Catch It Early

As some of you may know, we recently adopted a new kitten, which makes a total of three in the house. We love them all, and they all get along just fine, which is wonderful, but I would like some thoughts on how to handle a litter box issue. Both of our older kittens (Parrot and Shinobi) have mastered the litter box. Our new one, Turtle, seems to have a few occasional problems. I know she's used the litter box before, but it seems that once in a while she just doesn't want to, and goes somewhere else in the house. This isn't a huge problem, because she's very small right now and therefore makes tiny messes, but I do want to try and get her out of the habit before she gets too big. Any suggestions on litter training a 4 month kitten?

For those of you with questions...

-The litter box is kept clean, so I don't think that she's just being finicky.
-She's able to access it easily enough - It's a high walled box (we've removed the hood with a door, thought it might deter her), but I've stacked phone books in stair-style leading to it.
-I've been watching, and no one does anything to keep her from it.
-She came from a shelter, and had a litter box in her cage, so she's familiar with the concept.

I would have her sleep in a closed room with the litter box in it.

Also I would keep an eye on her naps and take her to the room with the box whenever she wakes up. In fact, I would wake her up every few hours and take her to the box. Give her a few minutes to get oriented, do a bit of play, and then put her in the box.

Also you probably have to get a lower box, she may not be into the stairs.

Good luck!

There needs to be at least one box per cat, so I would think one per 3 cats is pushing availability - not in terms of a specific time, but of personal choice, and of the option to use one box for #1, the other one for #2, etc. which many cats prefer (and the females are fussier).

Yep, you need more boxes, OR a Litter Robot. My three cats happily share the same robot, since it's always clean.