New Kitten: Litter Box Location?

[auntie]

Hi,

I have a 4-yr-old cat, and I'm bringing home a new 3-month-old kitten in a couple of days (Saturday, and today's Thursday). Our house is configured in such a way that the kitten's little "safe room" is also connected to a large back sunroom where her litter box will be located. To get there, she needs to go down a short flight of stairs, past some musical instruments, and there's the box. My question is, can I just introduce her straight away to this litter box, and expect her to find/use it? Or do I need to have a small (temporary) one in her safe room? The safe room is actually used as a guest room, even though it's also the corridor between the sunroom and the rest of the house. I'd prefer just to show her to the new litter box and call it good, but do you think she will not remember where it is, or be too scared to leave the little safe room, etc etc? Our resident cat will have no way to get into the sunroom--the only access is through the safe room--so there's no chance of her being disturbed there. It's actually a good scenario because our resident cat has never even been allowed to spend much time in the sun room, and she hardly ever ventures into the safe room, so the "territory" won't overlap much at first.

Anyway, please let me know what you think about the litter box location. Thanks so much!

 

[RufusGizmo]

I would have one closer. kittens have very small bladders, and if she has to go, and realizes she is too far from box, she will just go. this happened to me so i know. the kitty was playing in our family room and her safe room was too far, and he just let loose. thankfully it was only once.

 

[duckpond]

i would also have one in the safe room for the first bit anyway. then when she is out and about in the sunroom a lot and has used that one some you can probably do away with the one in the safe room. better safe than sorry in my opinion.

 

[auntie]

Okay, good advice, but then how do I phase out the safe room litter box and let her know that she can only use the one in the sunroom?
Thanks!

 

[duckpond]

Okay, good advice, but then how do I phase out the safe room litter box and let her know that she can only use the one in the sunroom?
Thanks!

i have always just put the one away that i didn't want in that room any more. never had a problem, as long as they were also using the one in the other room. but my cats were more in the 6 month range when i did that.

 

[RufusGizmo]

that's exactly what we just did. they are six months old right now, and we took the safe room one out, they still are confined in basement at night, but there are two other boxes down there.

 

[susanm9006]

Okay, good advice, but then how do I phase out the safe room litter box and let her know that she can only use the one in the sunroom?
Thanks!

Once she is comfortable in her space and using the litterbox, start moving it a foot or two a day, always within her sight. If it is just a few steps you move it from top to bottom and then start the move to its final location.

 

[auntie]

Hmmm...well, I think I made our sunroom sound bigger than it is...it’s probably only 12 feet max from the safe room to the cat box. I think I’m just going to try it, since she’ll have free access to both rooms. The idea of moving the temporary box a foot at a time over a course of weeks is stressing me out

 

[susanm9006]

Hmmm...well, I think I made our sunroom sound bigger than it is...it’s probably only 12 feet max from the safe room to the cat box. I think I’m just going to try it, since she’ll have free access to both rooms. The idea of moving the temporary box a foot at a time over a course of weeks is stressing me out

Some kittens will figure out where the litterbox is, others won’t, so give it a try. Worst case is you will end up cleaning up a few messes.

 

[auntie]

Thanks susanm9006 ! I do have a bottle of Cat Attract...fingers crossed