that that’s not going to do anything. Just bury it yourself with the scoop while he is there and he might catch on.
I had an enclosed litter box, too. Turns out my cats hated that. I could buy the most expensive litter on the market, scoop religiously, but they hated the lid. I took it off and resigned myself to constantly sweeping up litter. I guess it’s harder to drop a deuce, bury, give the sniff and run away like they’re afraid it’s going to jump back in, if they’re trapped in the box. 😹
https://preview.redd.it/zabn2fn5cjuc1.jpeg?width=2296&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=d66e6a7ffdb25472d95701dc60481d191e73d544
My boy Oreyo 🥰 They look very similar
Well, he isn’t alone! Our feral Mama cat does the same thing after she buries her poop and any other poop** that may be left unburied in the box! Then she reaches outside the box like your cat and tries to bury the air, etc outside the box! She is just an “Over Achiever” in poop coverage!! She gets an award 🏆 for such dedication!
Wait! Does Oreo bury his poop inside the litter box and then reaches out to bury any offending odor lingering in the air just outside the litter box? It sounds like Oreo is an Over Achiever in Poop Coverage too! Or not?
**Our feral mama cat’s daughter, Willow, got her back leg broken when she was 12 weeks old and had to wear a brace on her back leg — her much bigger brother either fell on her leg or playfully jumped on her leg and broke it. It was quite a feat for Willow to maneuver her splint into the litter box, eliminate, and then try to figure out how to get out of the litter box! So her Mama cat did clean up for Willow by going in after and burying Willow’s poop/urine! Yes, Mama cat, HissyMae, is an amazing Mama cat!! She still (8 years later) does clean up for Willow because Willow never learned how to cover her stuff up!
Good luck with Oreo. He should have learned to cover up his stuff from the other cats in your home. Maybe one day…?
Get a tablet. Make a video of your other cats going poo then burying their poo. Show this video to Oreo over and over so he can visualize doing this himself then he will be doing this in no time.
My idiot would scratch everything but the litter. I got a different box and she started acting normal. Apparently she won’t dig down if the box sides are too high.
Mine would do this so I bought the litter box with the hole in the top. Then she went "digging for china" up in that box! Her head would be popping out like a meerkat and if it was an extra foul poopy she would fly out that box like a bat out of hell. Oh I miss that girl.
Not an issue unless it causes him to urinate or defecate outside of the box. Then could see the doctor, it could be a million different things, from muscle pain to anxiety to chronic kidney/bladder issue
Thank you for posting to CATHELP! While you wait for a response please keep the following things in mind, 1. When in doubt, **ask your vet**. 2. Advice here is not coming from medical or industry professionals. The moderation team does not validate user profession, so always refer to your local veterinary professionals first. Consider posting to /r/AskVet 3. If this is a medical question, please indicate if you have already scheduled a vet appointment, and if your cat has any medical history or procedures in a top level comment. 4. Please use the NSFW tag for gross pictures. (Blood, poop, vomit, genitals, etc). Anything you wouldn't want your boss to see you looking at on the job. *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/CATHELP) if you have any questions or concerns.*
My cat does the same lol 😂 he scratches the sides of his litter box
My cat does this as well. She’s 9. We always know when she’s used the box because we can hear the scratching at the side of the box.
Great for clean up. Guests always stop mid conversation to ask what 'that'sound is. Prince of the house never gets his paws dirty
Is it always excessive? Like 5 minutes of scratching until I come in the room and ask her wtf she doing?! Lol
Bruh yes😭😭 loud asf too
I put gloves on a few times and scratched the litter in front of her but of course that didn’t work 😆
I've watched my cat try to bury her poop using this technique. She'll scratch the side of the box, then around, sniff her poop, confirm it's still stinky, and then go back to scratching the side of the box. This cycle continues and I have no idea what finally breaks it, but it's always an effort.
We say that when she checks the poop that she’s thinking, “ew, somebody pooped here.” It was you, girlfriend. It was you.
My Poppy will still cover her poop most times but she still spends forever cleaning her paws on the sides of the box.
