Kitten harassing cat in litter box

[prairienights]

I have a 6 month old cat/kitten and a 4 month old kitten. Lua, the older one, had been an only child for the first few months that I owned her, and she never had any problems with the litter box. I found Bailey on the side of the road with her dead mamma and brought her home. I went through a slow introduction process, through the door, then through a cracked door, then short (10 min) periods of supervised time together and gradually longer. Since they were both young, the intro was really easy. Neither one ever showed aggression, but I still tried to keep the intro slow. Now, they are best buds. They eat together, sleep together, play together, etc.

Well about a week after I was letting the kitten stay out for about 2 hours at a time, I noticed that Lua started to act weird about the litter box. She would use it, she never had any accidents, but she was very anxious about it. She would run around the room meowing, bat toys around frantically, and just looked very desperate. Finally she'd go to the box and meow loudly. I assumed it was a UTI so I took her to the vet. After the urinalysis, everything was within normal range, but some things were on the edge of normal. The vet gave me a week of antibiotics just to be sure since the symptoms sounded like UTI.

After I brought her home, I noticed that every time Lua got in the box, the kitten would start stalking her and pounce on her in the box. No wonder she was so anxious about it! She knew that she'd be (playfully) attacked while she was doing her business. So I started separating the two whenever I thought Lua might have to go. Fortunately, she's on a pretty regular schedule, so that wasn't hard. I also got some Feliway spray and plug ins to help calm her down.

I have 3 litter boxes around my small apartment for my 2 cats. They are kept very clean throughout the day. She has been checked twice for a UTI, it's not a medical problem. Lua is spayed.

After a few weeks, she's mostly gotten over her anxiety. She still has times when she gets really nervous about going to the box, but I tell her to go potty and she usually does.

But my main issue is, Bailey the kitten STILL wants to attack her every time she's in the box. It's out of play, but it's a very annoying behavior. Every time she hears Lua stepping in the box, she runs from wherever she is in the apartment. If I manage to grab her to hold her, she squirms to get over to Lua. I still separate them at litter box times, but if I'm gone for a few hours, I'm afraid to leave them together in case Lua might have to go and I'm not there to intercept the kitten. If she's ambushed, it will set us way back. So having two cats to keep each other company while I'm gone is kind of pointless since they have to be separated.

Any suggestions?? Is this just kitten behavior that she'll grow out of

 

[weldrwomn]

Have you tried covered litterboxes so that there is only one opening and the kitten cannot ambush from behind?

 

[cheylink]

Originally Posted by WELDRWOMN

Have you tried covered litterboxes so that there is only one opening and the kitten cannot ambush from behind?

This is a great suggestion! Also it's not uncommon for cats to run around after using the litter box, and this is probably what winds the kitten up......She's just a kitten, and needs guidance, actually they are both kittens and there will be lots of new behaviors. Best to let them work things out and help a little by covered boxes, or even placing something behind and on the side, boxes.......

 

[c1atsite]

Originally Posted by prairienights

Is this just kitten behavior that she'll grow out of

I hope so! Have some vibes, dear

My Penny is 2 years older than Daisy --I adopted Penny first. During Daisy's first few days, I noticed she would try to "tap" Penny's tail with her paw while Penny was using the box -- My instinct said it was due to Daisy's youthfulness -- I was right. At the time, I wasn't working full-time ---so that definitely helped me nip things in the bud in less than a week. (I wish you a fast timeframe like that!-- or faster!)

the tone of my voice let Daisy know I wasn't going to tolerate that nonsense. Nowadays, Daisy will ocassionally observe Penny using the box, but in a calm, lying down position. Most of the time she simply doesn't care.

 

[claydust]

Originally Posted by WELDRWOMN

Have you tried covered litterboxes so that there is only one opening and the kitten cannot ambush from behind?

I'll second that one.

I saw the pictures of Bailey on the other post and she does have a look of extreme,playfulness about her.

Years ago we had a similar problem, with our old girls, which we lost a few years ago. We had them from when they were young kittens, Molly was a bit older by a few months than Mitzi. Mitzi "took a long time to grow up" and she was an enthusiastic litter box ambusher. She did grow out of it but it was a trial at the time.

We didn't think of the covered box back then, but if you haven't tried it, it might work.

 

[dandi]

Originally Posted by WELDRWOMN

Have you tried covered litterboxes so that there is only one opening and the kitten cannot ambush from behind?

If you decide to try this, beware of covered boxes that have an opening on the top. One of ours has a slot about 2" x 5" on the top and the 8week old kittens and my 8 month old will perch on the top of the box, reach through the slot, and swat at whoever is using the potty at the time. This hasn't really caused any problems because they all do it to each other and they expect it now.

The grown up kitties just avoid using this particular box.