My kitty feels the need to monitor me while I’m cleaning his litter box. When I bring out the bag, he knows what time it is, and runs to the room where his litter box is, and watches me clean it. After I’m done, he goes into his littler box to evenly distributed the litter. If I don’t clean his litter box, he will come and tell me to clean it. I even talked him through the process of me cleaning his litter box. He just sat quietly while I scooped and talked. He’s such a good kitty. He makes the daunting task of scooping poop a lot more bearable.

One time I was eating pasta and I dropped a meatball on the floor and my cat ran over and tried to bury it 🤣

I have a multi-cat household and one cat doesn't cover her poop but then the little one will come over and do it for her. Sometimes she's not done and he's covering LOL

And here I was thinking my Calico was wiping her paws clean on the wall next to her litter box 😂. I was ready to mount a small toilet roll dispenser next to it.

My cat doesn’t cover and paws at the walls of the top/cover of the box

Jackson galaxy is the one person I would love to meet out of anyone in the world. He has made so much lives better and is a nice person to everyone even if your wrong he still has the best intentions I just love this greetings from the Netherlands.

I moved my cats litter box right next to an open window (with a screen) and he immediately started covering his feces! I think it was the scents of other animals from outside that made him decide that he didn’t want his scent lingering around. Worked for 2 of my friends as well. Best!

Thanks Jackson for saying that the lady and her relationship with him have nothing to do with it! I often feel like I am doing something wrong as one of my cats is (and always has been) a wallflower :( Her kittenhood was horrible, she was separated from her siblings too young and never got over it I think. I've always done the best I can for her and got her a baby sister recently (which helped a lot as she acts like a real cat when they play together and chase each other around the house) but her true self will always be one of a quiet skittish cat.

Jackson, I don’t know how you always manage to have a video about a topic I LITERALLY just previously had questions about. YOU’RE PSYCHIC! Thanks so much for all your help!

Ty Aileen for reaching out to Jackson about your sweet Dexter. ❤️ My middle guy is a scratcher (to a lesser extent now that he’s older). I adopted him at 7 weeks from the animal control facility. He’s 11 now and the most skittish of his two brothers. I have always babied him - now it’s time to work on his cat mojo. ✨✨

My cat buries her poop and then takes it out to play soccer with it around my apartment

How about my cat who never covers his poop, but goes through the motions of covering in the vicinity of his litter box by scratching a little at the floor around it... lol Edit: looking through the comments here, I had no idea how common this is!

Why I thought the purple chair was a part of his arms and that he was ripped AF

Interesting! My rescue kittens do this with their litter and food, especially my female. Thank you!

I took that advice of the softer litter and it’s definitely better. Arm and hammer clump and seal is the sand like litter. M girls love it.😻😻 Thank you Jackson

My fluff boi never covers his poop, he scratches the walls and floor instead of the litter to cover it. He seems genuinely confused. I catch our fem fluff covering his poop for him sometimes.

Whenever the litter box is cleaned, my cat gets really excited & starts digging & running around in it until most of the litter is outside of the box then he lays on it .-.

Going to a larger litterbox made my cats stop scratching the sides and walls.

Thank you for answering this question. My younger cat started not covering his poop after we last moved. In the original appartment he had his own room because he was so skittish and unsure of himself. We got him from someone who kept him in a cage for the first 5 months of his life so we were worried a whole first floor would be too much. So his litter box was just his and he covered his poop. He had calmed down by the time we moved, and in the new apartment it was a more communal space for our cats and he suddenly stopped covering his poop. It's been driving me crazy. Though, it's really cute our older cat will wait and go in to cover it sometimes. If he also needs to go. Our older cat likes to use the same litter box as the other one despite having several boxes.

Suzi (yeah, Siamese) usually buries it, BUT on occasion, she'll back one out in the litterbox, with dimensions that will do a Doberman proud - it gets left atop for all to admire & can usually clear the room ...

i adopted a 7yo cat a year ago. she likes enclosed litter boxes (rather than open trays) and has two in an apartment. she's been very happy since!

Thank you for this! Our cat Toast had a different owner before us. They had her inside and left her outside and now that Toast is full time inside, she does this and I had no idea how to help her until now.

Jackson you are great! Thank you for all your videos!!!

Omg my cat does this too! It totally makes sense as a nervous habit from her pre-adoption background. I did notice playing with her helped, but the litter box advise should help too. Thanks!