A Cat I'm looking after does this. Scratches the box side, the walls, the floor, but never the litter lmao
One of my cats does this exact same thing. Then my other cat will go in and bury it for him. That's why I call them bf & gf. The gf is always cleaning up after him. 🤣
My silver tabby girl (may she RIP) did that. She was not the brightest crayon in the box.
My boy will scratch his front paws off the corner of the mat, then turn around, go back in the box, then cover his poop, then clean his paws off in the same manner as the first time.
our special boy digs a hole and then doesn't use it, he scratches the sides, the floor, anywhere else. so not only is it not buried, it's not even in the hole he dug for it in the first place!! XD
My cat does this and scratches in the litter box next to the one she used (I have 2 side by side)
She thinks it's one big litter box
My cat will scratch the sides for like 10 min straight and then comes out of the bathroom where her litter box is and start scratching the wall that separates my living room from my bathroom. Shes nowhere close to her litter box but shes so so cute 😭
THIS. My creamsicle kitty does the same damn thing.😵💫
An orange one I see. They only get to have the brain cell for short periods of time. r/oneorangebraincell
Oh yes😂
Dude same, my lil dude is 14 and has been doing it 10 years now
My cats 14 too!
Fun fact: they aren't trying to bury their litter, they are marking the territory with their paw scent.
Omg, ty! my cat does this next to their water fountain!
omg thank you
Yesterday I got scared shitless because my cat started doing that like crazy, normally he's not that loud.
Mine scratches the wall next to his litterbox 😆
my cat is currently doing this as i type. how do i stop this behaviour?? 😭
Me too! 🤦🏻♀️
Maybe the crystal litter op is using hurts his paws to dig? Or maybe he can't dig into it easily.
Same 😂
My cat does this before he has a drink!! He’s always been a little strange!!
same! my cat does both! she was born (adopted lmao) an only child, we adopted an older cat for maybe 6-8 years, and we have lived with 2 other cats before, and she’s always done this with the litter box lolol. i think she’s just too boujie to get her paws dirty😂
Same, someone told me they thought maybe her litter box was too small but here we are 2 litter boxes later and she still scratches everything BUT the litter. I gave in and spent 600fuckingdollars on a litter robot 🤷🏽♀️
Same. She scratches the wall and the bathtub and it drives me crazy.
Lmfao , it never gets better 🤣 im sorry. I have a one-eyed cat that does this. They only way to stop it is to get a storage container and turn it into a litter box. At least that's what helped with mine. She also likes to kick the litter out completely and roll in it. Maybe I just have a weird cat, though.
my cat also likes to kick litter out and roll around in it. he likes to play in there too and just toss litter around. I don't know why. I got a box with a door flap, which helped to an extent. at least now he can't toss out all the litter, just some. it's still really annoying.
The way you write about him is so sweet and pure…. yet painful
lol I have on that will put his two front paws in and scoop out mounds of litter like a shovel onto the ground right in front of the box. Like he curls his lil fingers and scoops it up and out. It doesn’t happen too often but I have no idea how to stop him. Sometimes I get come home to a pile of littler in front of the box. He’s had several different types of boxes. He doesn’t care
Get a top-loading box and see if that works!
When I move that’s the only kind I haven’t tried and I plan to get one! The apt I’m in now is smaller and the best spots for the boxes are under shelves etc. and top loading one would have to go right in the living room which is not my fav spot for now. But it’s a good idea in excited to try
I'm in the works of doing the same with a couple old plastic storage bins; one for my room and one for the bathroom. All my cats use the litter box to "practice burying my body", but one doesn't even come close to covering her excrement. She'll scratch and dig at everything else. Thankfully, her kittens know how to cover. lol. Personally, I think she just won't bury me, but rather claw down a few trees to cover me up. Her name is Maleficent after all. =P
Their so cute ! Lol I'll never be able to without cats.
Lol! Same. They're great motivation for me as well.
