Toilet snob kitty?

[kirstotaylo]

Hehe! So I'm wondering if you can help me...i have an almost 9 week old kitty called bailey. I was wondering how long it can take to completely litter train?

He ALWAYS poops in the litter box now, never out of the box.i see evidence that he is sometimes peeing in the box...however he will still now and again try to pee on the carpet. Now i know this is normal for a kitty in training, im just wondering if its normal to do a bit of both...in AND out of the tray. When he crouches i do as advised on many of these forums and place him in the tray to show him where to go next time. I expect him to have accidents hes so young, just wondering why its sometimes in the right place and sometimes not. Lol!

Will he eventually just lay off the carpet if i keep at it? Is it possible he may want a different tray to pee away from his poop? I am very new to this so im just wondering if there is anything else i shoud be doing? Im also trying as much as possible to pop him in the tray after meals and a big nap (as he normally naps on me anyway its hard to miss) thanks for your advice in advance xx

 

[lamiatron]

Hehe! So I'm wondering if you can help me...i have an almost 9 week old kitty called bailey. I was wondering how long it can take to completely litter train?

He ALWAYS poops in the litter box now, never out of the box.i see evidence that he is sometimes peeing in the box...however he will still now and again try to pee on the carpet. Now i know this is normal for a kitty in training, im just wondering if its normal to do a bit of both...in AND out of the tray. When he crouches i do as advised on many of these forums and place him in the tray to show him where to go next time. I expect him to have accidents hes so young, just wondering why its sometimes in the right place and sometimes not. Lol!

Will he eventually just lay off the carpet if i keep at it? Is it possible he may want a different tray to pee away from his poop? I am very new to this so im just wondering if there is anything else i shoud be doing? Im also trying as much as possible to pop him in the tray after meals and a big nap (as he normally naps on me anyway its hard to miss)

thanks for your advice in advance xx

rule for litter boxes: number of kitties + 1

so maybe keeping a 2nd kitty litter might help your little guy, some cats like to go number 1 in one box, and number 2 in another box. so that is a consideration.

i would suggest you do the following:

1) buy cat attract litter or cat attract herbs to mix with your current litter. this attracts kitty into the box, so he will go in there as opposed to the carpet. many people have used it to train kitties to go in the litter box with great success.

2) buy an enzyme cleaner from any pet store, and please properly and thoroughly clean the areas where your little guy has already urinated outside of the box. if he smells it outside of the box, he will go outside of the box again.

hope that works out for you. good luck training your little guy!

 

[mservant]

I would hope a kitten could safely use a tray by 8 or 9 weeks, and many manage from a younger age.  Having had access to a parent / role model to learn from does help though.  I think you are right to think about whether your kitten would like a different tray for pee as this would not be uncommon.  You could also try open versus covered tray or a different texture or smell of litter - I tend to go for fine texture unscented if possible as this mirrors what would be most natural but what ever your cat seems to prefer is always going to be best!  You may not be using clumping litter as your kitten is still quite young but he may prefer this due to the finer texture and ability to scoop out quickly after use.

Like @Lamiatron has said, the other thing that is important is to use an enzyme cleaner to remove all traces of where he has peed so far as the smells from this will confuse him.

If your kitten is crouching it does not sound like he is deliberately peeing to scent the area but more something about using the litter tray you have.

I have added a couple of artice links that you might find helpful.

http://www.thecatsite.com/a/litter-box-location-secrets

http://www.thecatsite.com/a/how-to-remove-cat-urine

 

[kirstotaylo]

Thank you so much for your helpful replies! I will take your advice gratefully. Back to the pet store for us x