I hope this is the right place for this, but I need help so much. I'm not sure if this is an every kitten kind of thing or just a my particular kitten kind of thing or some combination of lots of things. He was born in the humane society, so I don't know if maybe he learned litter box habits a bit differently or something or if this stuff just happens with kittens? We've not ever had a kitten before and our other cat is so careful and clean, so we have zero experience with this type of thing.
Basically, my kitten, Kermit (14.5 weeks old) is getting poop everywhere. The other day I posted in the nutrition forum about looking to put both Kermit and my 5 year old cat, Magnus, on the same food if that was possible because they keep stealing each other's/leaving some behind for the other to eat. I was advised that I could transition them both to an all life stages food. Well, I haven't been able to do that yet because I'm worried that starting that transition will make this new problem even worse.
Kermit's poops have recently started getting a bit softer (I think because of him eating some of the adult food when I can't catch him quick enough?), not liquid, just a little bit softer than normal. Add that to the fact that he's starting to grow long and fluffy hair on his back legs, butt, and tail (he and his brother were the only two from his litter that hadn't yet been adopted--his littermate brother had quite long hair and it looks like he's starting to sprout some now, too), and it seems to be sticking on there? Or it's not all coming out all the way? I'm not quite sure, but he keeps rubbing it EVERYWHERE. It's been significantly worse since yesterday, I was almost late for work this morning because right as I was leaving he went in the litter box and then rubbed it all over the floor, cat tree, and BED. It was really, really bad on the comforter on the bed, I couldn't get it completely off so I ended up just drenching the giant area in Dawn to let it soak while I was gone--I couldn't leave all of these things for 8 hours like that.
And he's also really horrible at burying anything he does in the litter box. He tries his hardest (he sits in there for like five minutes trying to bury it but he never actually covers anything), but he always ends up stepping in whatever he just did and then getting litter stuck all over him and I have to wash him. Happened TWICE today within ten minutes as soon as I got home. He peed, stepped in it, got covered in litter. I washed it all off, then while he was still wet he got back in the litter box and pooped. He stepped in the poop while trying to bury it so he had that on his paws and tons of clumps of litter all on his belly, feet, and tail since he was still wet from the previous washing a few seconds earlier. Had to wash him again obviously and wiped his butt, too, in case he tried to wipe it anywhere after I put him down. And apparently I missed a little anyway because he still wiped it on the couch, ottoman, floor, and cat tree (just tiny little trails you could barely even see, but still--ick).
I just have no idea what to do about this and how to stop this from happening every time he uses the litter box. I'm also wondering what kind of litter I should try instead of the Tidy Cats 24/7 Performance Clumping we're currently using because it's making too big of a mess and I'm worried it will happen when we're away or at night or something and he'd try to clean it off and eat it and get sick.
Thank you so much in advance if you can help me at all.
Basically, my kitten, Kermit (14.5 weeks old) is getting poop everywhere. The other day I posted in the nutrition forum about looking to put both Kermit and my 5 year old cat, Magnus, on the same food if that was possible because they keep stealing each other's/leaving some behind for the other to eat. I was advised that I could transition them both to an all life stages food. Well, I haven't been able to do that yet because I'm worried that starting that transition will make this new problem even worse.
Kermit's poops have recently started getting a bit softer (I think because of him eating some of the adult food when I can't catch him quick enough?), not liquid, just a little bit softer than normal. Add that to the fact that he's starting to grow long and fluffy hair on his back legs, butt, and tail (he and his brother were the only two from his litter that hadn't yet been adopted--his littermate brother had quite long hair and it looks like he's starting to sprout some now, too), and it seems to be sticking on there? Or it's not all coming out all the way? I'm not quite sure, but he keeps rubbing it EVERYWHERE. It's been significantly worse since yesterday, I was almost late for work this morning because right as I was leaving he went in the litter box and then rubbed it all over the floor, cat tree, and BED. It was really, really bad on the comforter on the bed, I couldn't get it completely off so I ended up just drenching the giant area in Dawn to let it soak while I was gone--I couldn't leave all of these things for 8 hours like that.
And he's also really horrible at burying anything he does in the litter box. He tries his hardest (he sits in there for like five minutes trying to bury it but he never actually covers anything), but he always ends up stepping in whatever he just did and then getting litter stuck all over him and I have to wash him. Happened TWICE today within ten minutes as soon as I got home. He peed, stepped in it, got covered in litter. I washed it all off, then while he was still wet he got back in the litter box and pooped. He stepped in the poop while trying to bury it so he had that on his paws and tons of clumps of litter all on his belly, feet, and tail since he was still wet from the previous washing a few seconds earlier. Had to wash him again obviously and wiped his butt, too, in case he tried to wipe it anywhere after I put him down. And apparently I missed a little anyway because he still wiped it on the couch, ottoman, floor, and cat tree (just tiny little trails you could barely even see, but still--ick).
I just have no idea what to do about this and how to stop this from happening every time he uses the litter box. I'm also wondering what kind of litter I should try instead of the Tidy Cats 24/7 Performance Clumping we're currently using because it's making too big of a mess and I'm worried it will happen when we're away or at night or something and he'd try to clean it off and eat it and get sick.
Thank you so much in advance if you can help me at all.
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