Another cat question

The other day I wrote and asked why my cat Mollie June likes to put her nose in my face - by the way, thanks for the replies. Now I have another question. After Mollie uses the litter box, she spends a lot of time scratching in the litter and on the sides of it. I'm worried that this might be a sign of illness such as an infection. Does anyone have any idea why she might be doing this?

My cats both do this. And the other cats I had in the past also do this. Only when it is a covered litter box though. Does she use a covered box? If so then the fact is there is no where for the smell to escape to and she is trying to cover the stinkies to her satisfaction.

I have 7 covered boxes and all 7 cats bury for AGES. I never realized it was due to the cover and the smell, thanks for that! :)

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Originally Posted by nancys

The other day I wrote and asked why my cat Mollie June likes to put her nose in my face - by the way, thanks for the replies. Now I have another question. After Mollie uses the litter box, she spends a lot of time scratching in the litter and on the sides of it. I'm worried that this might be a sign of illness such as an infection. Does anyone have any idea why she might be doing this?

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This is completely normal cat behaviour.. Cats are extremely clean animals, and they want to make very, very sure that they have buried/covered their business.. Just the odor of waste products will make them scratch.. My little one will even try to scratch once she has gotten out of her box. None of this is abnormal.

maybe she is doing that cuz she is picky and wants to make sure she didnt make a mess or no smell escapes.

Thanks everyone. Yes, she does use a covered litter box. I never thought about that being a possibility. Mollie is the sweetest cat - she's one of my 3 "babies". The other two are Peach and Maggie. I got Peach & Mollie last summer (June) and Maggie in September. She was a stray that had been at a neighbors for a few weeks before I seen her. At first I wondered if I should actually take her home, but when I picked her up, she just acted like I was her person..

It's not just covered sandboxes.
I have 2 out of 6 boxes that are uncovered (Jack prefers those), and we have several cats that live at the hospital with all uncovered boxes. All of the cats bury things to death and 'wipe' off their paws on the walls or whatever is closest to the sandbox. I've always thought once they start pawing at the walls or edge of the sandbox they were just trying to get the litter out from between the pads of their feet.

We call that "digging to China!"