Does Mamacat always teach her babies to use sand?

foxfire

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I'm considering a kitten from an accidental litter. A lovely gray and white tabby likely was dumped at the farm where I work. There were four in her litter; they are now old enough to leave their mother. My boss is trying to find homes for them. I'm tempted to take one, but have a couple of questions.

1. Do cat mothers necessarily teach their offspring to use available sand?
 

tnr1

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Originally Posted by foxfire

I'm considering a kitten from an accidental litter. A lovely gray and white tabby likely was dumped at the farm where I work. There were four in her litter; they are now old enough to leave their mother. My boss is trying to find homes for them. I'm tempted to take one, but have a couple of questions.

1. Do cat mothers necessarily teach their offspring to use available sand?
It depends on how the kittens were raised...if they were raised outdoors...she may have shown them to go in the dirt outdoors. Are you concerned about the kitten not wanting to go in a litterbox? Also....are there plans to get the mom fixed?

Katie
 
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foxfire

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Oops. Please forgive the double post. This one only got partly posted. The other one has more to it.

To answer your question, TNR1, yes I am concerned about a kitten not using a litterbox in my apartment. I had to get special permission to have a cat, and I told my landlady I intend to do all I can to keep the cat from being destructive.

I'm going to see what my boss means to do with the mother cat. If they want her to stick around, I'm going to try to tactfully see if they'll consider having her spayed. They're not the type to mistreat animals; my boss may even end up taking her home himself.

(Added by GayeF)

I'm considering a kitten from an accidental litter. A lovely gray and white tabby likely was dumped at the farm where I work. There were four in her litter; they are now old enough to leave their mother. My boss is trying to find homes for them. I'm tempted to take one, but have a couple of questions.

1. Do cat mothers necessarily teach their offspring to use available sand?
These are in a barn and I've seen poop on the concrete floor. I don't
think they spend a whole lot of time outside, but I may be wrong. I'm afraid
that if I do take one, (s)he may use my wall-to-wall carpet. And my
apartment is almost totally carpeted.

2. Another question. They're pretty wild already. I've played with them some,
but if I laugh or accidently scrape my shoe across the floor, they're off like
a shot. They will play with the baling twine I frizzed out but I think they
kindof don't connnect me with the movement of the twine. Now, I don't
mind working with them, and I feel like I do have the patience, but I
wonder would one of these come around? Within a few days I think I can
get a better idea of how old they are.

Any input would be much appreciated.
 

coaster

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Do you have hard-surfaced flooring in your bathroom? You could confine the kitten to one room until it learns how to use the litterbox. And I'm sure it will.

If you have the patience, I think the kitten you take will grow up just fine.
 

tnr1

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<<1. Do cat mothers necessarily teach their offspring to use available sand?
These are in a barn and I've seen poop on the concrete floor. I don't
think they spend a whole lot of time outside, but I may be wrong. I'm afraid
that if I do take one, (s)he may use my wall-to-wall carpet. And my
apartment is almost totally carpeted.

2. Another question. They're pretty wild already. I've played with them some,
but if I laugh or accidently scrape my shoe across the floor, they're off like
a shot. They will play with the baling twine I frizzed out but I think they
kindof don't connnect me with the movement of the twine. Now, I don't
mind working with them, and I feel like I do have the patience, but I
wonder would one of these come around? Within a few days I think I can
get a better idea of how old they are.

Any input would be much appreciated.>>

Ok..now the post makes more sense....first of all....to help your kitten since it is one that came from the outdoors and hasn't had experience with "cat litter" yet....I would definately confine it to a small room..bathroom may be a good idea. Be prepared if the kitten does have a few accidents as she/he figures things out.

As far as it coming around....read some of the posts in the Caring for Ferals and Strays section to get advice on working with an outdoor kitten. You may also want to send a PM to Hissy.

Katie
 

maverick_kitten

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my cat came from a family who had no indoor litter trays. as she was only 6weeks old she was unable to go outside to pee or poop so either did it in the bath tub or the mama cat ate it.

she had NEVER seen another cat use a litter box or been near one herself.

Yet as soon as we showed her a litter tray she knew what it was for and used it fine. ONe year and a half on we've had no accidents to date. i'm guessing its heridetary.
 
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foxfire

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Thank you for your ideas regarding the bathroom. My bathroom is not carpeted, but it is kindof small. I'm not sure if it's too small for a kitten; but maybe a whole big space wouldn't really be necessary for a while, anyway.
 

esrgirl

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Also, buy one of those enzyme carpet cleaners formulated for pets stains, just in case. I have used Resolve and Natures Miracle. They really do work!! You just have to make sure you get to the mess as soon as you can, and blot, don't rub! If the mess has been there a while you might have to treat it a few times, but otherwise it cleaning it up shouldn't be too much of a problem. When you move you could also have professional carpet cleaner come out to your house, or rent a carpet shampooer from the grocery store, or just buy one like I did.
 
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