I love your channel. You are an advocate for cats and I thank you for that.

Lmfao every time I need to search something about my girl, you pop up! I'm so thankful you and the wonderful people that submit their questions, are available to provide help, knowledge and questions 😸

He looks so good and so confident now!

It's so important to teach humans how to handle their cats properly. Thanks from all the cats worldwide! Meow! 😺

My cat never covers his poop, instead he bangs on the wall of the litter box for what seems like minutes, then jumps out and leaves the stinky mess for me to find. His sister seems to be able to cover her poop just fine. Can you crack this case, Jackson?

Just happened upon your KZfaq page. Absolutely love your instructional videos; gonna take time every now and then to watch each one...

thank you for the video!! many questions answered

Thank you very much for info. trying to cover wet food after eating, now I know for sure pick it up & put bck n fridge.😻

Thank you so much. I thought I was alone in having this trouble with my cat and had tried everything I could think of. But didn't know how to ask this to an expert.

Jackson Galaxy has such a fun way of explaining - my cat actually watches with me (think he finds Jackson's voice soothing or something... Have gifted so many copies of 'Total Cat Mojo' to friends & acquaintances but still find the KZfaq tutorials so informative (especially love Dictionary corner 😊) Namaste everyone xx

My tuxedo does this too. He learned hid to cover from his adopted mom who would clean up after my senior cat who wouldn’t cover. Now he double covers poop when litter boxes are used (poop/pee is covered but he will cover it again or cover if I clean the boxes). He also covers food bowls. I just start clapping which distracts him, them get his attention with a toy. My cat just gets in a zone and clapping then giving him a toy helps break that hyper focus covering.

Jackson is the man! I would love to see him when he comes to Milwaukee.

My cat does the same thing at 5 years old as well. Im going to start with changing litter and feeding time instead of free feeding. Thank you!

I am glad I saw this video. One of my cats covers her poop every time. The other one sometimes can do it, but a lot of the time just scratches the litter box. I was thinking that she might not be that bright.

Did anyone else watch the lava lamp? LOL

Awesome advice Jackson!!

I have 3 large litter boxes for my 2 cats thanks to your advice years ago! My older cat scratched EVERYTHING when eating or using the box. They scratch the box the walls the floor their food dish, everything. My younger cat doesn’t bury her poop EVER. She lets that shit fumes spread all over with pride where she gets mad if I cover it. I can always tell when she poops lol

I love arm & hammer slide clumping litter. It’s so soft and easier to deal with. Also does better with neutralizing the smell. I bought tidy cats cause it was on sale and decided I’ll pay the extra bucks. Less dust too.

My oldest cat (15) spent a few years indoor/outdoor and was a very successful hunter. She will spend 10 minutes to cover her poop. My youngest never hunted a day in her life, she once caught a bug, and very gently carried it to my bed, still alive. She makes no attempt at covering her poop. She does go strait to the kibble after pooping tho, I imagine her butt is empty so she has to refill it.

Dexter: I'm sooper steaphy, you cannot seez meh you cannot smellz meh.

I love this video, thank you.

Wow perfect timing! I recently sent in the same question!

Great video! I also bought a cat mojo wand toy earlier this week and my kitty LOVES to play with it! Its also so comfortable for me because I can change the length as well as it packing up really easily. So for every cat owner reading this: Look into Galaxy's toys! They are really good! Love from Sweden

This is very helpful! We've tried a bunch of things for my cat who doesn't bury his poop/pee. We have 4 boxes for my 3 cats, 2 of the boxes are in very "public" places, we scoop 2-3x a day, have HUGE litter boxes, the whole 9 yards, but one of the cats still has an issue. He doesn't bury poop with the litter, instead he gets out of the box and scratches on the tile/carpet/wall like he's burying it with air. But we've only ever tried different kinds of clumping clay litter. Maybe it bothers his paws and he needs something else! I always chalked it up to the fact that I hands-raised him so he's not good at being a cat 😹

It's so cute when I tell my kitten there's no one to steal her dinner if she wants to leave some. She gives me a meiow and looks at me like I'm dumb 🤪 LOL. She also wants to help me when I'm fishing for her gifts in her litter tray.. it's like she's saying "Look Mum, I've covered everything perfectly here! Why are you doing that?!"... 🤣😂🤣😂🤣😂🤣🖤🖤🖤

Thanks Aileen for this Question!

