Cat does not cover his litter box mess?

Question

First, a little background. We picked up a male cat from a shelter who had urinating issues, inappropriate places and a urine smell on the cat. We have 2 other cats. The male gets along with the new cat. The small female showed fear agression, but the larger new cat didn't seem terribly stressed by it as he can easily counter it. A blacklight showed some urine marks around the house, but it was more of a "mopping" as opposed to spraying. The new cat was placed on antibiotics and this made a big difference. He still has a tapeworm which is being addressed this week.

The problem now is that the new cat does not cover his litter box droppings. The poop (extra stinky due to tapeworm) and urine is rarely buried in litter making for a very smelly litterbox that is otherwise clean. We have 3 litter boxes, all large, covered and cleaned regularly.

My wife is at wits end with the smell, but the cat has a great personality and I dont want to send him back. Please help!

He is neutered and the litter depth is quite deep and he does scratch, he just doesn't cover it. It's the finer grain scoopable type, maybe a courser litter would be worth trying. He does have large furry paws and the fine grain may be distasteful.
I'm heasitant about the catnip though, he loves it and I have visions of litter spewed all over the room...
Our house is also large old and drafty, so I'm going to have to eliminate the smell at the source. I may have to hope on different litter.

Answer 1

maybe try changing your litter brand, maybe he dosent like the smell or texture. do you use the scoopable type or the gravel type?

Answer 2

Try either a thicker layer of litter at a time, or different consistencies of litter. Cats naturally dig to cover their "business," and maybe for some reason your kitty doesn't like the way it feels to dig in the litter you have. It is a pretty natural instinctual thing to do, but maybe for whatever reason your kitty doesn't follow that instinct.

In addition, since he previously had urinating issues, maybe he's just gotten so used to not being ABLE to cover up his messes (because he used to go in inappropriate places) and it's just a bad habit of his. Try mixing a little catnip in with the litter, maybe he'll smell it and be encouraged to dig. This is just a brainstorm, though, I've never actually seen it done.

Worse comes to worse, move his litterbox to the farthest corner of teh house, or experiment with different "odor eliminating" kitty litters to see if any work better than the one you currently use.

Also, is he neutered? If not, that is why his urine is so bad-smelling. Neutering him could fix attitude problems, as well.

Answer 3

Its admirable for you to adopt from a shelter. You saved a kittys life. Now lets work on the smell. Since he is sick, you might want to confine him till the worm is gone. This way he will also have his own litter box. There are many litter deorderants out there. Probably the best though is the old stand by of good old baking soda. Sprinkle in a full box and mix in with the litter. As for him not covering it, well, thats a personality trait. Another thing you can do for the smell is since the boxes are all covered, get the air fresheners that have the stick on on the back. I use those in my box and they work great. Then add another one on top of the box on the outside. That should mask the smell quite a bit. Be sure to be using bleach whereever the cats have sprayed as well. That and pine sol have great powers in getting rid of that smell.

Good luck to you and I hope kitty feels better soon.

Answer 4

Cats are fastidious about their bathroom habits but not all cats are created equal! While one cat likes the litter to be deep, another can may prefer it to not be so deep. Vary the litter depth in the three boxes and take the cover off of one box. Your cat may feel stressed being in an almost enclosed container to do his business.

Sprinkling baking soda in among the litter can help with the odor. There are also odor attracting crystals that can be placed to help absorb the odor. If there's still a lot of odor after the tapeworm is gone, you might want to change the cat's diet. Good luck!

Answer 5

You'll have to empty daily to keep the smell at bay- febreeze really does help as well.
My shelter cat had very stinky movements- but after about 6 months I noticed that the situation was much improved (I also suspected a dormant fungal issue). I think we are more used to the smells of our animals who have always had the same food and water, and we notice it a bit less.
Once the parasite and medication issues are done with, he'll start to adapt to your water and food, and hopefully the stench will diminish. But some kitties just do not cover- and a shelter cat will have fewer positive behaviours. My shelter cat never covers, and my dainty girl will go in and cover after her! Talk about a statement.
I'd hate to see you return him- how sad for him to get adjusted and then be uprooted again. Give it some more time, please- that is a kindness.
Good luck!

Answer 6

Im sorry to say this but I dont think it ever will cover its own poop. Ive has my cat for 15 years and since day one she has never covered her poop, she just scratches the side of the box. Sniff. And the continue scratching the side of the box. So I have to run in after shes done and bury it myself. You could get one of those litter boxes that is motorized and covers the poop after the cat is done. Kinda pricey but hey its a solution!!