Litter Box Location help

[datagrrl]

Hello

We have a 3 month old feral kitten who is in a crate now. In the next couple of weeks she will be free in the house.

I have a small house, less than 900 sq feet, no basement.

We have a few options for litter box placement. Near the doorway inside the bathroom was my original plan. My husband has suggested right inside the front door in the foyer, drop off area. I definitely have more room there. There are three humans in the house. Not a ton of activity at the front door, once we are home we primarily use the back door.

I we are also in the process of building something in the dining room I might be able to hide a litter box in. The final option was the kitchen near the back door.

My husband isn't a fan of the dining room or kitchen ideas. The dining room might go over a bit better.

Bedrooms are not an option, my daughter's is too messy and my husband suffers mild allergies and we are trying to keep the cat out of our room.

 

[catpack]

I would keep it away from the main entry ways as too much activity could result in her not using the litter box.

So, that leaves either outside the bathroom or in the dining room. If you use the dining room to eat on a regular basis, I would go with outside the bathroom.

 

[gingy]

3months old and still in a crate ?

Our "Gingy" is 7 weeks old and roaming freely in the house, potty trained and all, despite being the runt of a litter of 6.

I've always kept litter boxes inside the main bathroom.  Easy to scoop & flush

Agree with CatPack above, keep it away from main traffic areas.   Laundry areas are ok too.

 

[catpack]

Gingy, datagrrl's situation is a bit different as the kitten she adopted was feral/not very well socialized. Thus why her kitten is crated. You can check out her story on her other thread.
Little Glinda is making good progress!

 

[catpack]

Here's a link to the other thread. =)
http://www.thecatsite.com/t/276583/help-with-feral-kitten

 

[gingy]

Ah ok, that makes sense now.    Ours was home grown and is about as socialized as it gets at this stage.

Good job for her taking on a scared feral cat.  Being a kitten she'll have a good chance of training it.

 

[datagrrl]

It is actually inside the bathroom, but now that you said that I might be able to make outside the bathroom work. My house is an open floor plan, so there aren't really any private areas. The only cubby like area is the area behind the front door, which is where my husband suggested.

She escaped her crate last night. I am still trying to make sure she didn't use the bathroom anywhere else. She uses the bathroom consistently in her litter box, but I worry about how to show her the litter box when she is out. Right now I have it placed next to her crate.

Honestly I don't know how anyone can let a kitten loose in their house. I have been kitten proofing and she managed to find the one place I was worried about when she escaped.

 

[catpack]

Inside the bathroom would be fine too. Might actually be better as you could close her in there for a bit throughout the day as she learns where her box is (it shouldn't take very long her her to learn...may be a day.)

Is it possible to transition Glinda from the crate to a bedroom? Makeshift "doors" are easy when kittens are young. I used foam poster board with double-sided take across the side the kittens had access to (to prevent them from climbing.) A bedroom works great if you can put the box spring/mattress on the floor.

Our main living space is fairly open, so we put up 2 half walls with the foam board to keep the kittens contained (they were in our large living room space.) There was no furniture for the kittens to get under, but lots of room to play and we could interact with them.

I would honestly consider the leash/harness for her. She could come out and play/interact, but without getting too far away or getting somewhere she shouldn't. I think you could use it as a good transition tool for her.

All of my cats are accustom to their harnesses, but not one of them goes outside. I use it for extra safety when traveling and also in the event of an emergency (we have tornadoes every year where I live.)

 

[datagrrl]

I just have the two bedrooms. Furniture wise my daughter's is a better option, there is just one place that needs to be blocked off. It is also a better choice because of allergies. She is supposed to be cleaning it right now. We will see. Her room is close to the bathroom. If I could. Talk her into keeping her room clean and open it would be easy to block off that part of the house for a bit.

The living room is the worst place for her now. We have a chair where the lining is gone. My husband said he would fix it. She found it yesterday and got inside the chair. Luckily no one ever sits in the chair. We use it for folding laundry. Seriously the chair is such a cheap piece if our ottoman didn't match it I would toss it and get something else. Problem is nothing is that well made anymore and with a new kitten I would rather keep my cruddy furniture for a bit.

Would a litter box at the base of a homemade cat tree work? If it was enclosed? She will always be the only cat. We were making a cat tree anyway. Or would the litterbox deter her from wanting to use the tree/scratching posts?

 

[catpack]

A litter box at the base of the cat tree will totally depend upon the cat (as will an enclosed box...some cats just wil not use an enclosed litter box.) But, you could definitely try it. The litter box cubby could always be used for a hiding/sleeping nook.

 

[datagrrl]

I bought a box with high sides. I thought I would try that and then build the surround and keep it in the same place. If she gets it great, if not I guess we will have to try something else.