IRL Pet Questions

[ScaredToBreathe]

Lots of people on here have pets, know pets or work with pets for a living, so I thought I might try my luck here, because my vet didn't have much advice on this particular topic.

I have a six year old bichon frise named Phoebe. She is usually a good dog and was fairly easy to train. However, she has recently taken up a seriously disgusting habit. We recently got a new kitten after the death of our last cat, and out of the blue, Phoebe became almost obsessed with the litter box. She plays in it, sleeps near it and, most unfortunately, eats the little er.."treats" inside it. For a while, we caught her almost every time and told her "no", but after a while, she just started doing it at night when everyone is asleep. It can't be healthy and quite frankly, it's disgusting. My mother refuses to put her in a crate, so Phoebe continues her midnight feasts. We tried hiding the litter, but she found it. We tried getting a smaller box, but she still manages to get her head in the door.
Has anyone else experienced a similar problem with a pet/know of something that might work to make her stop?

 

[Bark]

Our dog loves to eat the cats' shit. My mothers solution for it has been to put a baby gate thing on her door way to keep him out of the litter boxes. Not the most elegant solution, but it works.

 

[Butters Shikkon]

I do believe there are pills to help stop that. I know my youngest pup had this habit (caused by stress or simply to remove it, if you can be that. ) If I find a link, I'll send it your way...

 

[Ad Hoc]

You could make a DIY top-entry litterbox. (Well, or just buy one, but they're kind of pricey for a storage tote with a hole in the top.) That method of entry/exit might discourage her a bit.

Alternatively, could you put it up on top of something that the cat can climb but the dog can't?

 

[ScaredToBreathe]

Alternatively, could you put it up on top of something that the cat can climb but the dog can't?

We did actually try that, but she can reach most places the cat can and my mom didn't like the mess and smell when the litterbox was on top of the washing machine.
Thanks for the other tip though!

 

[dinosaurdammit]

get your cat to eat pineapple. something happens to the enzymes and causes carnivores poop even worst tasting.

 

[Xenke]

get your cat to eat pineapple. something happens to the enzymes and causes carnivores poop even worst tasting.

In my experience, cats do not eat fruit of their own volition.

 

[SirRob]

In my experience, cats do not eat fruit of their own volition.

We've fed our cat bits of apple before. Although my cat will eat anything, so...

 

[Ibuuyk]

She's missing nutriments somewhere. If you haven't changed her food recently, she might have caught an intestinal bacteria or something.

 

[Xenke]

We've fed our cat bits of apple before. Although my cat will eat anything, so...

The closest thing to fruit my cats will eat is corn chips...

 

[WanderingFox]

Cat poo is very rich in undigested protein, and dogs still have their natural tendencies to seek out sources of nutrition no matter what the source is (sometimes even if they have a good food source). I've only ever had one dog back when my family owned the cat, and it was a jack russel that did the same damn thing.

I wouldn't necessarily recommend my father's method of dissuading our old dog (even though it worked very well); he would very lightly sprinkle Cheyenne pepper powder and vinegar into the litter box on the poo (our cat often didn't bury it). Within a week, our dog associated the poo with the taste with the unpleasantness of spicy/bitter stuff and would ignore the box altogether.

 

[Littlerock]

I wouldn't necessarily recommend my father's method of dissuading our old dog (even though it worked very well); he would very lightly sprinkle Cheyenne pepper powder and vinegar into the litter box on the poo (our cat often didn't bury it). Within a week, our dog associated the poo with the taste with the unpleasantness of spicy/bitter stuff and would ignore the box altogether.

Yeah, I wouldn't suggest this one either, to be honest, as it poses a possible harm to the cat. Kitty tracks pepper on their paws, stirs it up in the litter, gets it in their eyes and nose... just no. Cats have gone blind before from literally scratching their own eyes out from burning pepper because someone didn't want them in their garden. Even if the cat did not have any ill effects directly from the pepper, it might also discourage the cat to not use the litterbox, and find someplace else to mess.

OP, I suggest that you use a different type of litter; scoopable. Scoop out the gifts twice a day routinely, and there won't be any for the dog to eat. It's economical too, and after a series of tests, I find that my cats prefer it to traditional clay litters. You might even consider a special litterbox known as a litter genie that cleans itself directly after use. On top of this, I believe there exists a product one drips into one's kitty's water-bowl that makes their stool unpleasant to dogs. Try Dr.s Foster and Smith for something like this.

Also, make sure that if you do have to move the box, that it isn't anywhere that would make the cat unhappy. Cats like to have a good vantage point of their surrounds at all times, so more nervous cats generally tend to dislike covered boxes. The best solution for a comfortable box would be a large, clear-sided storage container, with about 1' tall sides. A young, capable cat can still enter and exit easily at this height, and the clear sides provide a nice view of the room. As a plus, the high sides prevent any over-side tinkling.

 

[RedFoxTwo]

Dogs are naturally coprophagic, so I don't think it should be too worrying unless your dog is spreading the cat litter all over the house.

 

[ScaredToBreathe]

Dogs are naturally coprophagic, so I don't think it should be too worrying unless your dog is spreading the cat litter all over the house.

That is exactly what she's doing, which is one of the reasons I get so annoyed.
I hate getting out of bed in the morning and hearing the crunch of my bare feet meeting dirty kitty litter.

 

[rafacarrilho]

I had 2 cats, one was a black kitten I found on the streets but I had to give him for adoption, he was called Rogério and my second one was also a kitten in the streets, although my grandma decided to kill her because her dog didn't liked her... that fucking bitch...

 

[myxini]

I think the baby gate may be the best idea. some sort of barrier that the cat can jump or climb over that the dog can't. Or if the cat is slimmer than the dog, see if you can find a way to keep the door open to a point where the cat can get through and the dog can't. like, a block of wood at the base of the door and a bungee cord around the knob so it can't be opened farther. Or I've seen baby gates with vertical bars that might work, but measure to make sure the size is right before buying something (a cat's skull is the widest bony part of it's body. if the head can fit through, the rest of the cat can, unless they get pretty fat)