When Can Kittens Use Clumping Litter?

My kittens are now about 5 and a half weeks old. They've just started eating solid food and actually pooping for less than a week now. I'm using Yesterday's News paper pellets right now in their litter box because I know they'll eat the clumping litter (and I saw it firsthand--the first kitten to escape the box went right to the mom's litter box and started licking up the little bits of litter on the floor around it!). My question is how old do they have to be before switching them to the clumping litter? I know the paper pellets are better for them, but they just don't do the job.

Thank you!

5 weeks is too early. I made this mistake once and some how my kittens got it stuck all over their fur and it took an hour to get it out of them. That stuff is not easy to wash out... Kittens clean themselves, and if they ingested this stuff it could kill them.

So, for now - Stick to regular none clumping litters until about 3 months or so.

I used Kitten Attract litter for my last litter of kittens. It worked very well, the kittens never ate any, and it comes off their fur easily. The only got it on their fur because they sat too close to it when peeing. I was pretty diligent when it came to their litter box, was scooping it 5 or more times a day. I kinda had to because there was 8 of them.

I am not a fan of products like yesterdays news because the poo just stays there and is very easily stepped in and subsequently tracked everywhere..YUCK.

I know what you mean, I REALLY don't like using the newspaper pellets. Nothing gets absorbed or clumped, it just gets wet and squishy.

3 months seems a little excessive though, the last kitten I took in was about 8 months old and I started him using the regular litter box right away with no problems.

I got the regular clay litter for my kittens, which they tried to eat at about 4 weeks old. A few days later they started using the litterbox for its intended purpose, at least to pee . I think it was about a week later that they finally started pooping there, too.

I had put a small litterbox for the kittens next to each of the big litterboxes, thinking they would learn by example (they did). However, by the time the kittens were 6 weeks old I noticed that the big cats were scrunching down into the tiny pans and the kittens were getting into the regular boxes, including the one with really high sides.

At that point I took the small pans away and left only the big ones with the clumping litter. I never had any problems with them trying to eat it or getting it stuck to their fur.