My Kitten Stopped Using Her Litterbox... I Think She Is Scared Of It!

nahui

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Tita is about 10 to 12 weeks old or somewhere around that age. I've had her for a little over a month and so far she had been great using her litter box, but a few days ago she overate and got diarrhea. After that she stopped using either one of her litter boxes (she has two).

She even started peeing on the floor, but I moved one of the boxes to where she urinated and that stopped. However, as for poop, she is going anywhere else, but her litter box.

I think she is now scared of the litter box because she will not even go near one of them and will only use the other one to urinate and does not scratch at the litter anymore like she used to. She just get in, pees, jumps right out, and dashes out of the room without covering her pee. She did not do this before.

I scoop her litter box every time she uses it and top it off with clean litter to make sure it's clean, so this does not seem to be the issue. The day she had diarrhea she was in pain in the litter box because she was howling, so I think this might be why she is avoiding it altogether. Maybe she is associating the litter box with pain.

I've been reading about what to do in this case and the only advice I've come across is to isolate her in a room with her food, water, and litter box until she uses it again consistently. Is there anything else I should consider?
 

susanm9006

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Since this started with diarreah, I would suggest that you get her checked by a vet just to make sure there isn't some medical thing going on. I would also try a new litterbox with a different kind of litter, sort of starting fresh with litter training. If she remains fearful of litter, see if she will use a puppy pee pad.
 
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nahui

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Thanks susanm9006! She's been checked by a vet and she only had diarrhea that one day. I was told by the vet just to make sure she had enough fluids and withhold food for the rest of the afternoon and feed her boiled chicken in small quantities for the next day. Since then she's been fine. It's just the litter problem that I'm struggling with.

I'll try with the puppy pee pad and hope that she will use it!.
 
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