Does Your Dog Like To Raid The Litterbox?

  Posted on August 23, 2012  by Joy of Living  No comments

Does your dog like to steal “treats” from your cat’s litterbox? In my case, if Jessie disappeared for any length of time at all, I knew where I’d find her! For reasons we’ll never fully understand, many dogs like to eat the feces of other animals—especially cats. The name for this is “coprophagia” which means, “the oral ingestion of fecal material.” Yes, this is really disgusting, but dogs think it’s perfectly normal.

To best way to keep your dog from engaging in this behavior is to prevent it from happening in the first place. Scooping the litterbox daily will be a big help. Scooping the litterbox twice a day is even better. It also helps to feed your cat on a schedule (as opposed to leaving food available at all times) since now you will be able to predict more easily when kitty needs to relieve himself (and when you need to scoop out the box).  Not only will this keep your dog from raiding the box, but your cat will like having a fresh litterbox when it’s time for his bathroom duties.

In addition to regular scooping, the way to keep your dog out of the litterbox is to make it accessible to the cat only. This can be achieved many ways, what worked in my case was putting a baby gate across the stairs to prevent Jessie’s access to the litterbox.