I adopted a 1.5 month old kitten on Friday. Born July 18, abandoned by mother, she and her 3 siblings were rescued up by elderly lady (not sure at how many days or weeks old), one of them died, another was adopted by somebody else, and I got my sweetie.
Now the rescuer bottle fed them and stopped giving them milk a few days before I adopted mine. She had a box with newspaper strips in it for them to use as a toilet. My kitty pooped on the floor once and peed on the floor once and both times I picked her up (plus poop the first time), put her in her litter box and covered the poop with sand. In the pee incident I obviously could not take the pee to the litter box but I did take the kitten and did the scooping motions. No other accidents so far. I got her on Friday afternoon so I had two and a half days uninterrupted time with her.
I monitored her closely and would take her to the litter box at the first signs (can’t really say what those signs are, though). At first I would put her in the box and then next to the box where she would climb in and do her business.
Yesterday I went to work, came home for an hour and then left for my yoga class. Today I went to work and came home in the afternoon. So we’ve had 3 fairly long absences and returns. Now, the funny thing is , on all 3 occasions, the litter box hadn’t been used when I got home, and upon my going in to the kitchen she would follow me and stand by her water and food bowls and do her little toilet dance whereupon I took her to the litter box and then she would climb in and eliminate.
So it seems as if she wants/ needs me there in order to use the toilet:confused:
Is it because she is such a tiny baby ? Will she grow out of it?
Also, she hasn’t mastered the art of covering up her “product” yet. She scrapes around spraying the sand everywhere but on the clump of pee or poop. Which means I have to do it every time.
Could it be because I got the smallest litter box available and she can’t maneuver around in it or is it just a matter of experience and practice?
Last question (I hope): she likes to play in the litter box, digging holes and sniffing around. Is this normal?
Looking forward to hearing from all you experienced indoor-cat people!
How to use the litterbox is one of those things baby kittens are taught by their mothers. She didn’t have a mom and she’s looking to you now because you’re her new mom. Just keep demonstrating and she’ll catch on, probably within a few more days.
It’s a new texture for her so it’s normal for her to be intrigued by the kitty litter. If you see her just goofing around in there, you might want to distract her with some other toy.
Well, that is precisely why I chose the smallest box, since kitty is so tiny. But she climbs in quite easily - as I said, after the first couple of days I started putting her down next to the box, not inside it. Also, her climbing skillz have developed significantly since I got her (I shudder to think what awaits me! ).
I will get her a roomier box, but that won’t be before next payroll on September 15.
You could be right. It’s just that I read somewhere that small kittens can’t be expected to hold their bladders/ bowels for hours at a time and here she is not going for a whole 8.5 hours while I’m at work.
As for distracting her when she uses the litter box for entertainment, I considered it but if she needs to go I don’t want to put her off.
You think??:eek:
OK, I will modify the protocoll to standing at the sink washing something (or pretending to) and calling her (The litter box is close to the sink).
Is she contained in a smallish area w/ the box handy when you’re gone? If not, you may want to do a pee hunt…
She may just be sleeping most of the time that you’re gone, and when she’s woken by you coming home she’s gotta go.
If you haven’t already, I’d limit her freedom when you’re not around so the box is right there for her. She’ll figure it out, at 6 wks she’s still very much a baby. She may or may not grt the whole cover-it concept, some of mine do and some don’t.
I haven’t got the technology to provide pics yet (my phone doesn’t take very good photos and I haven’t got a cable to connect it to the laptop) but I do solemnly promise I will take care of this serious problem.
I close all doors leaving her access to the kitchen and living room, could be a total of 25-30 sq. m. . The door between them doesn’t close and I daren’t put her in my bedroom, plus I don’t want to have the litter box in there all day long. (Moving it between kitchen and bedroom wouldn’t be a good idea either, would it?)
As for the pee-hunt, I haven’t ruled out that I might be in for an unpleasant surprise, but I don’t really think so. It’s quite hot and I expect any pee or poop might start smelling pretty soon, no?
Ug. I’m so glad we have an indoor/outdoor cat. She heads out the dog door to roam and hunt, poop under the trampoline & bury it, and lounge by the pool all day.
Very rarely, she has pooped in our bathtub overnight, which I take as a sign of respect or intelligence, or both! At least it’s an easy clean-up. Not sure if she couldn’t get out that night, or maybe it was raining…
Yes, you are lucky. But I live in a flat, so not much choice. When I lived “back home” all the cats that we had over the years would go in and out as they pleased. Hadn’t even heard of a “litter box”.
My cat doesn’t bury anything, either - I wouldn’t worry too much about that issue. She scratches the walls of the box, the wall behind the box, but not the litter itself.
I don’t think I’d worry too much about your little kitty-poo only peeing or pooping when you’re around - it seems like my cat waits for me to hop in the shower for her to start grooming herself ("Okay, time for baths all around!), but I don’t think a preference for having company means she won’t do it at all.
Oh, I just thought of another reason for her to go to the litter box as soon as you get home - she might have slept the whole time you were gone, and just got up and realized she needed to pee when you came home.
Forget “Litter Box” in the Pet section - go to housewares and find a low-sided storage bin. Much cheaper.
When you put the box down, put it in the same place as her current box (my cat was fascinated by the conversion of a plastic tray into a litter box and watched me pour in the litter) and place her in the box and move her front paws in a scooping motion. That is all any of my cats have needed to understand the box’s purpose.
And don’t put the box in the bathroom - esp an abandoned kitten not trained by its mother - that is where scary water sounds come from.
I have a short wall to designate the dining area vs the family room - the box is next to the wall on the family room side; food and water are on the dining room side.
Clumping litter is worth the extra price (IMO) - you need only remove the soiled bits - the rest stay. You don’t need to fill as often.
Be careful what type you get, though–some clumping litter isn’t good for tiny kittens because they swallow it and it “clumps” inside them. If you get the wheat kind (or other organic) you should be fine, but don’t get the inorganic kind until she’s older. There’s some disagreement over whether this is really a problem, but if it were my kitten I’d rather be safe than sorry, especially with the wide range of options available.
No need to wait.
Get a cardboard one (like a box lid or the bottom tray from a case of canned food) lined with a plastic sack and filled with an appropriate amount of litter. It often helps to have more than 1 litter box available, either together or in scattered locations.
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