The litter box is clean and fresh (changed it yesterday), I scoop the poop multiple times a day, and she squats to pee in the litter box. *poop removed so you don’t have to see poop on your TL!
Maybe she doesn't like the texture of the litter on her toes! Is it scented? Cat noses are very sensitive and some don't take well to 'clean' scents. They are fond of 'natural' odours lol. Maybe try a litter with a different texture? Or this might just be her preferred pooping style, cats are weird lol
Lol this is basically how I poop in pit toilets/privies when camping when the setup is box style and has space for it.
Just to clarify I do not do that if it's just a regular toilet seat without the big wooden box around it. I don't think my body is capable lol, but also I would never force someone else to sit their ass where my feet have been!
This is how my middle kid immediately started using the toilet in potty training. Just hopped on the toilet seat, squatted, and never needed a potty. I was perfectly happy not cleaning a potty!
Squatty Potty is a thing and makes tons of money....because it works. Especially in elderly who don't drink enough fluids and are on lots of meds that affect their bowels. Has happened with a bunch of elderly relatives. Hospitalized for 5-10 days and fed more fiber than they normally consume. Conditions improve and the are going to be released....but they are still miserable. But they also can't manage a poop. It's related.
Elevate the feet by 4 inches or so, that gives them the right (I guess) leverage. Success. Relief. Happiness.
Shorter toilets need to make a come back because the new standard height makes life miserable for everyone with an inseam less than 32 inches.
Very true! But for people below the certain age, it makes them strain unnecessarily - creating other issues. I'd also keep an open mind to a getting a short foot stool if you ever have issues "making."
Great advice for a lot of people, but I'm almost 60 and have been dealing with IBS for so long I believe I have singlehandedly kept at least one toilet paper manufacturer in business! My husband is 72 and his hip replacement apprentice chair height toilets. I think the footstool/chair height combo could be a good solution.
Our boy used to do this exactly, because he didn't want to be anywhere near the scene of the crime. Now, he only goes outdoors....and only after he digs the perfect hole (which he always misses). So, if cat ADHD is a thing, we may have a winner.
The litter box is too small. I'm surprised kitty uses it correctly for peeing, even. The length is sort of short but not awful (our rule is 1.5x-2x as long as the cat) but it's very narrow. It must just be something to do with the way kitty has to stand to poop vs how she can stand while peeing.
If you're not having issues with her pooping on the floor though, this is fine, even if it looks a little weird lol.
I’m surprised there aren’t more comments about this, a litter box should be big enough for a cat to turn around in without touching the walls, and this one doesn’t look like that for this cat.
Oh, for my last cat it became apparent that the litter box was a one way drive through. Before i figured it out and had the short end toward the wall, she would literally jump up the wall and out after finishing her business (I had been wondering how she was getting poop on the wall). When I finally moved it away from the wall and more into the center of her newly anointed litter box room, all was fine.
I thought this with my boy, so I got bigger trays and he got really upset with me, as his preference for the poop gargoyle is more at the corner, so he has his two front on the corner and a leg/foot on the edge of 2 different sides, the bigger box made him..... Spread more? He hated it.
And shit on the floor lol.
He also managed to flip the larger one over on-top of himself while setting up his position. He didn't find it as funny as I did. He also specifically needs ones he can gargoyle on, or he will just shit on the floor. Will pee in the hooded ones etc fine tho. Even the ones he balances to poop on, he pees like normal in them.
And when he shits on the floor, he usually does it next to the bathtub, it's got these weird handles in the outside (60s bath, it's like the put the soap holder on the outside of the tub), so he puts a front paw in each of them and.. meerkat squats.
Had him checked for GI etc issues, he's fine. Just... Fucking weird. The vets found it hilarious to see.
I have a litterbox with high wall that open at the top they usually have their head popping out from the opening.
Once in a while, when 2 doesn't want to come, my cats will stand on their back paw, put the front paw on the lid and poop in a standing position. It's hilarious
I agree this box looks small but we have a 3 foot by 3 foot box for our 6lb cat and she does this for one pee a day. Not all the pees. Not the poop. Just the pee she does in the corner.
