How old for kitten to use clumping litter?

Elemteacherjoy

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At what age is it safe for a kitten to use clumping litter?
 

tabbytom

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At what age is it safe for a kitten to use clumping litter?
My boy is a rescue off the streets at 3 weeks old when he first came home and he was given clumping litter in his litter box. Initially, he did eat some litter as he was very skinny and scrawny and was malnourished when he first came home. He was like at times eating some litter but for only a short period of time.
Why kittens eat clumping litter is that they face insufficient nutrients from their food and therefore there is nutrient deficiencies and clumping litter is clay based and have certain minerals in them to compensate for the deficiency.

The other reason is that kittens are very inquisitive and they will put anything in their mouth if they have the chance.
 

Renne

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I started using clumping litter because the kitten (1.5 months at that time) wouldn't recognize any litter except that particular one, and it happened to be clumping. She'd just poop and pee on the floor nearby if I applied other litters or a litterless litterbox...

The first day she ate a few pellets. I was very worried, but a few is okay. Next day she ate 2 pellets. And since then she stopped eating them. It was mere curiosity and it wore off quickly.

I think it's an individual thing, try it out and see what your kitten does. But of course you have to keep a 24\7 watch for a few days to be sure, if she gobbles up a lot you it's surgery time! If that's impossible, maybe it's a good idea not to use clumping litter until your kitten stops being as curious as kittens are. I've heard that it might take up to a year or more.
 

tabbytom

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Why kittens eat clumping litter is that they face insufficient nutrients from their food and therefore there is nutrient deficiencies and clumping litter is clay based and have certain minerals in them to compensate for the deficiency.
But please do not let your kitten eat the clumping litter as it is dangerous for them as they will swell up in their system and get congested inside and it's dangerous as the name implies.
 

Paris Pluto

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I waited until about 3-4 months. As long your kitty is fully litter box trained and doesn't play around with the litter like a toy, you should be good to go. Just keep an eye on your kitty when transitioning over to clumping litter.
 

sivyaleah

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Adding once you decide to make the switch, do it slowly. You may already know this but you should replace the old litter with the new little by little over time (a lot of bags/boxes of litter have the instructions printed right on them) so the kitten gets adjusted to the new texture. This will avoid the potential problem of them rejecting it and having future litter box issues.

We didn't even get to this step with our kitten, though. She was already old enough to use the clumping litter when we brought her home but was still using pine because her breeder raised her on it. Once she had full reign of the house and discovered her sister's litter boxes with the clumping litter she totally ignored the pine from that day forward. Made it easier for us to make the switch over :)
 
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