60 day old Kitten help!

Hey there everyone. 

I've just adopted a lovely female kitten from a shelter. She's about 60 days old. 

When she came from the shelter she was pretty filthy and smelled pretty bad, so I bathed her and all was fine. Now...

Here come my questions!

-Every time she poos correctly inside, she doens't cover it up, it just lies there in the sand and I cover it up for her. Is this normal for a kitten? Will she learn to cover it eventually?

-Her poo is kind of soft so sometimes she has problems "cutting" it and she comes out of the litter box with some of it still stuck in her butt, so you imagine the mess... It doesn't happen always, and even when it doesn't, she's always dirty near the back paws/tail/butt and it stinks pretty bad! I tried using some humid cleaning cloths with flower essences; they help taking out the biggest particles, but the smell still remains pretty strong even though she seems pretty clean. What can I do to avoid this? Will she learn to use the litterbox as she grows? Is this normal for a kitten her age?

One more thing:

-Her anus is a bit "spiked out". I can see it always has alittle bit of dry poo on it and this contributes to the bad smell she has...Anywhere she sits gets stained by the smell near her butt! (only her rear end smells bad, the rest of her body is just very very very clean!)

Sorry for the long post, but I'm worried something might be wrong, and if not, I want to calm down and let her grow it out!

Thank you!

Has she been de-wormed and had her other vet work done? Worms can cause soft stools, so can changing foods or stress (which she's probably stressed from being in the shelter and moving to a new home). What are you feeding her?

Sounds like she might also have anal gland problems which are more common in cats with soft stools.  Willowy has said everything else.

BTW some cats never cover their stools, but they are probably more offensive than normal firm stools.

Thank you both for the inputs.

She's gonna have her second dose of deworming in about 10 days. She already had the first... Her vaccines are due in about 2 weeks and I have already booked her nutering for February of 2013. I'm I missing something? 

I'm feeding her this: http://img1.findthebest.com/sites/d...a/images/Whiskas_For_Kittens_Dry_Cat_Food.jpg

Is it the soft stool that might be causing this small mess on her bottom (and consequently causing the bad smell) ? If her stool hardens up should this higene problem go away?

Cheers.

Why wait until February to neuter her? She can be done once she weighs 1kg/2lbs. 

Whiskas is well known for causing smelly bottoms and loose stools. 

gpietoso said:

Hey there everyone. 

I've just adopted a lovely female kitten from a shelter. She's about 60 days old. 

When she came from the shelter she was pretty filthy and smelled pretty bad, so I bathed her and all was fine. Now...

Here come my questions!

-Every time she poos correctly inside, she doens't cover it up, it just lies there in the sand and I cover it up for her. Is this normal for a kitten? Will she learn to cover it eventually?

-Her poo is kind of soft so sometimes she has problems "cutting" it and she comes out of the litter box with some of it still stuck in her butt, so you imagine the mess... It doesn't happen always, and even when it doesn't, she's always dirty near the back paws/tail/butt and it stinks pretty bad! I tried using some humid cleaning cloths with flower essences; they help taking out the biggest particles, but the smell still remains pretty strong even though she seems pretty clean. What can I do to avoid this? Will she learn to use the litterbox as she grows? Is this normal for a kitten her age?

Click to expand...

- MM is right- some cats just don't bury. You can encourage her to do so but she may never take to it. I agree a gradual food switch will help, and it won't be so stinky once her stools firm up. You can also try a covered litter box (some cats don't like them so start with the top off so she gets used to it). 

- I am wondering about these wipes? It could be that she doesn't like the smell (or taste) of them and that could be discouraging her from cleaning herself. I would stick to a damp cloth or unscented pet bath wipes. 

Otherwise, I agree with what everyone else has said. 

Good luck!

My male cat doesn't bury. He's very clean and likes his box scooped promptly after he's finished his business! Lol