Tuesday, October 26, 2021

A Big Noise in the Small Room

Every cat has his own routine when visiting the litter-box. From where they derive their various habits is largely a mystery. I recall my Cammie would scrape at the inside walls of the hooded box, as if trying to bring down the sides of a tunnel in the dirt. Sometimes, a cat will alter his pattern, do something different, something without precedent, which creates an even bigger mystery.

A couple of months ago, Neville started to bang the insides of the litter-boxes. It is so loud and hard, I liken it to someone beating on the plastic boxes with a mallet. It is as though a fight had developed in the box, or a noisy protest against a lack of proper facilities. Maybe Nev is re-enacting a scene from Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea, with the crew members being flung from one side of a room to the other by external disturbances.

The only explanation I can conceive for this new behaviour is that the Nevsky, with his long fur, will sometimes suffer from unwelcome debris, clinging to his nether regions. It may be that he has devised what he believes is a means of dislodging such inconveniences. I have never seen him in the act of hammering on the inside of the litter-boxes, so I cannot vouch for what part of his body creates the noise. In fact, I cannot determine whether it is done after number one or number two, or both.

In any case, this new action leaves little more mess than any of his previous. Nor does he do it in the wee hours of the morning. So, if it is a better means of coping with what needs to be done, I will not discourage him. Yet the mystery for me remains.

14 comments:

  1. HeHe! I'm so pleased l've just had
    my breakfast..! :).

    Neville..You carry on and do what
    makes you happy..If you wanna bang
    the inside of a litter~box..you carry
    on..Bless!x :O).

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  2. It sounds like Neville is trying to learn how to play the drums. Just be grateful he doesn't have a garage full of musical friends also playing loudly.

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  3. Hello,
    This is Nasim from south west of France. I used to have domed litter trays for my cats. 6 of them and they hated it. So took of the covers and ok it makes much more litter outside the box, but it makes them feel better. They can do their business like we do and be content because we have to clean up after them.

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    Replies
    1. Thank you for reading my blog, Nasim. Neville never disliked the hooded boxes before, but that may be a factor; he may have just decided he doesn’t like them, and I may have to try removing the cover.

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  4. Hahaha! Sorry to laugh but the Nev is rowdy in the box like my TomTom. He has short hair so I can't imagine why it has to sound like a boxing match in there! (pardon the pun)

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  5. I have to admit that I first thought about the cover, just as Nasim mentioned in his comment.
    Even a high-sided litterbox (made from a storage container, with a big 'u' cut out for access) was too confining for our bunch, which is why we have huge oval litterboxes, purchased at the nearby seed-and-feed store; think they are for livestock food, but hold a 40Lb bag of cat litter easily!

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  6. Neville reminds me of my Joey. Joey is blind in one eye, so I guess that causes a problem with his visual perception, but instead of scratching in the litter box after he is finished with his business, he'll lift his paw and scratch the air. Nasim brings up a good point. Many cats don't like litter boxes with lids. The lid holds the odors in, (we don't smell it, but the cats do). Also it makes the box too small, (it's like using the restroom in a plane.)

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  7. These cats have a way of keeping us guessing. Part of their charm, I suppose.

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  8. dood.....we due knot meen ta laff at ewe.... but dadz s'plain what him thinkz iz goin ..... iz two funnee ~~~~~~imagine if de crew on de Proteus.... looked out de window ... and seed a GIANT cat in scooba geer, beatin de side oh de ship with a hammerz :) ☺☺☺

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  9. Maybe he stepped in it once and it stuck to his paw. Flynn used to shake his paw like crazy to make sure he wasn't taking out something he shouldn't.

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  10. Pipo was a side of the box drummer/scratcher, and yet he never covered anything up.
    Minko always did it for him, LOL!

    Who knows what is going on but I had a good time reading your post and all the comments!

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  11. Sometimes ya gotta do whatcha gotta do!

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  12. Ha! Thanks for the laugh to start my morning. :-)

    Derry scratches at the side of the box to cover up, which would be more effective if he scratched at the litter. He doesn't bang around, though. Nicki used to dig away the litter from the left front corner of ANY litter box (regardless of size/shape), pee on the side of the plastic, then cover it up vigorously, so that much litter was tossed out. (Gosh, I'd forgotten that, having to sweep up so much all the time. LOL. I don't miss it!)

    So Neville is just demonstrating that we all have our little quirks and habits! :-D

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  13. You know, until the new commenter mentioned that hooded possibility, I never thought of it. It will be interesting to know. Thing is, Neville just started this behavior, didn't he? But, he could suddenly have become aware of his dislike of enclosure, Your description of the entire time he was in there re: the voyage to the bottom of the sea one, had me rolling!

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