New Kitten and potty problems

[cedarcat]

Hi! this is my first post here, and also our first young kitten (we have a 6 year old cat, Willow, that joined our family when she was 9 months). Baby Cedar is 8 weeks old and super sweet and adorable...very confident and outgoing, and VERY crazy. He is settling in well, already co-existing peacefully with our 3 dogs and older cat. Right now he is staying in an XL dog crate with an attached exercise pen. He's 100% on using his box when confined to this small area, but I was letting him out to get acquainted with the rest of the house, and he has now had 2 potty accidents. Both times were the exact same spot: on our Christmas tree skirt. I washed it in the washing machine both times. It seems when he is out of his confined area, he never goes back to the box on his own (he just wants to play!) I usually will let him explore for 30 min or so at a time, then bring him back to his pen and he'll go to the bathroom. I even put a litter box right next to the tree after his first accident, and he used it, only to go in the tree skirt about 15 min later. He was using pine pellet litter, is it possible the smell of the (real) christmas tree reminds him to go potty? I bought him some kitten attract litter and put it next to the pine litter, and he definitely prefers the softer clay litter to the pine pellets. Long term I'd like him to use the pine pellet litter which is what Willow uses (more natural, less dust, less odor, less tracking). Should I stick with the pine pellet or try to switch him from clay to pellet when he's older and more consistently trained? Is 8 weeks just too young to trust him free roaming? Willow has always been perfect with her litter box habits, so this is new to me! I know he's just a baby, but I don't want him to form bad habits!

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[sunny578]

Oh my gosh what a sweet photo!

I bet what you are experiencing is just due to her age. It sounds like you are doing everything right, and it definitely could be that she is associating the pine smell with toileting! If she is successfully using the clay litter, I would just accommodate that for now, and if you want to try switching her back to pine when she is older, then you could make that switch slowly. There are other clumping litters that are made out of corn or wheat, so you could try those too. If she has access to the clumping litter, will she go to her box when free-roaming?

 

[cedarcat]

For the first time last night while free roaming, he went back to his box to potty without me helping him! I did lead him near it with a toy, but then he went in on his own yay! I was thinking the same, stick with the clay until he's a little older and more consistent. Would it be helpful to keep a spare box of pine pellets next to the clay so he's familiar with it? Our other cat has pine pellets in her box, but little Cedar doesn't have access to that part of the house yet.

 

[sunny578]

That's so great!!!!! Yeah, you might as well put a pine box next to it for now. Good job Cedar!!!