Ask Mike: The litter box
Hey Guys,
Growing up, my family always had cats. And I remember, even as a kid, being amazed at how the cats always knew that they were supposed to go to the bathroom in the litter box. How the heck do they know?
This apparent talent is due in large to cat DNA. Thousands of years ago, cats out in the wild made it a habit to bury their waste so it wouldn’t be detected by predators. Thankfully, for those who adopt felines, that instinct is still around today.
Similarly, when a cat is in the wild, it will never urinate near where it sleeps. The cat’s urine gives off a strong odor that can be easily picked up by its enemies. If you find that your house cat is no longer using the litter box like it used to, it could be because the litter box has absorbed some of the odors and the cat no longer thinks its a safe place to go.
The Humane Society lists some tips on how to make sure your litter box remains up to your cat’s standards. After all, as the Humane Society points out, the last thing you want your cat to do is “think outside the box.”
Thanks for reading,
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Yes right the cats have instinct sometimes you dont even need to teach them some cats espeially abandoned ones will know!
why do humans go in a toilet and not on your foot hmmmm?
Hey why does their litter box smell so bad I mean I clean the litter every day and use the smelly litter and it still smells anyway to take out the smell?
cats don’t pee.
Ive always been amazed, too. Dogs dont know, they crap on the floor even when they just came in from outside. Human kids still crap themselves until they are potty trained at around the age of 3. So much for intelligence, huh? My cat is smarter than a three year old human.
Hi Mike, I believe cats are very intelligents animals and they go to the litter box because they have goods senses specially the scent (smell).
cats like to hide their wastes.
give them a place they can bury it, thats where they go.
when i was a kid we had a cat door, and i had a sandbox to play in outside. wasnt long before i found out an uncovered sandbox and cats doesnt result in sand you want to play with….
i’ve seen kittens go right for the litter filled tray as soon as they can see it.
its instinctual for them to go wherever it is they can bury it. and usually where they can bury it EASILY. go rototill a corner in your yard and totally loosen the dirt, dont be suprised if your cat is over there doing its business 5 minutes later. i’ve seen it happen.
Definitely right I never want my cat to think outside the box.
good
Awesome information. So it is a good idea that we change our cats’ litter often!
Excellent exam.it should be listed some tips on how to make sure your litter box remains up to your cat’s standards.
Thanks Mike! I’ve often wondered that myself..Good info!
That’s adorable!
they also can sense a earthquake seconds before it happens! amazing creatures.
nice
According to a knowledge of cats residing in places of negative energy fields, perhaps it has to do with it. People should avoid places where they often reside.
Good post and right on track. Litter box use really is in the DNA for cats.
My girlfriend and I feed a neighborhood stray cat, and a couple of times when she (the cat) has gotten hurt we’ve had her stay inside for a few days to convalesce. We know that the cat was previously abandoned by humans that moved away so she WAS living with people full-time at one point, but even so we were impressed that after years of street life she had no problems with using a litter box (or, rather, not using one) while she was staying with us.
I have cat named misty and is sometimes
If not mysterious at times. Anyway misty
She is an ok cat. She keeps me
Company all the time, yeah. Well I also
Clean the the cat litter yeah thats
Me. That’s is how I roll. Niki
“Due in large?” I think you mean “largely due.” Meaning mainly due to whatever.
“In large” would actually mean “enlarged” if it were real English–which it isn’t.
Unfortunately this little piece of information was posted a little too late for me. I just got my cat, as of last week, to start using his litterbox again. I threw out the old litter and washed it outside with soap and the hose to get the pee smell out. My cat was peeing all over the living room of the house, mainly in the corners. I was at wit’s end and about to give him up, but after I cleaned his box, he smelled around it for about five minutes (Inspecting it I guess?) and finally crawled in and did his business. Spot on, Mike!
i guess they’re like us humans.. i mean, we need we know to go to the loo, they know they gotta go in the litter box. ^^
your so cool
Well apparently one of my cats doesn’t have these instincts. She just poops in the yard like a dog and walks away, doesn’t even attempt to bury it. Kinda funny to see actually.
That’s why cats are cool, when we had a dog I woke up and step on dog piss, and it crap all over the house
Cats instinctively cover up the scent of their presence, and this includes their scat. Why? Those cats who DIDN’T cover up their scat, alerted their prey (OH … there are CATS around here!), the prey left the area, the cats starved to death, and had no babies to pass on their careless ways to.
