Cat-owners, does anyone have any ideas? Ferarri is driving me nuts.

[badstar]

She's driving me nuts.

If anyone knows of a reason for this, or of a good deterrent, PLEASE do tell.

Every time Ferarri uses the litterbox, she then proceeds to scratch all round- in the box, on the box, the walls and floor around the box. She does this and just doesn't stop until I literally go over there and chase her away- I've watched her do this for ten minutes or more before, figuring she'd get tired of it, but no! and sometimes after being chased away, she'll wait a minute or so and go back to continue scratching.

She'll even get up and balance on the sides of the box to scratch in different places, one after the other, in the litter, on the side of the box, on the floor, on the wall, on the other wall, back to the floor, back to the litter.

Oh my god, I can't take it.

She's done this with a couple of different litter boxes- low sides, high sides, with different types of litter, it doesn't matter if the box has been scrubbed and has brand new litter, or if it hasn't been scooped in a day. I've seen her go to the box just to scratch around the area without actually using it.

There's not problem with her actually *using* the box. She doesn't have any health problems. She just scratches incessantly.

Comments

[acousticdryad.livejournal.com]

My cat does it too, but not usually for that long. Most likely she does it because she doesn't cover up her mess well and thinks it still needs to be covered.

I just let her do it though and she stops after a minute or two. Can't offer any advice otherwise :/

[seaya.livejournal.com]

Cats do that generally. Why not get a lid?

+1

[tomatoe333.livejournal.com]

Get a lidded litter box. She'll scratch at the walls inside of it, but not outside.

Re: +1

[fuego.livejournal.com]

see my response below

[fuego.livejournal.com]

For ten minutes or more at a time, every single time they hop in the box and sometimes just for fun when they didn't need to use the box?

We've had a litter box with a lid in the past- it doesn't make a difference with the noise, and one of our cats won't use a litterbox if it has a lid.

[seaya.livejournal.com]

Some do, yeah. My cats sometimes do that. I'm afraid that if you try to change it drastically you might instead scare her off the box entirely.

Maybe try and have more scratching posts?

[fuego.livejournal.com]

Well, I've had her for a couple of years now and it hasn't scared her off the litterbox yet. I just don't know what else to do.

We do have one of those cardboard scratching boxes with the block of corrugated cardboard that you sprinkle catnip on, only a few feet from the litterbox. One would think she would prefer that for scratching just for scratching's sake but she seems to like that completely separately.

[taqaisenu.livejournal.com]

Aspen does the same. It's annoying and hilarious and friggin adorable. We use kitchen-sized trash bags as litter-box liners since Aspen hates scoopable litter. My theory is the scratching is partly to get the litter off of her paws, partly because of the phewy-stinky, and partly because she has this obsession with the sound plastic bags make.

Maybe an odor-neutralizing air freshener where the litterbox sits?

[mallyns.livejournal.com]

Do you have a litter rug? One of the ones that catches the litter and can help get it off her paws?

I have a different problem. Phantom pees all over my stuff. He's fine, he just likes his litter perfectly clean. We have to scoop after every pee and poo.

If not he pees all over anything that is mine and have my scent on it.

[friggasgirl.livejournal.com]

The scratching is actually her trying to A. mask the smell of her feces and urine (so larger "predators" don't find her) and B. to put her scent into whatever she scratches on (scent gland in the paws/claws IIRC). Do you have other animals in the house that she might be trying to alert? Is she trying to tell others that the litter area is "hers?"

Try double stick tape on the areas like the walls. Cats hate sticky tape. It helps to keep cats from clawing things like sofas. Couldn't hurt to try. You should probably keep the deterrents to a minimum (in the areas the drive you the craziest). You could run the risk of deterring her from the litterbox completely.

I hope this helps. :)

ETA: And sometimes there isn't anything you can do. My vet once told me that cats can develop emotional issues and things such OCD. LOL I'm actually not kidding!

[chironcentaur.livejournal.com]

Beatings. And lots of them. :-P

[bfuldisaster.livejournal.com]

exorcist? The cat is clearly possessed by basement kitteh.

[fuego.livejournal.com]

Hah!

I'll tell her to pray to ceiling cat for deliverance?

[bfuldisaster.livejournal.com]

I think squirting her with holy water when she starts scratching might do the trick.

[misswitch1369.livejournal.com]

My cat used to do that. I think it's because they can still smell it. I used to chase my cat, too, but she would just go back, as you described. Then I bought a spray bottle and filled it with water. Spray her. They don't like it, and it's funny! Plus, it worked for me.