Ragdoll Cat Forums

First of all, hi everyone! I'm new here. I adopted my 6 month old kitten Jelly from a friend of a friend whos "Ragdoll" cat had an accidental litter. She asked for $15 to cover first vaccinations and to get the mother spayed. Jelly is my first cat, so soon after, I began trolling this site to pick up a few tips since this is the only ancestry I knew of her.

I'm hoping the person I acquired Jelly from wasn't a BYB, and I don't see where she could've made a profit from such a nominal fee, but I guess I'll never know. I know better now, and if I ever do decide to get a second cat, I know what to do. The past aside, I now know of this forum's stance on unregistered cats and uneducated breeding but I'm hoping you guys can lend a hand to a fellow cat lover (in training!). Everyone here just seems so knowledgeable and helpful.

Jelly never has buried her leavings. This hasn't been much of a problem this summer, but I'm going back up to SF this month for school, and I'm worried my housemates might find the odor offensive. A condition of my bringing a cat back up to school was that the litter box was always clean and odor free. I purchased a scoop-free so it rakes the litter while I'm in class, and I remove the poop under the hood once a day instead of leaving it inside until I change the cartridge so it doesn't build up and smell. However, the rake discharges 15 mins after Jells goes in it, and since she doesn't cover it up, it stinks up the entire room in the meanwhile. How do I teach her to cover her litter? Also, are there any tips for keeping the air fresh regularly? Will an ionizing air filter have any effect? Thank you.

Also, if anyone could possibly identify if she actually does have any Ragdoll in her, that would be great. She's definitely smaller and finer boned than true Ragdolls. Lastly, what color would I call her? Her points are non-surprisingly mismarked, given her mystery heritage. Only half of her face is pointed, and none of her legs/paws are. Her tail looks tortie?

Here are some pictures. Again, thanks a bunch!

http://img8.imageshack.us/img8/9026/jelly005.jpg

http://img33.imageshack.us/img33/1918/jelly004.jpg

http://img33.imageshack.us/img33/1397/jelly007.jpg

She is very cute, but is very unlikely to have any Ragdoll ancestors.

Some cats do not cover and I have never read of a method that will teach them. One can try other litters, but one runs the risk of driving her from the box altogether. You have taken the right first step with an automatic box. The additional step I would recommend is an automatic spray fragrance. We have found the following most effective - and general household product alternatives do not seem as effective. http://www.country-vet.com/products.php?cat_id=28

Timemist is more readily available and also has aerosols that are odor eliminators.

I just wanted to say,,,, I think she is cutie ,,,ragdoll or not.
What is,,her little persinality like

How do you like you cleaner and what kind did you get I was think abouting buying one and was wondering how well they work.

She's adorable!!!! Ragdoll or not, welcome to the forum, and I hope you stay around the forum and keep us updated on pics. I'd love to see how she develops.

Sorry, can't help you on the odor problem. When I first got the girls, I thought their food I put out stunk (their litterboxes stay on an enclosed outside deck, so that wasn't a problem). I bought a plug in air filter and used the filters that smokers use to keep the smoke smell out of the house. That seemed to work fairly well. Don't know if that would work plug in close to a litterbox or not. I don't think the food smell was quite as overwhelming as poop smell would be.

Welcome to the forum! Jelly is really beautiful and has lovely blue eyes - wow.

Some cats won't bury their poop, no matter what you try. I've read that means they're either confident, or trying to show other cats in the house who's boss. If you use really good litter that will help. It might mean more of an expense, but you'll find that it makes a difference. I would recommend staying away from scented litter though - that can drive cats away from the litter box. I use Everclean, which is expensive but very good at controlling odors. It's a clumping clay litter, and I use extra strength for Teddy. You can also get multi-cat, which is good too. Some people swear by World's Best as well, which is a corn-based clumping litter.

Jelly is gorgeous
My Maia has never covered her poo, but I do have a (sort of) solution ..... her sister Lily will frantically try and cover up Maia's poo, sometimes almost barging her out the way before she's finished (it is pretty horrendous) so my 'solution' is ..... get another kitty to take on that task.......