Having trouble getting new kitten to poo in litterbox

[Cat Mum 2232]

Hi all,

First post here. I have recently adopted two kittens, one male and one female. The female has no problems using the litterbox and I only had to introduce her to it once and she was fine. Same scenario as when I got my recently passed 17 year old girl as a kitten. Introduced her once and not one accident in her 17 years. The male otoh, has been troublesome since day 1.

He will urinate in the box, but it's hit and miss for pooing. And I don't mean, just outside of the box. He has done his business in the lounge room and also a few feet away from the box. Also in his brand new bedding which I had to toss out because no matter how well I washed it, he seemed to associate that with where he should poo. I have to shoo him away from places that he's pooed when oit looks like he's interested in going there again and it's making me a nervous wreck! LOL.

I have two litterboxes and he seems to prefer one and she's happy with the other one, so I've done what I can there I guess?

Any suggestions please because I'm really starting to get quite frustrated and it's getting difficult not to show my displeasure at what he's doing!

 

[laurainthesky]

The litterbox rules are 1 per cat plus 1, so for 2 cats, try 3. It seems crazy but it really makes a difference.

 

[di and bob]

The rule is one box for each cat plus one. so you really need three boxes. He may prefer to pee in one and poo in another, but his other is his sisters, so.......Get a good ENZYME cat urine destroyer like Nture's Miracle, just make sure it is for cat urine. It works on poo marks too. Anything organic. It destroys the urine molecules, not just cover them up. It will help to erase where he goes outside the box. Cats go outside the box when they don't like something. either the box, the location, or the litter. I would try to get some different litter in one box and see if that helps. Young kittens often have problems with this, he is too young to be trained all the way. Girls are smarter, of course, we know that.LOL! I'm sure it will all work out in time! PS He is lucky he is so cute, it is hard to be mad at something that looks so darn innocent!

 

[gilmargl]

Well, not sure about the validity of the rule number of cats plus one, gives number of litter boxes. It will depend entirely on the cats concerned. At the moment I have number of cats minus 1, which works just as well as number of cats plus 2, 3 or 4 or even minus 2!

It's possibly the litter. All my 4 cats use clumping clay litter with no problem at all. But compostible, biological clumping litter is a problem. They will urinate in it but will NOT leave solid matter in the box. So, I have a large litter box with soft, biological litter and 2 smaller ones with their much preferred clay litter. Why smaller boxes? I am no longer strong enough to carry boxes with clay litter and disposal is becoming increasingly expensive. You'll just have to experiment with more litterboxes and different litter. I've been experimenting for the past 18 months - at least I've found a lightweight litter which suits my budget. But my cats are still not 100% convinced, hence the clay litter. At least it's preferable to the cats going outside the boxes.

 

[di and bob]

I know, it depends on the cats. I've had 3, 4, and 5 cats all use three boxes. I really think it depends on the litter whether they use a box or not. Some cats absolutely love covered boxes too, some won't use them!

 

[Meowmee]

Hi all,

First post here. I have recently adopted two kittens, one male and one female. The female has no problems using the litterbox and I only had to introduce her to it once and she was fine. Same scenario as when I got my recently passed 17 year old girl as a kitten. Introduced her once and not one accident in her 17 years. The male otoh, has been troublesome since day 1.

He will urinate in the box, but it's hit and miss for pooing. And I don't mean, just outside of the box. He has done his business in the lounge room and also a few feet away from the box. Also in his brand new bedding which I had to toss out because no matter how well I washed it, he seemed to associate that with where he should poo. I have to shoo him away from places that he's pooed when oit looks like he's interested in going there again and it's making me a nervous wreck! LOL.

I have two litterboxes and he seems to prefer one and she's happy with the other one, so I've done what I can there I guess?

Any suggestions please because I'm really starting to get quite frustrated and it's getting difficult not to show my displeasure at what he's doing!

