My dog helps me clean the liter box.
By mcjohnson7
@mcjohnson7 (301)
United States
September 15, 2008 5:05am CST
I hope I'm not the only one with this problem. My Pomeranian likes to grab a "treat" from the litter box occasionally. My litter box is in a small hallway and I have tried blocking it off with boards but then the cats have to jump over the boards to get in and out and scatter litter everywhere when they do. Not to mention I kick the darned thing nearly every time I go by. I bought a covered litter box with kind of a spiral stairway going up into it thinking the dog would never go into that close of a space and I took the boards down. WRONG! He still does it. Does anyone know if there is any way to break him of this disgusting habit? I really would appreciate any help at all with this.
1 person likes this
3 responses
@geegeefox1 (34)
• United States
15 Sep 08
I didn't think my yorkie would but just last night she did. She also loves to chew on wood!
1 person likes this
@mcjohnson7 (301)
• United States
15 Sep 08
Oh my goodness and I thought the kitty treats were bad! I hope she doesn't get sick from chewing the wood. They make a bitter apple spray you might try on the places she's chewing. They sell it at PetSmart for sure and probably Wal-Mart carries it too.
@sidyboy (284)
• United States
15 Sep 08
I have never met a dog who didn't like "kitty crunchies". I do think there is something you can put on your cats food so that when he does his business, the dog will even find it "offensive" and wont eat it.
With my cat box, I keep it in the basement and my dogs are afraid to go down the basement steps so it's not a problem lol
1 person likes this
@mcjohnson7 (301)
• United States
15 Sep 08
Hey, I'm willing to dig a basement if that will do the trick...LOL I am going to call my vet and ask him about the stuff to put on the cat food. Thank you, thank you.
@theproperator (2429)
• United States
15 Sep 08
I feel your pain, we have a turd-burgler in our house as well
. We sort of blockaded the box in the laundry room so that if he tries to stick his head in, he knocks things over and the noise scares him away. If we see him go towards the box we also warn him away from it, because he knows he's not supposed to snack from it. Sometimes he still manages to get in there, though, but not very often. I have heard that dogs sometimes do it because they are lacking salt or minerals from their own food, so we have tried putting a dash of salt on his food when we notice him paying more attention to the cat box. It does seem to help, but that could just be coincidential.
Other than changing the litter box to a more fortified location, I can't really offer any great advice on this either, especially if you are not home all day to monitor the dog.
Good Luck.
. We sort of blockaded the box in the laundry room so that if he tries to stick his head in, he knocks things over and the noise scares him away. If we see him go towards the box we also warn him away from it, because he knows he's not supposed to snack from it. Sometimes he still manages to get in there, though, but not very often. I have heard that dogs sometimes do it because they are lacking salt or minerals from their own food, so we have tried putting a dash of salt on his food when we notice him paying more attention to the cat box. It does seem to help, but that could just be coincidential.
Other than changing the litter box to a more fortified location, I can't really offer any great advice on this either, especially if you are not home all day to monitor the dog.
Good Luck.1 person likes this
@mcjohnson7 (301)
• United States
15 Sep 08
"Turd-burglar"? OMG I am sooo LMBO. I haven't tried the salt trick but I most certainly will. I've been told all dogs do this but geez, does MY dog have to? Guess I'll just have to put the boards back up and live with the sore toes and ankles. Thank you very much for the tip and I'll be sure to give it a whirl.