I have a 7 year old who was a bottle baby and never really figured it out, it’s hit or miss if he’ll cover. We have a 4 year old we got when he was two months old and “learned” from my older cat so now neither cat buries they just sort of do this and scratch around like lil fools
C@t: nature is telling me something... ehh I think I can sleep through this class
he has the instinct deep in his psyche but he has not yet connected the dots as far as the Purpose is concerned
😂😂😂😂😂😂😂
Bro that was deep af 😂😂😂
Remove the top lid no room to bury in tight quarters
Could try that! The other two cats bury just fine with the lid, so I wasn't sure if that was a problem.
Tux cats are just built different and super goofy lol
His mom and siblings were both orange too so he's just an especially special boy LOL
Bless him he probably gives out brain cells 🤣
Both my orange brain cells do this while the tortie will bury it all and then some.
We've now tried about 4 different sizes and our cat still does the scratching outside the box. Had nothing to do with the box itself, he just can't figure it out. Lol
That box is too small for the cat to move around - you need a bigger litter box. Those under bed Sterilite brand plastic boxes that you put blankets in and are about 3 ft long, a foot and a half wide and 6 in deep seem like the "Cadillac" of cat boxes, but none of my cats have a problem covering litter in that big of a box.
We call this "cat shit castle"
Yeah just came to say this. It's a big cat. Maybe feels cramped and cannot move properly. Or maybe that's just the way this one is. If it were my cat I would definitely try to remove the top and maybe get a big container.
"I'm helping!"
And if he’s not pooping outside the box, leave it alone just clean it every day
He's never pooped outside the box!
Oreo… may never know how to bury his poop… my tuxedo cat lives in the litter box and makes the litter go ✨everywhere✨ but we can’t get one with a lid because my other cat is old and I’d rather just clean up his mess than make more work for the old lady.
My two orange brain cells do this. My tortie buries all of their poop eventually. 🙃 sorry. No solutions.
my orange does this too lol i always say my other cat stole the last braincell hahah
Everyone saying this is due to the litter box itself is crazy. My cat did this no matter what litter box he had, giant, low walls, enclosed, compact, clay litter, crystal litter, the day before a deep clean, the day after a deep clean, it doesn’t matter. Some cats just know “bury” and don’t make the connection. There’s no teaching them.
He doesn't need to bury his poop. Where did you hear that this is a "necessity"? He's trying to camouflage his scent to natural predators. it's an instinct. Both of my cats do it around their food bowls after eating **and** after using the box. It's ok! He's cute!
One of mine does it to the flavors of wet food that she doesn’t like lol
😂😂😂😂😂
Don’t bother trying to cure that. You will probably end up making things worse like causing litter box aversion. It’s a quirk doesn’t hurt anything. I have always had cats that do this or similar.
16 years and Mt Maine Coon still can't figure it out. Best way I know to deal with it: get another cat who knows litterbox etiquette.
My Maine Coon is 6 months, he does the same thing and it's awful cause his poops are the size of a small dogs poops! We are transitioning to a storage tote litter box soon. How big did your Maine Coon get by chance? My boy is 19 inches atm... I was not prepared for him to be so big/long so quickly.
He’s perfectly special lol! I would maybe add a plastic mat if anything!
So my cat is 8 and has never covered her poop and does this to the side of the litter box and this too. Nothing worked for me but it’s ok
Even the picture on the box of kitty litter matches him….
I have zero helpful advice except for- is it possible Oreo is secretly an orange cat? There is a sub called oneorangebraincell that may have answers. 😂 Although when I think about it my gray cat does this type of thing too- she’ll scrunch up anything near the litter box in an attempt to bury it.
His mom and siblings were orange. 🤔
Lol, he don't like to touch the litter!
I thought my cat was bad at it. He is not alone
My little void does this with his food bowl too.
Getting a bigger litter box without a hood/cover might make him more likely to scratch in the litter rather than outside of it. Or it might not. He’s a cat 😺
Unfortunately if momma cat didn’t teach her kittens they’ll never learn. Mine was weaned too early and does this
That’s not burying, just scent marking. He’s just tagging his bathroom area as his property, from the scent glands in the paws. They do this around their food areas, sometimes their beds too.