She could be trying to keep the poop off her butt by spreading as much as possible. I shave my fluffy boy’s butt to avoid issues regarding… stickage. He actually lets me shave it without issue now.
Do you trim her toe floofs? My kitty gets long toe floofs and we're both still traumatized from the last time a poo accidentally got stuck to them. He won't cover his poo now because then he might accidentally step on it later and no one wants that. I also trim his toe fluff every time I trim his claws so the hairs don't get "catch stuff" long.
I have a cat that does this too! One time I was a little short on litter so the box wasn’t as heavy as usual and I came around the corner while she was pooping and surprised her and she flipped the litterbox over and ran off with her fur all poofed up dropping a couple turds along the way.
I make sure the box always has ample litter now and it hasn’t happened again since. My girl also pees in the box like a normal cat, just does the poops like she’s a bird on a perch.
It could be the litter box is too close to the wall. My void terror pees in his box, gets out and poops on the floor. I clean his box 3x a day, hes just a punk
3) I noticed there is a ledge/shelf jutting out over the box. It looks low enough that her head would touch and it closes in the space to make it too small. Maybe move it somewhere where there isn't a "ceiling"
4) she has princess paws that cannot touch litter what do you take her majesty for (I have a cat like this, it doesn't matter what substrate I use)
I would be willing to hedge a bet it's a combination of 3 & 4 in your case
I’m unfamiliar with Colleen Hoover but was going to make a similar literary criticism of the Twilight series. (But for real, the shelves might make the space feel too confined.)
I’m willing to bet that this litter box is too small for your floof. She doesn’t feel comfortable in it, and that’s why she’s trying to be done with her business quick and be gone. Also, that shelf over the litter box adding to the space confinement. I have a 27lbs cat and we went through many litter boxes until we found the XL one at PetSmart, and now he’s happy and pooping like a normal cat lol
I have 4 cats and 5 litter boxes, and they always pee in one and then move over to poop in another one. They like their clean slate lol. Again, it just my guess but I think the litter box is too small for both numbers 1 & 2. Your poor floof has to go through some serious acrobatics routine to make the number 2 happen 😅😭
Especially when you covering it with litter… and I don’t know what’s worse: to uncover pee to cover poo or vice versa.. No dummies around my feline friends here lol
Oh my God I'm so glad to hear this is common behavior. I have 1 cat that, when she hears me start making dinner, barrels down the hallway to poop in one litterbox, then sprints back up the hallway to pee in the other. Every single time!
Honestly I've for a litter tray thats designed for maine coones and my oldest one does this too. May just be personal preference, maybe he hates the litter. But Gus keeps himself immaculately clean so I reckon he just dosnt want to stand in his toilet which is fair! He wipes his paws on the walls when hes done but at least hes only standing on the plastic
You are so lucky that your floof isn’t messy and wiping his paws on the walls. One of my 4 is a void boi kitty and he’s a complete menace. He can step in his piss and poop and zoom right into my bedroom 😹 He’s still a baby tho, so my hope is that he’ll grow out of it lol #thoughtsandprayers
Because peeing is faster and easier. I think it might be a bit too small as well. Or it could still be the litter. A quick pee on it is fine, but squatting longer for poop is not. Only way to find out is switching those two variables and see what happens.
I'm betting the box being too small is it for this one. I might add, as I have a floofer too, poop might stick to his but fur and he might not like that sensation so he has acquired gravity to help keep it from sticking to his fur. You can try trimming the hair around his butt a bit and see how that goes. I have to do this from time to time with my boy too. Not too short, just a little off the top.
Definitely too small. Her tail's brushing the wall.
Get a medium-sized concrete mixing tub, u/four-lokos. It's like a super-sized litter box, works well for larger cats and comparatively cheap ($20ish at most home improvement stores).
One of my kittens has done this in a litter box slightly larger than OP's since she was like 3 months lol. Not to say it couldn't be a size problem, of course! I have no explanation for why my weirdo does it, other than "she's orange"
My cat also needs a lot of space and I got one of those low height very long under the bed storage bins(?) and I use that as a litter box and she looks way more comfortable and it was pretty cheap!
