Litter box behaviour problems?

kitounminou

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I got this new kitten the other day, almost a week ago..
He has been using his litter box since, but I had to make sure it was always generally emptied. Today I cleaned it, and bought another kind of kitty litter, and he pi**ed in two other places and not in his box. Are cats picky about litter products?

I know he isn't marking his territory cuz he p00ed in one of the spots. He was just finishing, I picked him up and brought him onto his litter box.

I hope this doesn't become a problem


Thanks for any insight!

Joe
 
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Hi Joe,

Yes some cats are very picky about their litter!!! And some cats will not use a litter box that is not clean. Maybe you should go back to the litter you were using when you first got him. Oh and come introduce yourself in the Cat Lounge so everyone can welcome you!!

Meme
 

lotsocats

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If your kitten is very young he may not have the ability to hold in his pee or poop long enough to make it to the litter box. What happens is that kittens (just like human toddlers) are having so much fun playing that they don't realize until it is too late that they have to potty. Although they head toward the litter box, they just can't make it, so they find another place to do their business.

Therefore, until your kitten grows a little older, you may need to confine it to a smaller area so he can make it back to the box in time. Or if you are home, you might take him to the room with the box about once an hour which will help him remeber to go before it is too late. Do not put him in the box, just put him near the box.

As Meme said...you should go back to using the old litter for now and gradually introduce the new litter (put about a cup full of new litter in and mix it up, doing this each time the level drops. And...make sure the box is scooped at least once daily, though since you have 2 cats I would scoop twice daily.

Good luck!
 
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kitounminou

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Well last night I thought about it and added some of the older stuff into the box and he used it when he was in bed. (I still put him in his room till my two cats know each other better.) But come his morning play time, he pied on the floor in the kitchen (it was feeding time so maybe he was thinking only about food and not the bathroom) But when it came time for a p00pie, he went near a night stand in his room and p00ed there again.. I caught him twice after he had done it and put him in his box. He did it 4 times I think. (Thank god it's not carpet in these rooms)

But for his #2, he obviously has time to go to his box because it's on the way to where he did it lol

If this happened to anyone, do tell how you coped with that.. I'm scared he'll do it on carpet or something...

And by the way the box was well scooped


Joe

PS For my first cat, I was young myself so I can't remember too much how we trained him, but now I'm on my own with the two
 

lotsocats

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Have you tried confining the kitten to the room with the box? With kittens we often must do this until they are trained and have better control over their bladders and sphincter. Give it a try! It will work...really!
 
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kitounminou

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Yes I have, the kitten pied right in front of me earlier, and his box was 2 meters away and I discovered doo doo beside the usual spot again


The box is also clean, but he did use it last night...

I hope this gets resolved somehow, any suggestions as how to fix that?
 

lotsocats

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After reading that your kitten is only 8 weeks old, I think that he was taken away from his momma before he learned from her how to use the litter box. Therefore, it is up to you to teach him.

Try to learn when he is most likely to need to potty (get an idea of his potty routines) and then take him to the litter box at the normal potty times. When you are not at home, keep him in a small room with the litter box. Make sure he can easily climb into and out of the box. You may need to use a very small box for now because he is so tiny....a regular sized box may be intimidating to him. Make sure you give him lots of attention when he potties in the litter box so that the box is associated with good things.

Remember that your kitten is like a 6 month old human....just like we wouldn't expect a 6 month old human to be potty trained, we can't expect an 8 week of kitten to be potty trained!
 
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kitounminou

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He seems to always do his poopies near the nightstand I have in his room, so I'm guessing is that even 1 meter and a half is still too close to his food for his box. So I'll try, moving it to that corner since that is where he seems to like it.

And regarding types of litter, he likes different kinds of clumping litter, tho I need to buy a newer container
He didn't like the noname lol
 
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