I do feel a little silly for asking about this, but here we go…

So, about one month ago we adopted a little kitten, she is now 3months and a bit old. Been having her inside for the most part with some occasional walks outside to get her used to being outside, as she is an outdoor breed and will eventually be allowed to walk freely in or out. For as long as she is for now indoors, we’ve gotten her used to using the litter box, one of them with a small hatch to get inside, which she is good at using. BUT, whenever she decides to to curl one down, it f*cking reeks, it smells quite bad. I’ve had other cats before and none of them have smelt like this… Obviously we get rid of the shit asap, but then also clean her with a wet cloth so that she run around smelling equally bad and to teach her to was herself.

We’re not feeding her anything unusual, she mainly eats this dry food(which was quite expensive) https://www.specific-diets.co.uk/cat/everyday-diets/kitten-fpd-gb. Furthermore, we’re using some silicon cat sand, as that was what we got recommended.

Edit: Forgot to add an essential part to this!

This is the litterbox in use; Litterbox

She tries to dig her shit down, but instead of digging it down into the sand or put sand over it, shes just scratching the sides of the cat litter box. Also after going out of the litter box, shes wiping her paws on the floor. But yeah, the scratching of the box inside is very loud and doesnt seem normal either. Is the box too small for her? Or could this be related to the sand of choice?

So, anyone got any tips or tricks here? Is this normal-ish? Obviously shit smells… but this seems almost out of the ordinary… Does the type of cat sand matter a lot?

  • Hugucinogens@lemmy.blahaj.zone
    0·
    9 months ago

    I have the same exact problem too, and if anyone has better explanations for it please tell me too, but, since my cat is 6 now, and this has been going on since she was a kitten, here’s what I’ve noticed:

    First things first, cats often (but not always) shit outside of the box as protest.

    For mine, it most probably had to do with how clean she thought the sand was.

    Mine was always this way when I also had that closed box, as well as when I was using silicone sand when she was still small, but without the box.

    It’s only recently, that I’ve gotten normal bentonite sand (clumping pee, easily fully removed), an open box (ventilation), and clean the sand almost always daily, that she has almost stopped. And when The Depression hits and I forget to clean it for 4 days or so, she does all the things mentioned, I’m assuming out of desperation, to make the bad smell go away.

    Silicone sand needed to be fully replaced, and the box be thoroughly washed often, because it would at some point stop being able to contain the ammonia smell.

    The closed box, I noticed, would both, contain and absorb bad smells itself, as well as incentivize me to not clean as often, since it didn’t bother me when it would start smelling a bit 😐, but the cat had to be in a shut box, faintly smelling the ammonia for many many seconds.

    Full disclosure, bentonite sand has a few studies correlating it with cat respiratory problems, probably due to the dust that cheap bentonite has packed in. I’ve decided that it’s still probably for the best to buy bentonite with its dust filtered out(slightly more expensive), since it helps incredibly with cleanliness (if your cat has to groom unclean paws, that’s going to strain her kidneys and liver probably).

    Also, the sand is both extra useless weight, and makes cleaning harder, because it clumps worse. The more expensive brand, where they remove the dust, makes everything easier, and probably much healthier.