Great tips, Cat Daddy! 💐💐

My Mom’s cat ( Socks),has to be over 10yrs. old. She was spayed years ago when she was an older kitten. Over the last 6 months a stray male cat has been frequently visiting Mom’s backyard, for meals and rest. And now for the last few months Socks has stopped burying her poop. And she occasionally poops on the floor instead. Even though Mom keeps the litter box clean. I suspected that the stray cat was making Socks anxious. Now I’m sure that his presence has altered her pooping habits. This stray cat has been intimidating Socks lately by trying to block her from entering & existing Mom’s house. I hope that this outdoor cat can be accepted in a shelter soon. Because I already have 2 fixed, indoor only female cats, and none of our family or friends want to adopt a cat. Thanks for sharing your video. BTW, I Love your videos, so I’m a subscriber.😺

Thanks for the video! My cat does not cover her poop, and she scratches the sides of the litter box like she is covering it. 🤣 I’ve tried different litters, it doesn’t matter same behavior.

Excellent video!!!

Hi Jackson. My cat watch me when i usually went to the bathroom and use the tiolet. She will sits infront of me and came around the tiolet and want to look inside. She is very clever. The one time i forget to put the litter then she went to the tiolet and do her thing there in the tiolet on the floor or sometimes she would sit in the shower doing her thing. Which made me realise that she is clever to do her thing privately. And when i saw her poop, she is always there watching me get rid of the poop. Thank you Jackson

One of my four cats does this (wall and extra scratching around litterbox), despite being most confident and only male, other 3 are females and he's the top of the group generally no one picks on him, he can pick on everyone i.e. It hasn't been distruptive just I know when he's in there because after he's done he'll like 'wash' his paws off habitually on everything directly around the litter box before coming out.

Thank you Jackson

Once in a great while, I can't find my cat's favorite wet food and have to substitute another brand. Without fail, if she dislikes it, she will hold steady eye contact with me while she scratches around the dish to mimic covering cat poop. This is deliberate, pointed, and meant to convey a message directly to me how disgusted she is with that food. She was a foundling at three weeks of age and is about to turn eight. She has never had a problem conveying to me exactly what's on her mind, and man, she's got opinions.

My cats ages ranges from 11 weeks to 3 years old. All are litter trained but some still go #2 outside the box no matter what I've tried. Cleaning 2-3 times a day and sometimes using Arm & Hammer deodorizer in the box. I have boxes spaced out and placed wherever they have gone so they continue to go there like you said in previous litter problem videos. I've learned to let it ride and just clean it up when I can. Nothing else works. They even go in the bathtub sometimes. Not one has any health issues and all poop is normal & healthy looking.

My cat is weird about the litterbox. Reading the comments, it sounds like many people have the same behavior in their cats. She will dig a tiny bit in the litter beforehand, eliminate, then scratch for a prolonged period of time at the walls of the litter box while never burying or covering her waste at all. Her litter box isn't covered, it just has raised walls. I'm using the Tidy Cats XL with pine pellet bedding for litter, so the box is quite large. She's ~9 months old, so still a kitten technically (don't know the exact age as she was rescue) and has plenty of space in the box. She just never covers, though, and paws loudly for minutes at the walls. A few times she kind of even climbed standing precariously on top of the thin walls and hopping out rather than walking through the opening in the front (she has no problem entering through this way). My best guess is that she doesn't like the texture of the pine pellet litter, but are cats really that sensitive to the texture? In the wild they would be living in sand, gravel, mud, forest floors with dirt, loam, leaves, sticks, and twigs. I can't believe this ingrained nature of wild instinct would really be so sensitive about variations in "soil" texture which are all at the end of the day similar to soils they would encounter in the wild. I don't think it's a confidence issue as she doesn't bury and she is not an anxious or flighty cat. I can't speak too much to her "mojo", but while she does start at sudden/loud noises (what cat doesn't?) she is completely unbothered by new humans or animals like dogs. She's an only pet in my house, but came from a foster family that had a few dogs. She's kind of a big loaf. Most of the time she just wants to cuddle and sleep in my lap or just mozy around and do her own thing. A few other quirks as I've written this massive post... she doesn't have a lot of interest in play. She will a little bit with string/feather/lure toys and laser pointers, but most days I can't get her to take an interest in them and at best get a few lazy bats. Once a week or so she will really get into it and go after them, but that's all, and for a young cat still in kittenhood that is odd. Especially since she does often exhibit behavior of a cat getting "bored". She's often pawing at closet doors trying to get into them jsut to see what's in there. Jumping onto desks and things. I gave her a nice big cat tower in front of a window to the back with full view of the back yard, garden, woods and treeline, but she basically doesn't use it unless I put her up there, and then only stays while I pet her. She prefers the big bay window in the front, which makes sense as it gets more sun, just odd that she never indulges in the elevation despite wanting to be on desks and that I can rarely get her to engage in play even when she actively is behaving bored and restless.