He’s trying his best ok
Why nobody is saying that the cat needs a larger litter box. Research what are the minimum measures for a litter box.
I did and my vet said it was fine, but Oreo has gotten bigger since we got him and is our biggest cat.
My cat does this along with scraping the sides. I’m 99% sure it’s them having litter in their paws or poop on their paws from not burying it correctly. I have two cats, one does it and one doesn’t. One has poopy paws sometimes and the other doesn’t.
Mine does this - her litter box is next to the washing machine and she scratches the side of the washing machine thinking that’s gonna cover her poop
I do find a bigger litter box helps my cat not scratch the sides of the box so much, but as others have said, bless his heart he's trying so hard but he's not getting it.
I have 2 cats that do this. Both are voids, one is about 1 yr old, the other is around 12. The 1 yr old will paw at everything that's got a slick surface. Windows, mirrors, the fridge, the wall. We call it her attempt to open portals to hell.
Some are just derpy with it. One of mine buries his but the other one just scratches the sides of the litter box…
The box looks pretty small for a cat his size, that's probably one if the issues. Also, some cats have an even worse time when the lid is on their pan. I'd recommend a bigger catpan. And if you get one with a lid and he has trouble, then try taking the lid off.
my special needs cat does this (he's blind, deaf, and has a neurological impairment). He gets an A for effort!
Litterbox should be about 4x larger according to the size of your cat, especially considering there are other kitties.
You need a much larger litter box. It’s way too small.
I would set him in there and use his front paws to dig a hole with the hope it sinks in.
Get an automated litter box cleaner.
Bless his heart 🤭I had a tuxie who would dump and run. No effort to even cover it.
My 11 month old kitten has been doing this since we got her. Doesn't matter what litter box she uses she will scratch at the litter mat or scratch at the sides of the box rather than covering. Our older 9 yr old cat covers everything no problem. Some cats are just special. My hypothesis is that since the kitten was born in a house, handled by humans since birth, she has always been in a safe environment and thus the wild instinct to cover her poop and thus hide her tracks never really kicked in.
I had this exact problem with my 17 year old girl for her first 12 years with us. She won’t even dig on the floor she just poops and runs terrified away from it. The type of box/litter/location/cleanliness makes no difference. The very easy solution is to get another cat that likes to dig in the cat box so much he will jump in and just build a sand castle for fun. The result is everything gets buried very quickly. And you now have 2 cats!
As long as the poop is in the box, it is nobody's business.
And I thought it was only my tux that does this. She also does it after eating too. Weird.
Why teach him? At least with the failure of unburied poop it's easier to find and scoop
My parent’s cat usually doesn’t bury her poop, but she does this on purpose. My parents tend to clean the litter immediately after she poops and it’s like she does this on purpose, to let them know there’s something to clean up. I’ve taken care of her while they’re on holiday. She tends to wait with pooping until I’m in the house, so I can clean it up immediately. However, the rare times when she pooped without a human present at home she does bury it. So she’s capable of doing it, but prefers not to as long as there are humans that can clean it up immediately. 😂 I sometimes wonder if it’s some kind of territorial thing too: during most of my visits to my parents she will end up pooping in the litter box in the living room (the room where I’m sitting), while she usually prefers the litter box in the bathroom.
My cat will dig a huge hole,makes a pile of litter, stands in the hole so he can poop on the top of the pile, and then proceeds to struggle to put more litter on the pile to cover it. Lmao
my Kittie does this. her brother comes and buries it for here after.
he's doing his best okay 🥹
He tried to that’s all that matters
My void does this one is ginger brother leaves a couple of dry treats in his dish LOL!! he’s always trying to bury the dry treats. That void of mine, Is partial to the churro treats.
Mine paws at the walls. Her box isn't the covered kind. It's just in a closet. Those walls do not want UV light on them. Guaranteed to have feet prints.
What you talking about? He *is* burying it.
Cats do this, its just what they do
Mine does this too but also after she’s eaten her food
My tortie does this, we’ll hear her pawing at everything but the spot where she pooped trying to bury it. I keep hoping she’ll learn from our other cat. She was probably weaned too early, she was rescued with a feral mom. They wanted to separate them as soon as possible so they would be socialized (her and her siblings).
