• TalkBass has been independent since 1998. Add your voice.
    Create a free account to reply to discussions, view embedded media, and browse with fewer display ads.
    Join free Log in
    Want zero display ads or expanded classifieds tools? Compare plans.

Kitten litter training question

Ben Lesser

Ben Lesser

Jul 11, 2006
2,461
22
39
Vancouver, BC, Canada
#1
I just got a new kitten (9 weeks old) yesterday, and have been in the process of getting her accustomed to her new environment. Everything is going great (except for the waking me up all night bit, but that was expected), except she's not using her litter.

The kitten knows where it is, because I've been placing her in it regularly and showing her what it is. She seems to understand what it is for, but when she gets into it to do her thing, she just paws at the litter and makes holes and then meows.

Online consultation has suggested that maybe it's because she doesn't like this brand of litter versus whatever they were using at the shelter, and that might very well be it, but I'm not in a position to go trying a dozen litters to see which one she takes to.

Is this (wrong type of litter) likely the cause of the problem or does anyone have any other suggestions/experiences? Everything else is fine: she's eating and drinking water regularly, playing like mad, and then napping after she tuckers herself out.

Oh, and no pics, no kitten, I suppose. :p

Link Removed
 
#3
we had a similar thing with our kitten, and it was the kind of litter she didn't like. We had put the kind of gravel, stoney type litter in and she didn't seem to like it, we found out she preffered the wood pellet type litter. It also smells nicer that the gravel stuff.

If she knows where the litter tray is then you shouln't have any problems in getting her to go there.
 
#5
Could be the litter. When my cat was a kitten, she didn't like the crystal type litters, but her sister did, and the sister didn't like the softer type litters but she did. We settled on the grey gravel kind and both were happy.
 
#8
i was going to say to give her a little time, she'll get the picture.

what i would do with all my cats that i got when they were little kittens, was i would put them in a big, open box with a little pile of litter in one corner, and a shirt of mine in the other. this would be just for a few days. kept messes controllable (let's face it, kittens don't excrete much, so it's not that big of a deal) and it gets them used to the surroundings and "the rules" (i.e. use the litter for pee, use the shirt for sleep).

doesn't take long, as you've obviously found out :).

cats have a biological imperative to do their thing - mainly keeping clean and using a box or somewhere out of the way to unload. it's not that we have to train them to do this, so much as we have to accomodate them. if they are not doing these things, that's a very sure sign something is wrong (they might be sick) - the biggest sign you'll get. cats don't show themselves feeling sick or hurt - they hide that stuff like their lives depended on it, because, in a way, they do, or at least did when they were in the wild. appearing weak was an invitation to be attacked by their peers.

just waxing about cats :D.
 
#11
john turner said:
i was going to say to give her a little time, she'll get the picture.

what i would do with all my cats that i got when they were little kittens, was i would put them in a big, open box with a little pile of litter in one corner, and a shirt of mine in the other. this would be just for a few days. kept messes controllable (let's face it, kittens don't excrete much, so it's not that big of a deal) and it gets them used to the surroundings and "the rules" (i.e. use the litter for pee, use the shirt for sleep).

doesn't take long, as you've obviously found out :).

cats have a biological imperative to do their thing - mainly keeping clean and using a box or somewhere out of the way to unload. it's not that we have to train them to do this, so much as we have to accomodate them. if they are not doing these things, that's a very sure sign something is wrong (they might be sick) - the biggest sign you'll get. cats don't show themselves feeling sick or hurt - they hide that stuff like their lives depended on it, because, in a way, they do, or at least did when they were in the wild. appearing weak was an invitation to be attacked by their peers.

just waxing about cats :D.
Click to expand...

Thanks, JT. This is actually my second kitten, but the first that is "mine" (the other one I got when I was still living at home, but she's my mom's cat, and that was almost 9 years ago now), so I had kind of forgotten how the whole kitten process went. I figured she would have used her box before then, so I was wondering if maybe the litter was wrong, just based on her pawing at it, but it seems like it's all good.
 
#13
My cat had the same problem as a kitten. After I found out which litter the shelter was using I started mixing it with the stuff that I was buying (since I had to drive 40 minutes to the only store that had the litter the shelter used) and eventually I started using more of the stuff I originally bought. Now she is using whatever I happen to find on sale without discrimination.
 
#14
A friend in the country has a cat named Chloe. I have an 8-yr-old girl w/the same name. :D She LOVES the kittehs.
Back on litter/training- our 19-yr-old kitty(Loopy)was apparently a runt & didn't know how to clean herself when we first got her. She totally fouled her hindquarters the first couple of times she did #2, and after bathing her twice, she kept herself IMMACCULATE. She's let herself slip a bit the past couple of years, but I think in cat years she's about 150, so it's to be expected. She sure smells 150. :atoz:
 
#15
Over the summer we acquired (the girlfriend nagged until I caved) another kitten. We had the problem where she would whiz everywhere BUT her litter box. All it took was confining her to a small space (a small room, large closet, bathroom all work) with all of her worldly possessions. Everything. Her food and water, her toy, her litter box, her bed all stayed with her in our bathroom. She lived there without any access to the rest of the apartment for about five/six days. Out of her own sheer unwillingness to leak all over her things, she naturally began to gravitate toward the litter box until it finally occurred to her "Okay, this is where I'm supposed to do this..."

There have been no troublesome couch/bed/pile of laundry pissings since.
 
#17
I use Everclean unscented extra strength litter. It is like the holiest of all litters, Christ himself would have used it if he was a cat. OK maybe I exaggerate, but it is really the most amazing stuff as far as absorbing odors.

Anyway, 99% of domestic cats retain the natural built-in instinct to want to do their business in a sand-like substance. They are descended from desert cats, and their ancestors would bury their waste because they evolved that instinct because the sanitation helped them live longer and also hid their stuff from predators or other rivals who might be able to track them via scent. Kittens develop litter instinct very early in age, usually the mother cat will help them along by putting them int the litter, licking their nether regions to stimulate pooing/peeing. If they were taken from their mother too early or if their mother wasn't attentive in this area, they might take a little longer to get the right idea.

Of course, there will always be the small percentage of cats with defective instincts. And some that have some other kind of aversion to the litter. Sometimes it can be corrected, sometimes not. Just keep in mind that a cat's brain doesn't work like ours. Where we can conceive of using pee or poo as a weapon to annoy, or as an expression (albiet very antisocial) of displeasure, cat's don't use that kind of logic. A cat does not deliberately pee or poo someplace in order to get revenge or to express anger or discontentment. A cat MAY spontaneously pee or poo somewhere out of fear (or illness of course), but it's not because the cat desired to pee or poo.

And of course, male cats often will develop the instinct to spray urine to mark their territory. Get them neutered early enough (before they hit puberty) and you can usually avoid this behavior.
 

Latest posts

Top Bottom
Back