Litter box being digging playtime

[sharper]

Hailey has definitely got the hang of the litter box.   I’m very confident with her keeping the cage clean and the play area clean.  She always runs to the litter box when she needs to go.

Bailey has not got the hang of it yet.  She hops in sometimes, and sometimes she just picks her own corner…same with the cage and the play area.  I’m still patient in working with her on that.  But the last couple of days, she has found the litter box to be fun.  She doesn’t dig in the bedding in the cage, but she loves digging in the litter.  This scatters all the poo all over the cage and the same with the play area.  It really defeats the whole purpose of litter box training if it’s just going to me scattered everywhere anyway.  

Any suggestions on how to keep her from digging in it?  in the play area, I laid some some blankets so she can dig and bunch in, and the cage has plenty of bedding, so I’m not sure why she is obsessed with the litter box.  Should I change litter maybe?  I can try the heavier recycled newspaper pellets.  Maybe if it’s heavier, she won’t like digging in it.  I dunno.

Oh also, I don’t know if this is related to her recent humping obsession.  She started this a couple days ago too.  Hailey seemed to be the dominate one at first when I got them home.  Then just a couple days ago, Bailey started humping her.  Hailey lets it happen for a few seconds, then she spins around and bites Bailey.  It didn’t seem to get violent, really, so i didn’t worry about it.  Just let them sort it out.  Maybe Bailey’s frustration with wanting to be the dominate one is causing her to take her frustration out on the litter box.  Or maybe I’m looking too much into it.   But the humping has continued and seems to get more frequent.  She doesn’t do it when they are in the cage at all.  They lay down and snuggle together in the cage, but in the play area, Bailey gets excited, runs around and then the humping continues.  Tonight, I left them in the play area for awhile and when I went in to check on them, there were about 4 clumps of Bailey’s hair  on the floor and Hailey’s hair was sticking up in a couple places as if it was pulled.  I didn’t hear any aggressive noises, so I’m not sure if it’s getting violent or not.  There aren’t any marks from each other and before I knew it, they were grooming each other and snuggling again.  Do you think this is related to the litter box digging?

[jerseygirl]

I don’t know if it’s related….some just love to dig! Try putting a grate (like a cake rack) over most of the litter, then put a little bit more on top of that, or some hay on top. She might then go for the alternitive you’ve given her – the blankets and such.

I was watching my girl dig out in the dirt today.  It’s pretty cute how they hoist up the bum so the dirt can go flying thru underneath!

[skibunny8503]

I had the same problem with Archie digging in his litter.  I bought this cat litter box from Petsmart.  It comes with a tray with holes but I took that out.  For the hay rack I bought a toliet paper holder made from wire that hangs on the litter box.  He can dig as much as he wants without making a mess

[lilmizzsnickerz]

i used a massive paint tray and then got a smaller one then smaller … it worked for me lol

[sharper]

Posted By skibunny8503 on 02/15/2009 10:44 AM

I had the same problem with Archie digging in his litter.  I bought this cat litter box from Petsmart.  It comes with a tray with holes but I took that out.  For the hay rack I bought a toliet paper holder made from wire that hangs on the litter box.  He can dig as much as he wants without making a mess

Thanks for the idea!  Right now, that would definitely not fit in our cage, but it will work great with the play area.  I plan to work on a NIC cage when we move into our townhome in 2 weeks.  Then maybe I can fit one of those in there.  also an awesome idea for the hay holder!

[skibunny8503]

Your welcome!  I got the toliet paper holder idea from someone else on the board that posted their cage setup pics and had a big one that held 4 for their’s.  Pet stores never sell good hay holders.  The only thing is, I had to cut out a piece of card board for the bottom of it, but he loves it.

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