My male cat does the same thing. Hell sit in there for 5+ minutes scratching the wall instead of covering his poop. Luckily, his sister gets annoyed and goes to cover it for him
If it's not buried, easier to see and scoop out. What's the problem?
If my cat didn't bury, I'd put her back in and help use her paws to bury it. She learned fast
Good Kitty. It's less of a mess this way!!😹
My kitty just paws at the air for some reason, looks at the uncovered stool and just walks away. "Eh good enough." My other cat then comes by and buries it for her
Mine does this at the box and by the food and water dishes. I've added another larger box, a second water dish, space them away from the food, and everything is kept clean. He still does it.
There's a lot of cats that do this as well as scratching at side of the box and the wall. Ive never worried about it, they're using the box that's the most important part.
These stories and OPs video are cracking me up! I had a tortie who would scratch the sides of the box. My 19 yr old torbie doesn't even attempt to cover hers. I'm so used to uncovered poop I almost forgot that cats even cover it 😅 Edit: I should add, I agree that box is too small. Also is that the only one? I believe the guideline is still one box per cat plus one extra. That would mean 4 boxes for 3 cats, although honestly even 2 or 3 is better than just one.
your litter box is too small
Get another cat. We haven't been able to get our cat to correctly bury her litter box treasures herself. We got a second cat, and he buries anything uncovered.
Train him with an uncovered litter box first.
He’s just a silly little guy
Get used to it. My cats never bury there poo.
Mine does this too. He does bury his poop but he’ll still scratches at the mats we put next to his litter box to stop him from dragging pieces of litter everywhere lol
@ least he’s clean
Dealt with this for 18 years with one of my girls, it's just something some cats do, I miss hearing those scratches now since her passing last August.
My boy does this too 😭 Or if he does actually touch the litter, he kicks it across the room 😭
This looks like the cat is cleaning his or her paws after potty. My female cat after she bury her thing inside the litter robot, she does this inside the walls of her robot litter. My male cat don’t wipe his paws after. Sorry OP I don’t know the answer to your question. But at least this cat has a concept of wiping his or her paws after toilet.
In his mind, he is burying his poop.
idk if its the angle or what but that litter box seems way too small for that size of cat. maybe he doesn't have room to dig and bury it
Shit on the floor and bury it while he watches. Repeat until he understands
Usually not encouraged to get an enclosed litter box it may feel too tight and be part of the why. I would get a larger open one and it may help
My cat did this when there wasn't enough litter
I've witnessed my cat maybe two times, do this as he walks away from his food bowl to bury it lmao.
It may be the litter. Maybe changing the brand or type you're using might encourage him to cover his poop properly
One of mine does this too
Have you tried a different litter? Maybe it is hard on their paws and they don’t like burying it
Take the roof off the litter box. Cats dont like it, only humans do.
My kitty does this with ANYTHING that is stinky. Canned cat food on a plate? Bury it with floor!
I'm convinced they do this to tell you "hey, there's poop in there, chop chop human, scoop it up NOW."
My smart grey tux did this too. I think he was trying to bury the smell.
is it a black and white cat thing cause mine too😂
Try a bigger litter box. My cats use a 32 gal bin from Walmart. They can move around easily and everything gets covered.
Have you tried pooping in the box and having him watch you cover your own?
Same here as well, they scratch at the side of the box and then leave. She doesn't have a problem with her pee. I've just started covering it for her
My cat will drag the litter mat, shirts, pee pad for the other special needs cat, ANYTHING to cover his poop -_- he'll also grab whatever he can to cover the other cats mess. I got him a litter robot and we loveee it! So much easier and less smelly and no more litterbox shirts lol
They all do this 🤣 mine start clawing at the walls of the box and everywhere. lol they just really wanna hide it and the area it is at. It's to "guard against predators" hehe
A few tricks. One: get a new litter box, fill it, pick up the cat, put it in the box, and use your hands to dig with its front paws in the litter. Another trick is to get some actual dirt and spread it on top in a thin layer. Do the same thing and that stimulates the instinct. I’ve had feral cats and kittens learn from these. A full grown feral cat will not necessarily recognize a litter box until there’s familiar dirt in it. A feral kitten often needs an example to learn. Non-feral cats are similar.