Those cats who automatically covered up their scat, had good hunting, lived to have babies who inherited this instinctive habit.
cat don’t allow to enter the human toilet , i think it is best prevention for badly cent.
I heard they smell the scent of the kitty litter and that’s how they know that’s where they’re supposed to go.
I once had a cat that jumped up onto our toilet, and used it just like a human!
It is just natural the kitten just knows just like we know how to breath
My cats don’t like having their litter box cleaned. I guess it’s because it takes away their scent and they start going on the floor.
Cat litter smells so it attracts the cats and makes them want to pee and poo in there
It’s instinct.
they poop in the nearest sand like material
My cat uses our toilet, litter boxes are a thing of the past.
It’s a miracle.
By nature Cats must or like to be clean so they cover up there mess. There liter box is the only thing that they can go in and cover it up. They can’t go on the carpet or the wood floor so they find the liter box and they are happy little campers. Even out side they find someplace that they can cover it up. That is why as a child I didn’t like to play in a sand box.
Litter pans should be replaced at least twice a year because no matter how much you clean and wash them, the cat urine will etch the pan and that’s where the odor comes from. And cats being built close to the ground are the first ones to smell an old pan in need of replacement.
great article. i too always pondered this…and now i ponder this no longer.
I saw a video on youtube where a guy had built a small box with a button that when pushed down it would make a noise. He put it outside the door and wired it to a speaker or something inside, so whenever the cat pushed the button, the owner would hear it and open the door for it.
It’s pretty cool to see an animal be able to adapt to technology so easily. =)
(I would have posted a link but I have no idea what the video is named).
When I get a kitten, I put them in the litter box after they’ve eaten. I take their little paws and make them making scratching motions in the clay litter. Works every time.
WE “taught our baby kitten to use the liter box by putting both in the bath tub. (no water in it) Easy as pie, guess we really didn’t teach her, huh?
When my old cat Opie was on litter-box strike he would protest by using the bath-tub!
Cats learn a lot from their moms, like “this is where you pee and poop.” That’s why it is recommended that you keep the kittens with the mom for a minimum of 8 weeks but 10 weeks is far better because normal cat manners get hardwired by that time. Cats that have been taken from their mom’s before then often haven’t quite learned that they always have to use the box and will start going other places, along with having other issues.
To keep the litter box from smelling, you have to put in new litter at least once a month. At the same time, wash thoroughly whatever the litter is in.
Cats are clean creatures. They don’t want their waste laying around wherever just as much as you don’t.
If they quit using their litter box, CLEAN IT MORE.
You don’t want to crap in a crap-filled toilet, do you?
Cats don’t either.
My daughter has a 8 month old female kitten and it is so funny to watch her telling my daughter when to change her litter box.
They go there because it is easy to bury the dooty. Look at a sand box outside if cats live nearby, cats will use it instinctively. I worked at a golf course and there were mountain lions and bobcats are around and they will use the sand traps. They make perfect litter boxes and an easy place to bury their dooty. It is like a natural toilet for the kitty.
I see a comment about putting the box in the bathtub for the new kitty. Good idea then kitty will use the bathtub if there is something wrong with the box or it is inaccessible. Point of interest; NEVER reprimand a cat for going in the bathtub or shower. If you do, you will regret it. The bathtub in many cases seems to be an emergency alternative for many kitties, leave it that way. Reprimanding them for using the tub will make them go elsewhere that is not as easy to clean up. Be glad they use the tub or shower if they have an emergency, such as if the door to the room where the box is located is closed.
Funny story about sand boxes.
I moved into a new house with a beautiful fireplace with white sand in it. I has boxes and boxes of new flooring stacked in front of the fire place for quite some time. After a while it started to stink in that room, I started to investigate, and found the source in the fire place. I had to remove all the nice white sand and bleach the fire place. How could I get mad at the kitties for doing what came naturally? That white sand made a nice place for litter. They probably thought, new house, new litter box.
Please SPAY & NEUTER YOUR CATS, D*M IT!! Even if the cat ‘show’s’ up in your yard, usually called a ‘Feral Cat’, most belonged to someone at one time. Many ‘Rescuses’ will help you, catch them & spay/neuter them, call a Pet Store that allow’s Rescuses to use their store, for addoptions. They can give you some number’s f Rescues, YES, a cat can be pregrant & nursing a litter of kittens, they usually go into ‘Heat’ 2wks. after they give birth, in 1yr. you can have 50 cat’s & kittens in your yard. If you don’t want to bother, take them to a Shelter, or have a Rescue do it for you. If your feeding ‘stray cats’, by Law they are your’s.