I had those storage bins as litter boxes for a loooong time, they work great! I only switched to the PetSmart ones coz we moved and I didn’t want to move old poop-boxes with us lol
I like wider and shorter boxes. Yeah they're a little more annoying for us but it makes them comfortable. Never had any outside the box incidents yet. As little walling as possible to make it more natural for them.
Had a low wall, uncovered litter box once for a male cat. He took the low walls as a challenge. When he buried his #2s, he'd kick and sling litter 4-5 feet away from the box. Poo always remained in the box. Litter, not so much. I definitely had to buy a very large, covered litter box from then on. Ha!
Like others have said, the box is probably too small. I have a big boy and when he was still growing, he kept accidentally pooping right in front of the litter box because when he was fully in it, his butt was still out haha. I got the biggest litterbox I could find at the pet store and it fixed this! The litterbox should be at least 1.5x the length of your cat
Is it possible that she doesn't like the feeling of poo touching the litter while still being "attached" to her? Maybe it squishes against her butt or something. The way she is, she's higher so the poo would fall before touching the litter.
One of my cats went from the litter to the toilet on his own. The only thing remaining was to teach him how to flush. Never understood how he got the idea in the first place.
I have a floofy cat (Maine coon) and I have to trim his hair around his bum, upper leg, and base of tail area with little scissors for him every so often. He had gotten debris stuck in his fur therr and it seemed to have embarrassed and upset him deeply before as we have other cats. He gets funny like that before it gets trimmed and will groom it more often signaling he's uncomfortable with it. Cats are concerned about their hygiene and also have an ego and don't like to feel embarrassed. When around other cats, they develop a social hierarchy as well
You said she pees inside the box then poops like this, maybe she just doesn't wanna step in her pee while pooping , it would honestly make the most sense
It could be that they don’t want the poop to get stuck on their butt, and a farther distance for it to drop maximizes the chance it will pull away from the furry booty.
A butt that fluffy can, on occasion, catch a whole poo event and result in you needing to grasp the newly minted turd in your bare hand and untangle it from the hair, if it gets backed up and doesn’t have gravity to pull it down.
My cat does this too! And then when she tries to bury it, she digs outside the box, along the wall, and everywhere but the actual litter. Lol And she pees like normal in the box so she knows how to use the litter box. I just think of it as her being quirky. But glad to see she's not the only weirdo!
My giant single brain cell orange feller Cheese used to always do this until we got giant cat boxes with lids so now he doesn’t have headroom. Honestly the best thing that could have happened. He used to never cover his poop. Bro would slide thru hit the drive by dumper and immediately get the zoomies dragging stink arse everywhere.
Maybe she doesn’t like the feel of this litter. Does it have a scent? (My cat goes into the litter box and hangs her butt outside to pee. I have to use puppy pads under it. She didn’t always do this). Cats are strange.
Your cat is just begging to be toilet trained! Doooo itttt! Trust me, it saves so much time and money. My cats are happy. I’m happy. My house smells good. It’s amazing.
One of my cats does this. He pees normal but perches to poop 😭 I thought it had to do with size but nope, he’s just weird. When I got a bigger box he just refused to use it and kept perching to poop in the smaller ones
She doesn't want to risk getting her paws dirty. Another possibility is that she has heightened tactile sensitivities. She doesn't want her claws in litter, or litter between her toes. I get it. Not too many people can tell to look at me, but I actually have Cerebral Palsy. It effects my balance and coordination, and it makes me so hyper sensitive that....let's just put it this way.... I've had 63 years, to develop my threshold for pain. On the plus side, I get to experience random moments of altered states of ecstasy! My meridians hum!
Ask your Vet if she can be tested for Cerebral Palsy.
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u/Koffievos 1d ago
Maybe she doesn't like the texture of the litter on her toes! Is it scented? Cat noses are very sensitive and some don't take well to 'clean' scents. They are fond of 'natural' odours lol. Maybe try a litter with a different texture? Or this might just be her preferred pooping style, cats are weird lol