Jackson muchas personas te seguimos desde Latinoamérica, por favor publica en también tus contenidos subtitulados.😽 Gracias

My cat's behavior regarding this has changed. I think she's quite territorial. She started only partially burying her poop when there were other cats and dogs wandering around the area, and when we took in one of the other apartment's cat (he got lost and went down a few floors, we found the owner and returned him within the day), she started leaving it out for a week. She buries it again now.

Recently my cat started rolling around in his litterbox . Sometimes even when it's soiled. He looks really happy doing it. And i notice he usually does it as soon as I come home. I have another cat. They've been living together for 5 years.

I feel so fortunate. Mine buries a hole beforehand and then afterwards buries it, only sometimes spilling a little litter.

Jackson, may your Mojo never leave....Meows to you Cat Daddy.

Loved it! My Luna buries her wet food if she doesn't want what I feed her, lol!

Thank you

I think it’s funny because if someone comes to my house and my cat gets bad vibes from that person, she purposely poops and doesn’t cover it so that they can leave😂😂😂😂

Thank you for your information 🐈‍⬛🐈🐈‍⬛🐈

Wow such great advice

One of my outside cats trys to cover his food with dirt when he is done eating

Years ago, my vet wanted me to try to switch my senior cats to a wet diet (they'd been on dry all their lives). I told her that I had offered different kinds of wet food in the past, but it hadn't gone well. She said, "Does he gag and try to bury it?" Me: "YES!!!! Other cats do that?!?!" Apparently, yes, that's a thing. Here I thought my cat was a total weirdo. He would walk up, sniff the food, and full-on wretch before trying to bury it. We never did make the switch. (My current cat is on wet food, though.)

My kitten had a habit of eating his litter but I wasn’t aware till I caught him in action. Clump litter is bad very very bad for kittens, he was drooling and foaming and having a lot of seizures but now he is better after a visit to the vet. Changed the litter to pellets (shred news paper works as well or uncooked rice)

Some of my cats sometimes scratch the counter next to their food bowl and I have learned that is their way of telling me they don't like that food, especially if I open another can and they eat that right away. Sometimes the food I am feeding them has been out with a cover on it, but it's not fresh and sometimes other of my cats do eat that same food, so I think the one cat is maybe pickier and doesn't like that variety. So freshness of the food can matter, because sometimes when the food is not fresh all my cats sniff it and walk away.

If my cats aren't having any trouble with free-feeding would you still recommend switching to meal times? My cats don't burry or dig in their food, they share food well with no fuss or bullying, and they are, and have always been, at a healthy weight.

Now that you've done this, please do pros and cons of different litter choices. I went from traditional litter for decades to wood pellets and sifting this past year and haven't looked back! Better air quality, much cheaper,. pellets disintegrate from the pee and very little odor.

I had a cat that would try to cover dog vomit when our dog got sick on the floor. It looked like he was trying to help me clean it up, before I got out the stuff to clean it up myself.

Thanks Jackson my cat is happy and full of mojo she is a cat in charge thanks for your advice

So on point! I have 5 cats and they all bury their poop EXCEPT for my 13 year old who is Alpha! After she uses the box, she sometimes scratches at the wall, but usually she just stalks off. Lol

I have three cats, two of them used to wipe their paws on the floor after eating one kind of dry cat food, and they did this all the time. I bought a different kind of dry cat food and gave them a choice while still keeping the first kind available. They gradually moved to the new food and I removed the old kind. The wiping of the paws on the floor has stopped, so I'm pretty sure that there was a change made to the old food that they didn't like, because they didn't always do this, it started some time later as they were growing up.

What kind of litter does Jackson recommend?

