Questions About Raising A Five Week Old Kitten

[KimbasMom]

Sorry if this is long, and if these questions have been asked a million times on here. A friend of mine found an abandoned kitten in his back yard, and according to him the mother never came back. My husband and I took him in, I’ve lived with cats my whole life (I’ve had 15 at once! Different story) so I thought I would know what I was doing. I’ve had kittens this young before when I was a kid, but I had my parents to do all the nitty gritty training/poop clean up/etc. Plus the mother cat was always living with us too. This is my first time adopting an animal as an adult, and I have concluded I have no idea what I’m doing.
1. He bites and scratches like CRAZY. Of course, because he’s just being a kitten (duh). But he will attack my face, I have scratches up and down my arms, legs, and back. I don’t really mind this because I’m used to pets, but his little claws seriously hurt! We are clipping them about once a week, but it doesn’t help that much. I try redirecting him to toys, but he seems uninterested in them and goes back to playing with my hands. I heard that when they are taken from their mothers too young they don’t know manners very well, will he grow out of this? I never physically discipline him, besides picking him up and setting him somewhere else and the occasional blowing in his face if he bites mine.
2. He completely avoids the litter box. He will literally poop anywhere else besides the litter box. Every time he’s about to go I’ll put him in the litter box but he won’t have it. He also has diarrhea, but I took him to the vet and he was completely healthy. Is this normal? I love the baby but it’s so tiring having to clean cat diarrhea off the carpet every time he eats.
I guess I’m just an unsure, worried new cat mom. Am I doing anything wrong/right? I’m nervous because he’s so young without a momma cat.
I also uploaded a picture of him, his name is Kimba and he’s a total sweetheart (when he’s sleeping) he lets me give him all the kisses I want.

 

[KimbasMom]

Forgot to mention, he could be older, maybe 6 weeks. He is up running around and has all his baby teeth

 

[Elphaba09]

He will likely outgrow the biting. Redirecting him and giving him toys to play with are helpful. Did you get him a kicker toy? It helped our youngest who was newly 5 weeks when we first got him.

Maybe you need a lower rimmed litter box. If he is having trouble getting into it, he will go elsewhere. You can also try litter that attracts cats, such as Dr. Elsey's.

 

[di and bob]

He may need confined to a smaller area until he uses the litterbox. You could bring him out for play, etc. A lot of kittens are so engaged with just being kittens they wait too long and can't get to the box. Having diarrhea limits his response time too. Feed him a teaspoon of canned pumpkin in his food for fiber, or get a medication from the vet. He will also need lots of water to prevent becoming dehydrated. Get some unflavored Pedialyte for infants, it may help. Make sure he doesn't get anything with cow's milk in it, that can cause diarrhea. It may be a change in diet causing all this so make sure he has consistant food.
As for his attacking you, he has no siblings or mother to teach him limits, so you will have to. Take him by teh scruff of his neck when he attacks you, hold him quite to the ground and hiss and tell him no. That is what mama would do. Or get a kickeroo on amazon and redirect him by tossing it towards him when he is stalking you. Most kittens DO outgrow all this and I'm sure he will too.

 

[KimbasMom]

Thanks guys!