New kitten wont void

[mkateb]

Hello!
I just brought my new (14wks) kitten home yesterday. I have him confined in one room and he seems fairly comfortable, is playing, drinking, eating and sleeping. The only thing is he doesn't seem to want to void. He came home at 10am yesterday and only peed one time early this am (in a blanket on the bed rather than the box). He knows where the box is and has gotten in and out of it a couple times, patted the litter with his paws while sitting outside once, but still hasn't pooped or peed again. Any ideas or suggestions?
Thanks in advance!

 

[blackcatmom23]

Oh my goodness, congratulations on your new addition!! I would definitely keep a close eye on this. It could be a lot of things, maybe just the stress of adjusting to a new environment. I would suggest reaching out to wherever you purchased or rescued him from, seeing what kind of litter they use, and replacing it with that kind! Because he's so young and still new to using the box, he could just be confused, especially if the litter looks or smells different than what he's used to. They also make litter attractants (Dr Elsey's is the best) that you can try. I'd start to worry if there's no poop or pee by the morning, call the vet if so, or if there's any cries or straining. Kittens especially tend to go more often, so that makes me a little nervous that he hasn't.

 

[Mamanyt1953]

Have we had any results? Called the vet?

 

[BoaztheAdventureCat]

Hello!
I just brought my new (14wks) kitten home yesterday. I have him confined in one room and he seems fairly comfortable, is playing, drinking, eating and sleeping. The only thing is he doesn't seem to want to void. He came home at 10am yesterday and only peed one time early this am (in a blanket on the bed rather than the box). He knows where the box is and has gotten in and out of it a couple times, patted the litter with his paws while sitting outside once, but still hasn't pooped or peed again. Any ideas or suggestions?
Thanks in advance!

When I brought my kitten home, he didn't poop for the first day. My friend who had owned cats for years suggested that I take a rag, wet it with warm water, and use it to wipe the cat's rear end. Gross, yes, but the idea is to imitate the mother cat. The mother cat stimulates her kittens to relieve themselves by her licking their rear ends or stomachs. Also, avoid giving him any dry food. Dry food poses no benefits to cats besides merely enabling them to survive. Cats need moisture-rich diets and they usually won't drink enough water to make up for the lack of moisture in dry food. If possible, feed him only wet food; if the wet food is human-grade, that's even better.

One other point: Although this is off-topic, I want to encourage you, if you don't have other cats in the home, to adopt a second kitten as a playmate for your first one. Take it from me; my cat spent the first two months of his time with us as a solitary kitten. We did have an adult cat in the house at the time, but she was also outside a lot and she hated him. Because he lacked a playmate to teach him important social skills, like bite and claw inhibition, early on, to this day he struggles to get along with other cats and he plays too rough, so his playfulness has to be closely supervised so that no cats or humans get hurt.

I think that by giving your kitten a buddy it will also lessen his stress that he's feeling now. Kittens or cats that come to a new home usually adjust a lot better if they have a feline friend to provide them emotional support.

 

[mkateb]

Thanks everyone for responses. For reasons that are unclear to me, I didn't get notification.

He did, of course, finally void in the box later that day and has had no accidents since that time. He got a clean bill of health from the vet, too.

He does have non-human companions and is particularly enjoying watching the bird feeder on the other side of this window (perforated vinyl so birds don't get used to eating next to a non-threatening cat).

I appreciate this forum greatly, tho mostly lurk.