My Ragdoll Kitten Keeps Pooping On The Carpet, Help?

[ragdollcatroofie]

I brought home a 10 week old Ragdoll kitten 2 weeks ago, so he is nearly 12 weeks now. When we brought him home he started pooping and peeing in the litter box, we kept him in a room contained with his litter box, food etc for a couple of days then showed him the house. For the first few days he was getting the hang of it apart from one pee incident on the sofa.We have one litter box in the hallway outside our bedroom, and one in the downstairs toilet at the moment they have two different litter types in.

The next few days he first he pooped in the bedroom, then the next day in the kitchen which were both what rooms we were in at the time, even though he had access to litter boxes. Then the next few days in the litter box again. Now he sometimes poops in the litter box, mostly when we are out, but if we are in he seems to just poop in or outside whatever room we are in unless we are in the lounge, which he seems to have the hang of.

I've tried carrying him to the litter box after meals, naps etc and sometimes he will go but not all the time.

Mostly the issue seems to be that he'll come into the bedroom when we go up to sleep, we will have a little cuddle and then I will move him to the hallway and shut the bedroom door as we are scared of squishing him, he will sit by our bedroom door and cry and then I open the door in the morning and there is a poop on the floor. For two days in a row he pooped morning and night on the carpet.

Does anyone have any advice? I've cleaned the area thoroughly with biological detergent and tried putting aluminium foil down but he now goes next to the foil.

I am getting frustrated and feel SO guilty at being angry at a poor little kitten but it's an awful thing to wake up too.

Can anyone help?

 

[calicosrspecial]

Hi,

I am not an expert on kittens going outside of the litter box so I hope others help out.

Going outside of the litter box is either medical (pain, infection, etc) or behavioral. I always like to get the cat checked out by a vet to rule out medical first.

It sounds like he is feeling a little insecure and uncertain (behavioral). So I would do a couple of things. I would add liter boxes so there is close option.

I also would play as much as possible with the kitten. Especially in areas where the cat is going. This will help build confidence and territorial security. I also would add a lot of comfy and warm bedding so the kitten can "own" more things by having her scent on the bedding. I only work with older cats and not kittens but you may want to think about adding scratching posts (another way for a kitten to feel ownership by getting hi scent on things). But I would look into whether scratching posts are appropriate for kittens. Finally, cats take on our emotions so be as calm and confident with the kitten as possible. Try to be as stress free as possible. As stress can cause insecurity. And just let the kitten know he is loved (which I can tell is easy as you obviously love him). Paying attention to him and helping him feel secure should be very helpful.

I think that is what I would do, I hope others will add to this. I am happy to help for as long as need so please feel free to ask anything anytime and share any information. There is some trial and error needed and effort (play is REALLY important) but a cat's instinct is to use the litter box so we have that going for us. We will solve this, I am not worried.