Tell him not to right away as soon as he does it etc. pick him up and take him to the litterbox, rub his bum in the litter, put the offending poop in the box showing him that is where he must poop.
Throw out any beds etc. that he has pooped on. He may need two litter boxes some cats like to pee in one box and poop in another one. He is young and I hope with the few times of reinforcing that he’s not supposed to poop anywhere but the box he will hopefully get used to it.

Scoe is a great probiotic cleaner that truly eliminates poop, pee, vomit and other such odors when on hard surfaces like floors. Nothing else has ever worked for me and I had a life long pee problem kitty so I have tried them all, lol.

Usually you’re supposed to have one box more than however many cats you have so, if you have two cats you should have at least three boxes. If he likes a separate box to poop you might want to think about having four.

Another thing to try is for cats that stop pooping outside of the boxes all of a sudden, which is to isolate them in a small room until you get them trained to the box only.

* I forgot to mention as others have already that it could be the litter but my thoughts were if he’s peeing in one it’s probably not the litter- but you never know.

However my Sybil was trained by somebody to pee on paper and she would never pee in a litter box but she pooped there. There were maybe two or three times her entire life that she peed in the litter box for some reason. Unfortunately she peed on a lot of other things not in the litter box for her entire life, and eventually I trained her to mostly pee on pee pads in litter boxes that I put all over the place.

This guy is a kitten and he’s learning- you can definitely nip this in the bud and get him to only poop in the litter box.

Another thing to consider is to ask DVM if there could be any medical issues causing this. But if he seems healthy I’m guessing it’s more of a thing with him learning about what he’s supposed to do. Pooping outside the box can also be a dominance thing so he if feels competitive with or threatened by his sister in any way that could be causing it too.

Quinn when he was a baby occasionally pooped outside the box and I made it clear to him immediately that that was not going to be ok. After a 2-3 times he stopped doing it. None of my other kittens had any box issues.

 

[Cat Mum 2232]

Thank you everyone for the replies. It seems like it might be a matter of trial and error, different litter, more boxes etc. I'll take all advice on board and we'll see how he goes. Thanks again.

 

[maggie101]

When I get up in the morning, my cat peaches uses the litter box in my bedroom. Also have one in my living room which is where I usually am.

 

[Alldara]

1 litter per cat plus one is the general rule. (Yes there are exceptions to every rule friends, we all know that )

For young cats, you might need even more. During training, whether male or female cats, you can try one per room. You can make a cheap temporary litter by using the cardboard from wet food and putting a plastic bag over it and adding litter.

If he poos, take his poo in a paper and place it in a box. Then gently pick him up and move him to the box to smell it. please do not punish or scold. That may make further litter issues.

When he uses the litter for poo, do praise him. Just verbally.

You can try a puppy pee pad for him if he is really litter adverse for this.

Also check his poo. Is it very hard or very large? Pain can cause them to want to go in a "cozy" spot. You can ask you vet about poo softeners like Miralax/Restorilax if this is true. Or some unsweetened pumpkin.

I tend to stick away from pine and clay litters for male cats as I find this contributes to litter issues. This is a personal preference that I find has worked for me and for most people that I've suggested it to. However, I'm usually suggesting it to people whose cats have litter issues already.

 

[danteshuman]

I would try containing them to one room for a few days/week, with 2 litter boxes and trying cat attract litter.

 

[danteshuman]

Oh and putting any poop not put in the box, in the litter box and cleaning up the spot/laundry with enzyme cleaner.

Some cats can never have laundry on the ground without peeing or pooping on it.

 

[cmshap]

If he poos, take his poo in a paper and place it in a box. Then gently pick him up and move him to the box to smell it.

This is exactly what I did when taking in Willy from outside. He pooped twice outside the box, and I moved the poo into the litter box (I didn't have to subsequently put him near it, because he was such a friendly/curious cat, he wanted to know what I was doing and watched/sniffed all on his own... lol).

After two poops outside the box, every single one afterward went where it was supposed to go.

Interestingly, he always peed in the litter. Never once peed outside a box.