Hrmm, both my older cats...

[supernova]

don't know how to cover their mess in the litter box, especially the male.

I've tried to teach them since they were wee little things, but to no avail. They will scratch everywhere but over the steaming pile they made, including at the plastic cover over their heads. LOL.

The little ones know how. I don't understand.

:shrug:

[betharina]

1. mine use the litter box sporadically.

they are driving me crazy.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

2. They know how; they just don't want to.

When a cat won't cover his poo it means he's trying to establish dominance. Poo-covering is normally a safety measure; cats hide their droppings so predators (as well as prey) don't know they're around. So if a cat leaves a big steaming pile on top of the litter instead of burying it, what he's really saying is that he's a badass who's not afraid of anybody.

[Moondog]

3. Precisely. n/t

[Forkboy]

5. I'd say great minds think alike, but I don't have a great mind.

:)

[Forkboy]

4. The male cat is establishing dominance.

In the wild many cats don't bury their feces to let others know that it's their territory, and that behavior can sometimes manifest itself in indoor cats as well. The little ones do it because they aren't going to challenge the older cats, at least not yet.

[Louisiana1976]

7. My cat (an only indoor cat who's 15) often doesn't cover his.

I figure that means he feels secure.

[RoyGBiv]

6. Mine uses toilet paper ...

The paper roll is above his litter box.

Every day I come home to a pile of toilet paper in the litter box covering a little surprise.

It's just weird.

[Blue Diadem]

9. LOL that's funny! n/t

[Blue Diadem]

8. We had a male cat like that. He'd stink up the entire house.

I can remember crawling out of bed in the middle of the night to clean the pile out of his box because it smelled so bad. Like yours, he would scratch everywhere but where he really needed.

Our grandkitty can't stand to smell his mess. He'll cover it, come out, sniff and go back in and cover it again. It's really funny when he walks out of the room and apparently gets a whiff because he'll return to the box to cover it up some more.

He doesn't like the smell of my chili either. One time I had a bowl of chili sitting on the counter. He jumped up there, sniffed it and began scratching frantically at the counter in an attempt to cover the bowl up.

[GreenPartyVoter]

10. My boy cat scritches to cover up all sorts of smells. Except his poo.

[Withywindle]

11. Hahahah, I have a compulsive scritcher.

Food in her dish ten seconds past peak freshness? Scritchscritchscritchcritchscritchcritchscritchcritchscritch.

I stupidly set a bowl of my own food, of which she clearly Does Not Approve, on the floor for a minute? (I have a low coffeetable and sit on pillows around it middle-eastern style). Scritchcritchscritchcritchscritch

Drives me nuts when she does it in the middle of the night.

[grasswire]

12. we used to joke that Chester was trying to dig to China

He would scratch for many minutes. On and on and on...