Most of the time, cats are carefree—not only do they poop in the litter box themselves, but they can also easily be buried after pooping.

But there are often problems like this:

"What's wrong with my cat not burying shit? Instinct?"

"My cat used to bury shit, why isn't it buried now?"

Why don't cats bury shit

To understand this question, we must first understand: why do cats bury shit?

Cat burial is a combined result of survival instinct + observation and learning of mother cat's burying behavior as a child.

Cats have been wary of predators throughout evolution.

Small cats bury their excrement primarily to prevent powerful nearby predators from finding their tracks, and to cover up the excrement, preventing prey from escaping after smelling it.

Kittens can reinforce this instinctive behavior by watching the mother cat bury her feces.

Therefore, the reasons why cats do not bury shit can be analyzed from the following aspects

1. Claiming Sovereignty

In the wild, dominant cats (including leopards, lions, tigers, etc.) typically do not bury their droppings, but use it as a signal of identity and claim sovereignty over a particular area.

It's almost like saying, "Find out whose turf this is? Get out!"

For domestic cats, this is more common when:

Cats who bury shit but suddenly stop burying and cats in multi-cat households.

Cat that buries shit: Maybe after he's meowing and carefully grabbing his tail for a while, his surroundings don't seem threatening anymore!

So I boldly exposed the feces and announced to you: I am the boss!

In multi-cat households: Domineering cats may also show authority by not burying their droppings and tell other cats that this is my domain!

2. Lack of mother cat teaching

For a variety of reasons, some cats are separated from their mothers at a very young age.

Growing up, I didn't observe other older cats burying their droppings. So, they may not be able to learn this skill...

If you have a very small kitten, you may need some human-assisted training.

Small milk cats often need more "make-up lessons", so it is generally not recommended for novice parents who have never raised cats to start raising small milk cats directly!

3. Cat litter box/cat litter is not suitable

If the litter box is/too small/inappropriate, turning around and burying shit may be inconvenient.

Also, if the cat doesn't like the feel of the litter box or the litter box is dirty, it may make him reluctant to spend more time in it.

4. Health problems

Also, when a cat's body is affected by a disease or injury (e.g. urinary system disease, arthritis), it can also happen that the feces are not buried.

Why is the cat burying shit unsuccessful

Cats can easily be mistaken for "don't bury shit" in a lot of sharing situations.

For example: Crazy scraping of walls, crazy planing of the floor or the edge of the litter box after a bowel movement... What is the reason?

1. Insufficient operating space

If the litter box is too narrow and doesn't have enough room to move around, they can easily find more litter to cover up their poop. May scratch the walls or sidewalls of the enclosed litter box.

2. The litter box is not big enough

This may affect their judgment of the boundary between the litter box and the floor, and they may scratch the floor in front of the litter box with their claws.

As the cat grows, be sure to pay attention to whether the litter box matches the cat's body. If it is not suitable, replace it in time!

3. The litter box is not deep enough

If the litter box has shallow sidewalls, they can easily spill some shit when buried. This can also cause the cat to dig outside the litter box.

4. The cat litter problem

Too little litter in the litter box can cause the cat to try to plan to cover its feces with more litter and scratch on the side walls or nearby ground.

5. The litter box is not clean enough

A dirty litter box can cause the entire litter box to emit a disgusting smell. This scratching around the litter box may be because the cat feels the area that needs to be covered has expanded.