My cat loudly announces when he has to poop. He leans toward the constipated side but he's regular and my vet doesn't know why. I wonder if he's being polite or asking me to watch out for predators? Any ideas? 🤔

My previous Maine Coon didn't bury her poop (she was an only child) and my new 5 year old Maine Coon doesn't bury his either (the pound picked him up off the street). He was the only cat for a month. The new little barn cat buries her poop...and she tends to bury his for him. She's dominant over him. They never growl at each other even when playing or when he is upset with her.

one of my cats doesnt cover his pop. and he's the jerk of the family. my other cat is very timid (sadly we're her 3rd home so i think she's been thru some things) but she used to take all of her toys and cover her food bowl when she was done. every single meal. she's finally past time a few years down the line, but every now and then i find a toy in there.

June 10?? But I need it now!! Just kidding my kitties bowel habits are fine. I’ll be watching though cause you never know😉😷

I need some help! I recently got my 6 month old kitten a friend who's about 4months old. I believe the new kitten isnt always using the litter box. I have 2 in one area and 1 in another area. 2 dont have coverings. I'm not sure what to do. Dont understand why she will use the little box and other times she wont.

My neighbors outdoor cat digging the hole in the garden but always poo poo on the side and never bury it, sometimes even start poo while digging in the front or even poo everywhere on the floor or carpet wherever the cat eat😓

I will soon become 1st time cat owner. How many times a day should I feed my cat. Thanks. You are the Best. I'm learning a lot from your channel.

No problems in covering pee or poop. Mine is when I FINALLY switched to clumping litter (my cats are 13 and 14), my tuxedo sometimes puts his butt right into it as he's peeing, so his behind is wet with small clumps that he tracks on my rug and floor, especially if he sits! I find myself following him and wiping him afterwards, only when I'm able. It's a chore, of course, but I can't switch back to nasty clay. I've seen the pellets or the wood litters, but reluctant to try. I'm going to write to Jackson!

My cat sometimes loves to dump litter outside of the box after loving to play and bury with litter

My cat scratches the wall too if he has to use the litter box when it's not clean , I think she is trying to get the smell of dirty feeling off her paws , and as Jackson said she couldn't get the job done in the box because it was dirty so she did it when she gets out.

My cat covers her poor and pee and sometimes scratches the sides of the litter box. It doesn't bother me at all. But when she is in a slight hurry - she doesn't care at all if her stuff is covered. I've seen her to bury her food sometimes ,but scarcely.

my cat does something similar to dexter here. after he uses the box (and sometimes a bit before), he scratches the wall next to the box and sometimes the mat outside (he has destroyed 3 litter mats like this). but then he walks away with his poo still uncovered!! i think it may be because he's a former feral cat who loved outside for the first 3 years of his life, and there was much more space for him to bury his poop in. he also used to bury his food ("buried" as in he would find literally anything to cover it with, usually a hoodie or towel that was nearby). he stopped doing it about a year after I adopted him. I'm thinking he realized that no one was gonna take it from him, so he didn't have to hide it anymore.

I have two cats and one of them will occasionally poop right in front of the litter box, usually right after I shoo her away from the other cat’s food because she’s on a diet.

What is your opinion on timed feeders? You set the timer, container opens, cat eats!

Strange. All my cats burried their business in the garden (I grew up at a house and my cats had acces outside). Now I live in an apartment and my indoor cat also burries it's poop, but without scratching the walls.

Try OKOCAT. Wood pellets that been crushed. Smells less. My cat does this too. I clean out the box 3 times day

Beanie does not want to share anything and is very dominant (even tho he is the younger of the two) so he sometimes tries to burry snacks and never covers his poop. We are free feeding Beanie and Muffin ever since we adopted them because the former needs A LOT of playtime and made it clear he wants to eat after every hunt (he also doesn't play with his prey, if he snatches a fly he goes for the kill and eats it) and the latter refused set food times and is very picky, needing a change of food brand every two days or he barfs everywhere in protest (we keep 2-3 different brands of food to switch around). Muffin is a softie and always waits for Beanie to eat all the snacks, sometimes even pushing them over to him, and Beanie just eats as much as he wants and "burries" the rest.

My male cat doesn't stay squatted when peeing. I had to get a tall storage container and cut a section for him to get in/out. He scratches the sides to cover his urine. I also know that he was 1 of 3 kittens and he is the most skittish.

I thought my cat was “slow” or “blind” but I see a lot of furry friends have this problem 🤣