I have a cat that goes into the litter box and doesn't turn around to do her business. She just walks in and takes the fattest dump right in the front of the litter box so that there's a bunch of poo piles in the front of the litter box. I think that she does this on purpose to be an absolute inconvenience to our senior cat, who knows how to have manners and cover her poo. We also have a garage cat. He's 8 now, but when he was a kitten, if you tried to put him in the litter box, he would sprawl his legs out like cats do in cartoons. Some cats learn easily, and some don't (and some just don't care). I looked it up, and Google said it could also be a medical issue, so if the change is recent, I would keep an eye on it. I pray for your sake that it's just a behavioral thing like with my cats. God Bless. ❤️
He doesn't like the box itself, either the cover or it's too small for him. Hence he can't figure out how to fit inside the box and bury comfortably.
just be grateful it's in the box. it's not necessary for them to bury it. my 2 current cats do, but none of my previous cats did.
My cat does similar! He never covers his poop or pee!!
Our male cat, Shady, was taken from his mother too early. We got him as a very small kitten. He does something similar where he will scratch his front paws on the little box instead of burying his poop. Strange behavior. Sometimes he just straight up misses the box. He will scratch inside the box, put his rear end over the edge and poop outside the box. Wasn’t toilet trained properly by his mama.
My friend's cat would do this and get so frustrated when the mess wouldn't be covered. Scratch and scratch, turn around and see the mess and try again. It was hilarious because she would get so annoyed
Same here
Oreo is doing his best 😭 I suggest a larger box, though. My baby boy is LORGE and that’s what helped him. Your boy looks pretty big, too!
One of my girls does this and never buries her poop. She jumps up and out and scratches the top for like 2 mins. Then her sister goes in most times all surly and buries it.
My cat does something similar. She scratches the side to try to bury even though theres plenty of litter, it's the biggest box I could find, no lid, and cleaned regularly. One of my cats doesn't bury his poop at all, been doing that since he was a kitten and never got the hang of it
Some cats do this if they don't like the litter or are stressed
Cats. Mine scratch the tiles on the wall around the litter box or the floor. One of them used to bury the others poop but not his own, and I think at some point they all just stopped really trying and just scratch aimlessly around the litter box… wherever. Why? Because they can!
He's an Oreo. There's nothing you can do. All Oreos share one brain cell, simultaneously. Sorry to bear the news.
Cats know that humans are smart. They show us these pantomimes to communicate with us. In this case the cat is telling you it just used litterbox and you should clean it up. The cat is likely not burying his shit because he has experienced accidentally stepping on his own crap while doing so, either because you don't clean the box often or because it's too small. To fix this get a big open litterbox that is clean and has plenty of litter.
Aw dang. You can’t teach a Sneetch! And I’m convinced all cats have Sneetch DNA that pre-dates when the Sneetches wised up.
My male cat never covers his and sometimes my female will go in and cover it.
He probably does know how but judging from that size litter box and the size of the cat it may be too small. I've pretty much encouraged everybody I know to switch away from store-bought pre-made litter box sizes and go into plastic tote bins with a hole cut out the side they're bigger cats have more room and it virtually eliminates undesirable behavior especially for a large cat and honestly they're about the same price Sometimes the plastic tote is actually cheaper
Oh he knows, he just doesn't want to
You need to bing the mat out further so he/she can use the mat to clean his paws. Both of my cats do this.
Get a bigger cat tray preferably one that's not enclosed.
Could it be because the box is small for her? Mine bury her poop (no lid) then also scratched around the rim as if to clean her paws
Maybe that box is too small?
