How do cats automatically know how to use the litter box?

Well, the answer is obvious so I'll keep it short. Cats instinctively look for a suitable substrate on which to urinate and defecate. There is nothing in the home which anywhere near meets their criteria for an effective substrate except the litter in the cat litter tray which is somewhat like earth or sand from outside the home except better as it is made to be more absorbent. So, they make a beeline for it.

Substrate: an underlying substance or layer.

Cats and kittens use them instinctively as the substrate is ideal. Image: MikeB

They can poop and pee on it and if they feel the need (not all domestic cats do) they can bury it. Most often they bury poop. My male cat did not. Perhaps because he felt confident enough not to hide his scent. Hiding poop is a sort of submissive act to make themselves invisible to more dominant males.

Of course, after they've used the new litter tray for the first time it smells of their poop and pee so they recognise the litter tray as their toilet. They already know it is a nice substrate. Becoming their toilet reinforces its use.

Cat litter trays should not be over cleaned and disinfected as it kills off the cat's scent which they like. It is just possible that a cat might stop using their litter tray if it is bleached and scrubbed to well.

It should be kept clean but not overclean.

Indoor/outdoor cats don't need a litter tray indoors as they'll find a suitable area outdoors in the same way: a nice substrate. Although if you put down a litter tray, they'll probably use it as it might be more comfortable for them.

Jackson Galaxy says that in general cats prefer uncovered litter trays as covered ones might be a bit of a barrier. I disagree. Covered litter boxes are more private and cats like that. And cats feel more protected in covered litter trays during what is a vulnerable action.

Declawed cats are seven times more likely to pee in inappropriate places.

Declawed cats can find litter substrates of any kind uncomfortable to use because of their sore feet. They may pee and poop outside the box. Declawed cats are about 7 times more likely to do this than non-declawed cats. A warning to those who are considering this obnoxious operation (mutilation).

Another warning: don't use litter substrates which are too dusty as kittens will inhale a ton of dust when digging a hole to poop into. The worse cat litter and the most dangerous as far as I am concerned is Tidy Cats Lightweight Cat Litter. Avoid the stuff please. It is no good. Some cats have died using it.

The manufacturers sold out health and safety to make Tidy Cats more convenient for women to use as it is easier to carry. The directors thought it was a good idea as cat litter can be heavy but they overlooked the health implications.

Environmentally Friendly Cat Litter

I asked Bing's AI for advice about the best cat litter substrate. The response it not great:

The best cat litter substrates are made up of natural materials that are safe for your cat and the environment. Here are some of the best cat litter substrates and why:

• Clay: The cheapest and most popular material for cat litter, clay is good at absorbing liquids but it gets dusty and smelly (which your cat will hate), so it needs regular cleaning.
• Wood shavings or sawdust: Wood shavings or sawdust are biodegradable and eco-friendly. They are also good at absorbing liquids and controlling odors.
• Sand: Sand is a natural material that is good at absorbing liquids. It is also easy to clean and does not produce dust2.
• Whole wheat: Whole wheat is a natural material that is biodegradable and eco-friendly. It is also good at absorbing liquids and controlling odors.
• Potting soil: Potting soil is a natural material that is biodegradable and eco-friendly. It is also good at absorbing liquids and controlling odors.
• Chicken feed: Chicken feed is a natural material that is biodegradable and eco-friendly. It is also good at absorbing liquids and controlling odors.
• Walnut litter: Walnut litter is a natural material that is biodegradable and eco-friendly. It is also good at absorbing liquids and controlling odors.

I hope that helps!

It's always the smell that exposes homes where there are too many cats

Pretty well every time that a person is exposed for having too many cats it is because a foul odour emanates from their home and a neighbour picks it up and complains to the authorities. It's about the person who owns a lot of cats being unable to manage. And the smell is of urine and perhaps faeces. It is an ammonia smell (urine). Which means that some of the cats are urinating inappropriately and perhaps defecating inappropriately as well. Or, it means that the person in charge is not cleaning out the litter trays properly. Both of these things are happening simultaneously. For the cats they are urinating appropriately by the way. Let's get that straight.

What it looks like in a home with too many cats. Chaos and massive smells. Singapore cat hoarder seeks help. Photo: Instagram page of the rescue who is helping her: Cats of Anchor Vale.

