kitten litter training

[shiftylou]

I am having problems training one of my cats to use the litter box, she is female and 5month old, by now she should be a master at using the litter box but since having her at the age of 6weeks she uses the box sometimes and most of the time she will poo outside beside the box.

i had a box in the bathroom and put one in the kitchen to see if she maybe would use both but she still continued to poo outside the box, i then took the box outside of the bathroom and kept the door closed(found that she would continue to poo in the bathroom if i kept it open, i moved the box in the hall and for 2weeks she used the box but now is poo-ing outside of the box again. i just dont know what too do anymore.

i also cant keep my bedroom door open or allow her in the room without supervison as she wee's on my bed, she done this when she was a kitten so i kept her out, i then changed the covers to a darker colour so she wouldnt familarise herself with wee-ing on it this helped for a few days then she wee'd again.

she is a house cat and i have another cat 4month older who uses the box perfectly and never had any accidents, i clean the box everyday.

she had suffered from cat flu since the age of 6weeks but has made a full recovery and she was also the runt of the litter can this cause them too be a slow starter?

i need new suggestions quick as i cant keep having to clean up her mess from the floors everyday im starting to loose my patience and i dont want to have to give her away


please help someone.

[Titch1980]

im no expert but i have seen it said on here, that sometimes the cat will NEVER get out of this habit.
but.........................would you consider a dog crate to help her? i have used this method with success, keep the cat in the cage with a bed, litter tray and food/water maybe a few toys, mine needed 2-3 weeks of this and when she came out she was toileting perfectly, but she has gone back to the bad habits so once we move i will be doing it all over again
HTH

[shiftylou]

a large dog crate, will she be in it constantly? or just when i am out?

[Titch1980]

constantly mine was in for unless i guess you can watch her totally and make hergo into the tray when you see her going?

[feorag]

This problem is usually caused because the kitten has been taken away from its mother at too young an age. Really, it's the mother who teaches the kitten to use the litter tray.

Once litter training has broken down (or in your case not properly started) you have to re-train.

Cats are naturally clean animals and it's totally out of character for any cat to poo and leave it out in the open, which is why we provide litter trays, so they can bury it. One of the main causes of this type of behaviour is because the cat doesn't like the litter being offered.

If you ask any cat behaviourist/psychologist they will tell you that the type of litter you choose is crucial if you have a cat with a problem like this. So, firstly, what type of litter are you using? The finer the grain of litter, the happier your cat will be, so if you are using one of the fine clumping sand-type litters your cat will be ecstatic. If you are using a fuller's earth type litter, your cat will use it, but not as happily and if you are using the pelleted sawdust litter your cat will probably hate it! This is compounded if your cat is an indoor cat who has softer paw pads than a cat who goes out on the street every day.

if the problem isn't the litter then you have to re-train and that means either penning your cat as Rach has suggested, or confining it to the smallest possible room in your house. It doesn't come out of that pen or that room until it has been totally clean for a minimum of a week. Then you can let it out, but do not give it access to all the house, just to the room (if it's been penned) or another room if it's been confined and it doesn't leave that room until it's been clean again for a minimum of a week. If it has a setback, go back to the previous stage and start again. This isn't something that you are going to cure overnight, especially if it's been going on for some months.

You also must get rid of every vestige of urine or faeces odour from wherever she is going and normal washing will not do this. You need to use a bio washing powder to wash the area as this will "digest" the enzymes in the urine and faeces. Then you need to remove any remnants of smell that will attract her back and to do this you need to use an alcohol based product, such as surgical spirit, after shave, perfume, anything with alcohol. There are purpose made products on the market that are supposed to remove smells, such as Febreze, but I always use Surgical spirit because of the strength of it.

I'm also assuming that she is neutered? If she isn't you need to get her neutered fairly quickly as wee-ing on beds etc is a sign of a female in heat trying to attract a mate. Also is your other cat neutered? Breakdowns in litter training can also come from hierarchal issues between cats, although as this appears to have been going on since you got her, I doubt this is the cause.

[Titch1980]

there ya go i knew eileen would be along soon.
i dont think any of the advice i have ever had from her has not worked.

[shiftylou]

i will attempt penning her as soon as i get a pen, i tryed putting her in the kitchen at nights only to let her out in the morning for her to run and poo outside the litter box in the hall, my other cat is neutered she hasnt been done yet she has wee'd on the bed since a kitten and i got her when she was 6weeks so i am guessing as she was the runt she should of been with her mother longer.

[Titch1980]

not just as she was the runt hun, 6 weeks is far too young to leave mum anyway
people think just because they are weaned etc they are old enough to leave mum, but they need to learn to be cats, and this is when they do it, they learn by being with their mum and siblings.

[shiftylou]

yes it is young to be away from the mother, i thought she may of learned the basics from my other cat but maybe not after 4months of trying everything i could think of i need a bit more help! i will change her wood based litter to something else tomorrow to see if that helps and pop her in the kitchen again at nights with her bed and litter tray until i can get a dog crate.

[Shell195]

Wha can I say but DITTO