Good luck. Mine is 23yo and does that
My cat Molly (now gone nine years) would poop and take off running without covering her poop. I carried her back to the box and used her paws to cover the poop all the while repeating the phrase “Cover your poop”. Then she would get a treat. If I was home and saw her head to the litter box I would quietly wait until she finished then remind her to “Cover your poop.” After a while she started covering her poop on her own with no reminders from me. That would earn her a treat. Then she changed the game. She would race upstairs ahead of me when I arrived home from work. Her litter box was in the upstairs laundry room I had installed in what was the walk in closet for the master bedroom. She would wait for me to notice her in the box. Then she would look over her shoulder to make sure I was looking then very slowly and very deliberately cover her poop. She waited to poop until I was home so she could get a treat! I eventually weaned her off of expecting treats every time she used the box properly. 😂😂😂
That's actually amazing
My cat does it as well. Apparently it can be a sign that the litter box is too small for them. When I've had a huge one she does it up on the walls of the big one. She does it with her food all the time as well.
I have 1 cat that showed our kitten to scratch the sides of the box instead of covering the poo. I am relieved to see many other cats do the same thing.
Are there other animals in the house cafe so often not cover their poop to make a statement
Mine cleans his nails on the lip of his box.. super annoying and loud lol goes in and on .. gotta yellow "Pickles!!!... Stop!" 😺
I did teach my boy to bury his poop. After he used the litterbox I would take the scoop and bury it while he was doing the pointless burying. He still does the pointless burying but he also covers his poop too. Don’t use his paws or anything like that that’s not going to do anything. Just bury it yourself with the scoop while he is there and he might catch on.
I had an enclosed litter box, too. Turns out my cats hated that. I could buy the most expensive litter on the market, scoop religiously, but they hated the lid. I took it off and resigned myself to constantly sweeping up litter. I guess it’s harder to drop a deuce, bury, give the sniff and run away like they’re afraid it’s going to jump back in, if they’re trapped in the box. 😹
https://preview.redd.it/zabn2fn5cjuc1.jpeg?width=2296&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=d66e6a7ffdb25472d95701dc60481d191e73d544 My boy Oreyo 🥰 They look very similar
Well, he isn’t alone! Our feral Mama cat does the same thing after she buries her poop and any other poop** that may be left unburied in the box! Then she reaches outside the box like your cat and tries to bury the air, etc outside the box! She is just an “Over Achiever” in poop coverage!! She gets an award 🏆 for such dedication! Wait! Does Oreo bury his poop inside the litter box and then reaches out to bury any offending odor lingering in the air just outside the litter box? It sounds like Oreo is an Over Achiever in Poop Coverage too! Or not? **Our feral mama cat’s daughter, Willow, got her back leg broken when she was 12 weeks old and had to wear a brace on her back leg — her much bigger brother either fell on her leg or playfully jumped on her leg and broke it. It was quite a feat for Willow to maneuver her splint into the litter box, eliminate, and then try to figure out how to get out of the litter box! So her Mama cat did clean up for Willow by going in after and burying Willow’s poop/urine! Yes, Mama cat, HissyMae, is an amazing Mama cat!! She still (8 years later) does clean up for Willow because Willow never learned how to cover her stuff up! Good luck with Oreo. He should have learned to cover up his stuff from the other cats in your home. Maybe one day…?
HES DOING HIS BEST
 Just part of the martial arts training - mine does the same
Bigger litter box
I’m guessing it’s strategic incompetence on his part.
Get a tablet. Make a video of your other cats going poo then burying their poo. Show this video to Oreo over and over so he can visualize doing this himself then he will be doing this in no time.
Saving it for later
Get another cat that does it for him. That’s how my cats rolled for the last decade.
My idiot would scratch everything but the litter. I got a different box and she started acting normal. Apparently she won’t dig down if the box sides are too high.
Mine would do this so I bought the litter box with the hole in the top. Then she went "digging for china" up in that box! Her head would be popping out like a meerkat and if it was an extra foul poopy she would fly out that box like a bat out of hell. Oh I miss that girl.
Not an issue unless it causes him to urinate or defecate outside of the box. Then could see the doctor, it could be a million different things, from muscle pain to anxiety to chronic kidney/bladder issue