5 Month Old Kitten Harassing Cats in the Litter Box

[oceanbreathes]

My 5+ month old kitten(male, unaltered) is particularly fascinated with water and.. The litter boxes. He now chortles happily and races over to the boxes when he hears or sees one of my adult cats entering them. Lately, he's been batting at my oldest cat's tail while he's in the box. I've seen him do it to the younger cats but he seems particularly interested in doing it to my 17 year old, who already has a difficult time positioning himself, relaxing his muscles, etc. He's also blind with vestibular issues so yeah, he has enough troubles.

I've tried:
Gently scruffing him
Redirecting his attention briefly with toys(he will just run back to the box)
Picking him up and holding him on my lap until my oldest is done. He fights it the entire time as he wants to get back over there, as though he's missing out.


Any other tips? He has endless toys, cat trees, two very playful cats who take turns playing with him, and a pair of gerbils to watch. I want to break this bad habit ASAP as, like I said, my oldest has enough problems with being able to use the litter boxes.

He's getting neutered in a few weeks. I'm not sure if that will help at all but I'm also going to try clicker training, though I worry about him harassing him when I'm asleep or not here to click..

 

[tabbytom]

@OceanBreathes

The only tip is get him fixed ASAP. I'm not sure how long when you said that he'll be neutered in a few weeks time.
In the meanwhile, till the few weeks time comes, he'll still be at the litter box whenever your other cats use the litter box or whenever you scoop the litter box. The thing is you won't know when the other cats will be using the litter box. Whyever toys or cat trees or any distraction will never be able to distract him from doing what he is doing. You have to bear with it till he gets neutered.
He'll still be at it after neutering but slowly his interest in hanging around the litter box will diminish.
My boy was the same, whenever I scoop out his litter, no matter what he's doing, any slight sound of the litter sand, in 2 secs he's next to me :lol3: And as I scoop, he'll jump in chasing the scoop. If not, he'll be outside the box chasing the scoop and then jump in again. After he was neutered, he dosen't care even if I dived into the litter box to have a swim.
So bear with it, do not scold or shout at him and if you can, carry him away till the older cat finishes his business.

 

[oceanbreathes]

Hello.  Your boy January is absolutely adorable; reminds me of my oldest cat. 

His neuter date is the earliest available(17 days away!) with his vet and he'll be exactly 6 months old.  I could look into scheduling with another vet.

Today I witnessed him simply watching my oldest pee over the side of the box.  This combined his two favorite things(water+litter box) but he remained calm and didn't interfere.  Maybe something is working?

It's good to hear your boy outgrew it!  Yes, my guy also loves to be involved in scooping the boxes; it's apparently the most exciting thing ever.  I have a 6 year old who still gets excited whenever he hears someone scraping in the boxes, and has had past issues with bullying my other 6 year old in the box.  I REALLY hope that's never a problem with my kitten.  My 6 year old was neutered late(around 1 year of age by his previous family) and I think that contributed.  It's been a long time since I've had a kitten neutered(last kitten was neutered prior to adoption) and I've never waited this long.  Overall, he's a good little boy.  I'm going to keep an eye on the situation and watch for more "teenager" behavior.  So far, there's been very little.