It is like this. Cats are naturally inclined to cover up their feces. This is because the ancestors of cats, and even cats in reality, belong to the bottom of the food chain in nature. Many animals, even other cats, feed on cats. Stray cats in cities are often killed by stray dogs. Cats include domestic cats and wild cats. Wild cats are cats in documentaries. Domestic cats are divided into domestic pet cats and stray cats.
Behavior is complex. There are many variables, and every individual is different.
Cats who are separated from their moms very early for any reason must learn this skill without observing their mom. Some kittens are still learning to be poop coverers, so they may not do it all the time or even at all. In general, adults cats are more likely to cover their poop than kittens are.
Animals have a very sensitive sense of smell, so they can often find their prey through excrement. Therefore, cats have learned the skill of burying feces, which can greatly reduce the risk of exposure.
Of course, cats have a low IQ, so the basis for judging whether the feces are buried is the change in smell before and after. If the front is smelly and the back is fresh, it means that it is buried. Otherwise, it should continue to be buried.
Let’s figure out the reasons Why Cats Don’t Always Cover Their Poop together.
First of all, we need to understand the reasons why cats bury their feces:
1. Innate awareness:
The survival of cats’ ancestors in the wild has taught them to follow their elders to learn how to avoid other powerful predators and cover up their own smell.
2. Territorial awareness:
Cats will declare their sovereignty by leaving the smell of their feces
Why don’t they know how to bury their feces?
In fact, many of cats’ skills are learned from their mothers. Domestic cats will gradually forget their original habits when they leave their elders’ teachings. Cats are sensitive to changes in the environment, and alert cats will not choose to go to the toilet. The owner may not be used to the new cat litter that it changes, and it may be disgusted by the smell. Some owners are too lazy to shovel for it and do not keep a clean cat litter box. As a result, it is dissatisfied with the dirty owner’s service.
So how should we teach cats to use the litter box:
- Put the litter box in a relatively quiet place
- Clean the litter box in time after the cat defecates
- Do not change the type of cat litter frequently
- Guide the cat patiently and do not rush
But if there is a strange smell in the house, the cat will get used to it and will not think that the poop is dangerous. Similarly, cats do not like to bury the poop for other cats. In reality, cats are not social animals, so some habits have not changed.
So cats think that the current environment is not threatening, and secondly, they think that the threat is others, so they don’t bury it.
So what people have to do is to help cats bury their poop if they don’t bury it, and ventilate it in time. It is also best to prepare an oversized litter box, or several, and change the cat litter frequently. It is best to use tofu cat litter.
Regarding this issue, my first reaction is: It’s good enough for the master to poop in the cat litter box, and you still expect it to bury it? It’s a bit too much to ask?
However, in the spirit of science, this article briefly discusses why cats do not bury their feces and whether there are any effective countermeasures.
Strictly speaking, not burying feces can be said to be a behavioral problem, or it can be said that it is not a behavioral problem.
Cats that walk alone in the wild will bury their excrement tightly with soil and dry grass to prevent predators from discovering their tracks.
However, cats that live in small groups (especially female cat groups in the wild) and have a clear advantage in status will deliberately not bury their feces to declare their territory. The effect is the same as urine marking, which may also happen in a multi-cat environment.
The above are all research results on wild cats. Some animal behaviorists study cats raised indoors, especially in families with few cats (single or double cats). They believe that these cats are pampered in an indoor environment, so they will not feel the threat of heaven and earth, so not burying feces becomes a matter of course. If your cat is in this situation and does not bury its feces, it may need additional training. During the socialization training of kittens, it is also possible that they did not learn to bury their feces because they did not meet a “good mother”. This is also possible, and it also needs training.
The training method is actually not that difficult, but it requires patience and timing. After the cat is pooping, hold its little paws and teach it to dig cat litter. If it buries it obediently, give it a snack reward.
In addition to the above “behavioral problems“, there may be two major reasons why cats do not bury their feces: cat litter box and cat litter, and disease reasons.
The cat litter box is too small, the position is wrong, the cat litter box is too dirty, the cat litter texture is not good, the cat litter tastes bad, etc. These may become the reasons why cats “escape” after pooping.
Medical problems include: constipation, intestinal problems, urinary system problems, these problems will cause pain in the cat’s lower body, so they will associate pain with the cat litter box, so they will escape after pooping.
Finally, it should be mentioned that cats who have undergone claw surgery will encounter the same problem, so don’t do it.
As is the case with so many behaviors that we expect animals to know how to do, they actually need to learn to perform the behavior. This is true of covering poop by cats.
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