I can't "solve" this litter box dominance

[Sunny]

State of the Union, up to 2/1/13:

Anubis - buries well, never goes outside the box​

Ra - never buries, never goes outside the box​

In quarantine, Isis buried well, never went outside the box.

After quarantine ended, here's the current State of the Union:

Anubis - no change, still dominant over all, using box religiously​

Ra - buries well, never goes outside the box​

Isis - never buries, never goes outside the box​

Ra will go in and COVER for Isis, every time! She won't do it herself since quarantine ended. At all. WAAAAT?

Ra always tried to express his dominance by leaving his business uncovered and Anubis would have to cover it eventually for him.

Now I find Ra immediately "solved" his own problem when Isis was introduced and she's adopted the lowest spot on the totem pole. There is simply no other way to explain this. Her perfect habits were abruptly changed.

Sigh. Good on Ra, though. That's my little shadow cat!

I forgot to mention, I have 3 litter boxes, two downstairs, one upstairs. Isis usually uses the one upstairs while the boys are engrained to use the bottom largest one in the half bath if it's available.

Ra will cover in both places now, this AM he covered her pee, squatted and took a pee on top of hers, then covered that with another layer. I was mind boggled. I suspected he was covering, but how GOOD he was at it and declined to do so is really frustrating. So many eye tearing, gasping for breath surprises and he could have been covering this whole time.

 

[Trish Allearz]

I'd say everyone is doing just fine! Everyone is still using the box religiously, yes? Savannahs don't always cover their poops- although it's funny that sometimes yours do and sometimes, they don't.

 

[Sunny]

Since Isis uses the box upstairs in the master bath, she likes to do as I do, if I go to the restroom she will, when I start my shower and morning routine, she will use the box then too. So her surprises are really 5 alarm deal with it fast ones.

Ra never covered, which is why I maintained a separate bathroom for him alone. And I thought it very strange when suddenly the downstairs boxes looked mint because they were burying well.

It's like he feels confident now to cover and not have to mark his territory by leaving a reminder? He's 5 years old in Apr. I've never once caught him trying to cover his business. Anubis would sniff it out eventually or get tired of it and cover it for him.

And this morning's show right in front of my eyes.... my mouth must have been gaping because I held my breath as I watched him take three big strokes (he has big paws/arms), do his business, and then again like he had a 4.0 GPA in litter box use.

I consider myself lucky they never go outside their boxes. I am disappointed Isis now takes to pawing the edge of the box twice and leaping out immediately after using it perfectly for two days. Maybe she will mature out of it, but at 6mo old, I don't suspect so. If I place her back in the box within 1 second of leaping out, she protests, seems to want to scratch, does so once along the edge, then leaps out again.

I watched her circle in quarantine doing a quintuple check to make sure it was covered. Now, she can't be bothered. I don't get it.. if it's not dominance, then do I take to filling the bathroom 4" deep with kitty litter? Or get a relatively narrow sided box?

 

[WitchyWoman]

I'm failing to see the problem. As long as they're going in the box what difference does it make who covers what? I could write a novel about weird litter box behavior at my house but as long as they're weird in the box, I'm chill.

 

[Mrs.CC]

Sounds like a situation to me! Sorry...I couldn't resist!