A outside pet is ‘Coyote Candy’!!
Many kittens will be using a litter box by 3-4wks, one that has been ‘used’ once or twice gives them the idea. If your cat is using a corner, maybe they don’t like your choice of Litter, or they are sick, the only way they can tell you.
If the box smell’s it’s what your feeding them. Only feed ‘Premium’ food, not the cheapiest, it cost more, but is better for them, thay eat less, you save on Vet bills & have less ‘smell’.
If a cat makes your yard their home, do some of what I wrote above…THERE IS WORSE THNGS THEN DEATH!!
I live in So.Calif. My cats have never showed when there will be an Earthquake. They all hide, some we didn’t find for 2 days or more, Alway’s thinking they got outside somehow. A few packs of Coyotes, stayed behind our home, howling with every aftershock.
Ever see the area ‘Charlie Manson’ lived, outside of Los Angeles”? I live in that area,
Even with all the Million Dollar houses, or the ‘Ticky Tacky houses, our city allowed to be built. Which ‘Drove’ out most of our Wildlife, there are still a pack or 2 around. Many of th Million Dollar houses are empty,. the Wildlife took back their homes…He!..He!
Felines usually grow up wild in sandy places. They bury their feces in the sand to prevent our so predators can’t find them.
*odor
i rescue cats and the baby kitten i took in last night when it went down to 32 degrees knew to go into the litter box i set up with m,any torn up strips of news paper she was dropped off by someone that just didn’t want the responsibility to care for her and when we heard the car speed away we look outside and she was trying to get some of the older unrelated cats to adopt he but didn’t even realize they weren’t mother cats. So in we took her she’s only about three weeks old.
Because cats have instincts to pee in the litter box or their mother teaches them. And to whoever said cats don’t pee, yes they do you idiot!
I belive no animal is stupid, but some animals can perform human activities, so we think they are smart, like cats.
P.S Rabbits can do this too
Cats usually don’t know at first. Thats until you show them where the litterbox is and , when they start to go to the bathroom, you pick them up and bring them to the litterbox.
They just see sand and go! cats just know to go in sandy places. sadly that makes it hard to own a sandbox x.x
Well I also had cats, 2 to be exact. They were given to us when we they were about 8 weeks old by my mother’s close friend. When they were given to us, we asked how we would teach them to be potty-trained. She told us they were already trained by there mom! so i don’t skill is innate, but just let the cat spend some time with mommy and maybe she will train them.
my cat always used to play in his litter box haha
As with all animal behaviour, we can only deduct (i.e. best guess) why they do it. Until anyone can actually ask a cat and comprehend it’s answer.
But they do mostly do it yes. They do it in the wild so humans exploit this by providing an area of diggable material suitable for this use.
The whys and whatfors of them doing it can only be guessed.
Di not assume that just because cats do not talk they are stupid. Some of them are smart enough to listen to and partially understand what humans are talking about, especially if it is something about them. My cat was actually showing reaction to it and she always turns her ears in the direction of the speaker, which indicates that she is listening.
I don’t know about the part where you said cats do not urinate near where they sleep. It seems to me that a lot of people that have house cats also have a house that stinks like cats. That is why it is so much better to have a house goat than a house cat.
Actually not every cat will use a litter box right away, and if a kitten was orphaned at a very young age and did not get to be around other cats, they will almost never bury their waste. I’ve fostered many orphans and it’s a pain when they miss out on learning from their mother. They don’t know how to groom themselves properly, and they leave their waste unburied. It is not something they know automatically, it is something they learn. I’ve spent much time teaching orphans how to groom themselves, and showing them how to bury their poop..
A cat will instinctively dig in soft loose material, and prefer to eliminate there.. but burying it is learned.. Also if you don’t show a kitten a litter box they won’t just use it.. Most times you actually have to put some other cat poop in there first, once they smell it there, then they connect the dots. It’s best just to have them in with another cat who knows to use the box, because they learn from observing them. But with orphans that’s not always possible, especially if they are sick and have to be quarantined from other cats.
it appears that cats have a certain instinct that makes them different from other in house animals. I just bought my cat a self cleaning litter box and he actually had no trouble actually adapting to it and its use. Great Post!!