PLEASE HELP ME WITH LITTER TRAINING.

my kitten is 8 weeks old. She was the only kitten in the litter, her stray mother died during birth. I have been trying for 4 weeks to get her to go in her litter box, and she WONT. She will poop anywhere BUT her box. I have gotten her a low lipped box so she can SEE the litter and climb in easily. I have gotten a litter specifically for kittens with herbs that will attract her. I have tried locking her in a very small room with one litter box, and ive tried it with three litter boxes and she still poops on the bathroom floor. She REFUSES to poop on the box. I have also tried different types of litter incase one is more gwntle on her feet. Whenever she poops on the floor.... i put her poip in the box, then put her in it to show her. Please help... this has been happining for FOUR WEEKS. Im at the end of my rope. I cant keep allowing my apartment to smell like cat crap. What else can i do?

I suggest getting a medium size wire dog crate and putting her in the crate with a litter box, bed, few toys, food and water.

She's an orphan and they can tend to take longer to learn typical cat skills.

In all reality, most kittens start using a litter box around 6 weeks of age. So, even though you started her early, she's just a few weeks behind.

If you are able to get a crate, once she is using the box successfully without accidents, you can begin to increase her territory size. But, you will still need multiple litter boxes when doing so.

If you are absolutely unable to get a wire crate, you need to confine her to the smallest room possible or even a walk-in closet will work.

You will likely have to have litter boxes all over the floor (along the walls and in the middle). You can use disposable pie plates, cardboard boxes, etc as temporary litter boxes.

I had one litter of 8 kittens that were difficult to litter train. Took until they were 12 weeks old. They were confined to a bedroom that had only cat furniture and toys. For the 8 kittens, there were 15 makeshift litter boxes. I also found that using Kitten Attract litter worked for them.

Once there were no accidents at all, I slowly (over several weeks) started removing boxes that either were not being used consistently or were not used much.

The suggestions above are great!!!  I also would suggest burying her poop in the litter box after an accident.  This often will help.  She needs time and she will get there.

Also are you using the LItter Attract straight?  I found that it works best when used alone instead of mixed with other litter.

Also, are you using an enzymatic cleaner when cleaning up after her? Without that, the floor will still smell like the right place to her, so she'll keep doing it.

Good luck with her. I hope she catches on soon.

Columbine said:

Also, are you using an enzymatic cleaner when cleaning up after her? Without that, the floor will still smell like the right place to her, so she'll keep doing it.

Good luck with her. I hope she catches on soon.

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I have NOT been using the special cat enzyme smelly spray. I went to the petstore and it was 16 dollars for a regular sized spray bottle. I know i sound cheap, but thats just crazy. INSTEAD, i have been using a bristle brush and 409 cleaning spray that is lemon scented.



So it has been a few days now since ive written this post... so heres whats new. In the past 4 days, she has peed in the box 3 times, and pooped once. Is there a way i can reward this behavior? I wanted to throw her a friggen party with a meat pinata (jk dont worry) but i want to make sure shes aware shes being rewarded for going in the box

I don't know of any way to reward using the box other than praising her when she's in there.

It is vital to use an enzymatic cleaner. The floor may smell fresh to you, but her nose is far more sensitive. We have 5 million scent receptors - a cat has 200 million. Without an enzymatic cleaner, the scent marker is still there. This increases the risk of her going there again.

Enzymatic cleaners are much more widespread now. Your supermarket may have an enzymatic cleaner without the pet store inflated price.

There is a cheap cleaner called Zep that you can find at Home Depot or Lowes.  It is only $4.  It is enzymatic and will do a good job.  As Columbine mentioned it is vital to use an enzymatic cleaner as she can still smell it.