It is likely to be the former because if you have 20 cats in a home there are going to be stresses between the cats leading to inappropriate elimination. It will also potentially lead to spraying to mark territory which still happens even when cats are sterilised. When cats are boxed together like this in a very small space, they cannot enjoy the normal amount of space that domestic cats require which in my estimation is going to be a number of acres. 

Of course, domestic cats are adaptable and they can get used to living with much smaller territories (home ranges as they are called) but instinctively, given the freedom to enjoy a natural home range it would be much larger than can be provided inside a home with many other cats. This results in stresses among some cats.

The foul smell that emanates from these homes which is picked up by neighbours is waste product produced by the cats lying around the home which the person is unable to cope with. It is a carelessness in adopting too many cats combined with that same carelessness in being unable to manage the cats to the point where there is no smell in the home. Can you imagine that? I home in which there are 15 cats, let's say, and no smell. Is it possible to achieve that? It is and it has been achieved.

On December 23, 2019 I wrote about a man who has 15 cats and 22 litter boxes. His home smells perfectly! His name is Peter Cohen and he lives in a beautiful Californian home.

If you read the article, the first point that you will notice right away is that he has 22 litter boxes and 15 cats. This is in line with Jackson Galaxy's advice that there should be more litter boxes than cats. And Cohen puts litter boxes in closets i.e. an enclosed space and critically, because he is a builder and knows how to do this, he creates a negative air pressure inside the litter box closets by running a ventilation fan around the clock which sucks the air from the spaces to the exterior.

Finally, I presume that the air sucked out is pushed up through the roof because there'd be no point in pushing smelly air left and right of the house into neighbour's properties.

So, that's how you do it. And, you know what, the sort of systems that Mr Cohen has set up are going to prove impossible for the typical owner of many cats. Therefore, I have to conclude that if you have 15 or 20 cats living full-time inside a typical home it's going to be impossible to keep the smell down unless you have a huge amount of energy, time, commitment, and intelligence and building skills. If I'm correct in that assessment, it tells us that there must be an upper limit in the number of cats that a person can reasonably manage when they are confined to the home.

And here is the clincher: they have to be confined to the home. If they are allowed to wander around outside of the home the neighbours will complain anyway. Cat hoarders always confine their cats to the home. And they don't bother to build an enclosure in the garden because I guess that would also expose their activities to neighbours. They try and keep things secret, away from the prying eyes of neighbours. This of course exacerbates the problem making it impossible to stop massive odours building up.

And they have to open the window sometimes and in doing this the odour escapes. Because the odour is so pungent even small amounts of this air gets into neighbours' properties. It just depends how tolerant the neighbours are as to whether they complain or accept it.

I am therefore drawn to the only sensible conclusion which is that local authorities must have bylaws restricting the number of cats that a person can own to around five. This, I think, is a reasonable number which is manageable. And this rule will apply to any country anywhere. Although most of the news about cat hoarding comes from America it does not mean that cat orders only live in America, it happens anywhere. It's just that most cat news comes from America because they love their cats which, by the way, makes it very strange that they declaw them, an act which is totally against love between species.

Why does my cat bury his faeces?

When a cat buries her faeces it is not because the cat is being tidy and clean etc. but because she wishes to make sure that the smell of her faeces is not recognised. Cats nearly always use urine as a way to mark territory but sometimes cats use feces to do the same job.

A cat lives in the human world: it is a world of giants and although we look after our cats we are very large compared to them and we should recognise that. Although we can be very gentle towards our cats, from their perspective we are dominant and they are subservient and when cat is subservient he or she will display subservient behaviour, an example of which is to bury her feces.

You will find that dominant males in feral cat colonies do not bury their faeces because they want to send out a signal that they are the boss and that this is their territory.

Accordingly, when a cat buries her faeces she is doing it because she feels subservient and is playing out a subservient role to us, the caretaker.

Sometimes when a cat uses a litter tray in the home she may not bury her faeces. I would take this as an indication that she does not feel subservient to you and is relaxed, which I would take as a compliment. It would indicate that the person who looks after her cat is a 1st class cat caretaker because one of the 1st objectives of a cat caretaker is to make the cat's environment stress free, friendly, and rich in stimulants. Another less praiseworthy reason for not burying feces in the litter tray is because of practical difficulties. Perhaps the tray is too small, for example.