Kitten not using litter tray

PCros

Hi all,

Heres the story....my cat gave birth to a litter of kittens and we kept one of them the only male hes now 3 months old. When we were training them he was always the awkward one peeing & pooing in corners etc. We taught that may pass when we gave the others away and he had more privacy but nothing has changed.:mad:

When we do catch him pre-pooing we'll put him in the litter box and he'll poo like a dog, i.e walks away without covering? I'm currently putting his accidents into the litter tray hoping he might get the idea but nothing yet.

Has anybody had a similar experience or any tips?

Thanks

Anna88

Sounds like he needs a hard lesson...my puppy was like this and something drastic had to be done. It sounds cruel but when you catch him doing it or after it....hold his face near it and say bold and then put him in the litter box. You have to be persistant or he will think he can get away it time and time again!!

PCros

Anna88 wrote: »

Sounds like he needs a hard lesson...my puppy was like this and something drastic had to be done. It sounds cruel but when you catch him doing it or after it....hold his face near it and say bold and then put him in the litter box. You have to be persistant or he will think he can get away it time and time again!!

I know that technique works for dogs but I read that it will only upset and distress a kitten if I were to do that.

Anna88

Well the whole point of the excersise is that he doesn enjoy it!! Or you could try putting pepper down where he usually goes...or lemon juice they hate those smells

boardbrowser

Make sure that you are changing litter daily or definitely scopping daily as they don't like to pee/poo in a well soiled area.
Maybe chnage to a different brand of litter as it could be the substrate that is adversive to your kitten.
also, if using a fully covered litter tray or one with a door, take cover off for a few days so it makes the tray more accessible.
It wouldn't do any harm to reward you kitten for actually eliminating in the correct area, yes hard to catch in the act but worth the effort.

gillianna

if he's sharing the litter tray with the mother cat i'd recommend u get a separate one,cats can be awkward like that sometimes!
found a lovely stray 2 days ago around 7 wks old,male ginger
he's eating and drinking by himself,if anyones looking for a kitten please let me know.cant keep him as i have 2 already!in da limerick area.

The Sweeper

Absolutely do not do what Anna88 is talking about regarding putting the kitten's face near its faeces.

A kitten cannot rationalise why you are holding its face near its own faeces. Most successful animal training techniques replicate in some way the animal's own behaviour with its own peers. There is no stage in an animal's life where its parent will hold its face near its faeces to make a point. Yes, you can admonish an animal, cat or dog, with a sharp noise, and even your body language, but the face to poo thing went out the window years ago. All it teaches the animal is that you have bad manners.

If you catch the kitten pooing off the tray, yes, put him in the tray - but don't admonish him, instead praise him hugely as he goes in the tray. If you create an association that toileting is bad, there's a good chance the situation will disimprove -and yes, there is something worse than a kitten who poos on the floor beside the tray: a kitten that poos somewhere hidden because it's afraid of being given out to.

Try more trays, different cat litters, trays without any litter and just with some newspaper, and make sure you use a disinfectant based cleaner to thoroughly clean anywhere he has previously used as a toilet. This is a big thing - you need a bucket of very, very hot water, some disinfectant, gloves, sponge and cloths for drying, and scrub the former 'toilets' until there is no trace of the previous toiletting - because any scent of a previous toilet makes open season on that spot as a toilet generally and cats will return to it over and over again. Don't use an ammonia based cleaner for a similar reason - ammonia cleaners smell like cat pee, and cats will often urinate over somewhere cleaned with ammonia because they think they're scent marking over a rival mark.

You can even try some garden potting mix in the trays if the cat doesn't seem to like litter.

Alternatively, go straight back to basics: shut the cat in your bathroom with his bed and some litter trays. If you hear litter scratching, head in there to see if you can encourage him to use the trays. Also try a covered tray as well as open trays to see if that encourages him. He'll get the hang of the trays in an enclosed space, because if he doesn't use them, he's stuck with his own faeces a couple of feet away from him. You may have a couple of accidents, but his own sense of cleanliness will mean he heads back to using the trays. It'll also let you see what litter he prefers. Once he's started using the trays, you can give him the run of the house again, but if accidents start again, put him back in the bathroom with his trays.

A cat's natural urge is to use a litter tray. Where's his mother in all this? Is she still interacting with him? It's the mum who teaches the kittens how to use the litter tray, so reintroduce her to the mix - even as far as shutting her in the bathroom with him so he can continue to learn how to use litter from her.

He's still very young - if he has the run of the place and your litter tray is in one room that he normally isn't in, there's a chance that he literally hasn't copped on yet that he needs to go find the tray when he gets the urge. Shutting him in a small space with the tray - and his mum - for a few days will help him make that association. You don't have to leave them in there 24x7, but definitely when unsupervised.

Last thing would be to make sure there isn't something else wrong. At 12 weeks he's still too young to be scent marking territory so this 'inappropriate elimination' (to use a technical term) may also be an indication of an underlying issue. Has he been wormed? Are the stools solid, or is he suffering diarrohea? Has he had his vaccinations?

Don't panic too much about this - there's a lot you can do to make this problem much better. You just need to be calm and persistent and remember the kitten isn't a scheming devil - his tiny, fuzzy, peanut brain just hasn't twigged yet that the litter tray is the best place for poos. If you can help him figure that out, the problem will go away.

MsFifers

V good post from The Sweeper!

Can't add to that really except - if the kitten has a particular corner it likes to use as a toilet, put the litter box there so it has to get in to the box to go. It'll help the association between the box and the toileting.

Anna88 - if you read any expert advice you'll see that your suggestion is discounted. Its not the best or fastest way to teach an animal good toileting behaviour, and can be v. distressing for a young pup.

PCros

Thanks guys. MsFifers I will move the box and see what he does.

Sweeper - Some great info there. Mammy and himself are good buddies now and nothing more, I think the parental side of her as almost gone she doesnt really mind where he pees! She was only 7 months when she popped them out so can't really blame her.

He seems to do his business in the morning and around 8 or 9 at night so I will be vigilante around those times.

tk123

Another thing to try that worked with our cat when he was a baby was to put him sitting in the tray and then take his paw and make it scratch in the litter a few times.