Kitten Problems

[Reeve]

There's got to be a youtube video on how to litterbox train a kitten.

Kittens generally become pre-trained on litterboxes. It's seriously instinctive. I brought home my kitten and the very first thing she did before anything else was find the litterbox and use it.

[PizzaSHARK]

* hits PizzaSHARK with a big stick

Quiet you :P

I'm just telling the truth!

[Mjau]

How many cats and how many litterboxes do you have? I think you're meant to have as many as you have cats + 1, so if you have 4 cats you should have 5.

[Deleted]

I ignore kittens

[Viscoe]

You might want to try to get an older cat that's friendly with humans and is litter trained. From what I understand, young cats who grow up without mothers will not learn cat behaviors like litter box use or even self cleaning. Give her a role model to learn from.

You should definitely take her to a vet first and make sure everything's working okay, though. The vet would also have better advice than we would. :P

[Reeve]

How many cats and how many litterboxes do you have? I think you're meant to have as many as you have cats + 1, so if you have 4 cats you should have 5.

Seems a bit excessive. If you're cleaning it regularly you shouldn't need cats + 1.

I only have 1 cat, so it's a bit simpler for me maybe, but I just have one of these and I only have to deal with it once a month:

[Independent voter]

That's what Apple should make, the iBox.

[Viscoe]

Seems a bit excessive. If you're cleaning it regularly you shouldn't need cats + 1.

I only have 1 cat, so it's a bit simpler for me maybe, but I just have one of these and I only have to deal with it once a month:

[img]http://freebiesforacause.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/scoop-free.png[/mg]

It's not about keeping it clean, it's about avoiding territorial disputes. If you have one cat it's not an issue (unless your cat has stress related to the litter box in which case giving it a second option reduces stress.) But often with multiple cats, they'll fight over who owns that box, and it will cause your other cats to go outside of the box because it's a hostile environment.

I used to own two cats and they did fine with one litter box, but you know, it's on a cat-to-cat basis. Different personalities and all that.

[Reeve]

It's not about keeping it clean, it's about avoiding territorial disputes. If you have one cat it's not an issue (unless your cat has stress related to the litter box in which case giving it a second option reduces stress.) But often with multiple cats, they'll fight over who owns that box, and it will cause your other cats to go outside of the box because it's a hostile environment.

I used to own two cats and they did fine with one litter box, but you know, it's on a cat-to-cat basis. Different personalities and all that.

I guess. I'm just trying to imagine the amount of space 4 litterboxes lined up side by side would take.

- - - Updated - - -

That's what Apple should make, the iBox.

Is that an accessory for ladyparts?

[IIamaKing]

This is simple, you get rid of the cat and get a real pet, like a dog.

[Viscoe]

I guess. I'm just trying to imagine the amount of space 4 litterboxes lined up side by side would take.

Way too much. xD This is why I only own one cat at a time. That, and the fact that my cat is an asshole and hates other animals.

[Reeve]

Way too much. xD This is why I only own one cat at a time. That, and the fact that my cat is an asshole and hates other animals.

My cat seems to have the ideal personality. She plays with me when I want to play, leaves me alone when I want to be left alone, loves to cuddle up on my lap, and snuggle in between my legs while I'm sleeping at night. Couldn't ask for better, really.

[Viscoe]

My cat seems to have the ideal personality. She plays with me when I want to play, leaves me alone when I want to be left alone, loves to cuddle up on my lap, and snuggle in between my legs while I'm sleeping at night. Couldn't ask for better, really.

Yeah, my cat's a cuddlebug with people. When it's a human, he's the nicest little guy you could ever want. He's just 20 lbs, so sometimes when you want to sleep, he wants to put all of his weight onto your hip bones.

But when it comes to other animals, he gets HIGHLY territorial. My dog has a few scars from my cat's claws. So when I moved away from home and took the cat with me, I resolved that I would not own any other animals if he could bully them.

Speaking of my cat though, and this is on topic, he was a feral rescue. We got him at an unknown age (couldn't have been more than a few months old) when my uncle found him in some trailer park. Initially he was confined to our basement because FLEAS (and also he was eliminating all over the house) but we had another cat, who was about 4 at the time, completely domesticated. The litter box was in the basement and he learned how to cat from her. Too bad he grew up to antagonize her until the day she died. >.<

But yeah, I mean, I can't be 100% sure that he learned to use the litter box because of Jewel using it in front of him for a while, but he didn't go in the house anymore after his basement confinement concluded. So I'd say that using a role model as an example wouldn't be the worst thing in the world, assuming you could have another cat.

[Independent voter]

Is that an accessory for ladyparts?

Noooo. It's a litter box designed and made by Apple. It would have a touch screen full of fancy buttons and it would solve a lot of litter box problems.

[Reeve]

Speaking of my cat though, and this is on topic, he was a feral rescue. We got him at an unknown age (couldn't have been more than a few months old) when my uncle found him in some trailer park. Initially he was confined to our basement because FLEAS (and also he was eliminating all over the house) but we had another cat, who was about 4 at the time, completely domesticated. The litter box was in the basement and he learned how to cat from her. Too bad he grew up to antagonize her until the day she died. >.<

But yeah, I mean, I can't be 100% sure that he learned to use the litter box because of Jewel using it in front of him for a while, but he didn't go in the house anymore after his basement confinement concluded. So I'd say that using a role model as an example wouldn't be the worst thing in the world, assuming you could have another cat.

Mine was a feral rescue too. She couldn't have been more than a month or two old when I got her, but she was instantly in love with me and with living in my apartment. She loves people too after a few hours breaking in period of being around them, but she's initially terrified of them.

I don't know if the shelter I got her from did any kind of training, but she knew to use the litterbox instantly when I got her home. No training required. She had some tapeworms that had to be dealt with though, which was kinda gross.

[Mjau]

Seems a bit excessive. If you're cleaning it regularly you shouldn't need cats + 1.

I only have 1 cat, so it's a bit simpler for me maybe, but I just have one of these and I only have to deal with it once a month:

http://freebiesforacause.com/wp-cont...scoop-free.png

It probably is a bit excessive in most cases but some cats are picky and some gets worse the more you have. Number of cats +1 is what a lot of websites recommend, as well as that cat guy on animal planet. If having that many litterboxes stop a shitting/peeing problem it's definately worth it! If OP's cat is a feral it might have even bigger sharing/territorial issues so it's worth a try to add more litterboxes. The cat might feel like it's invading very private space using the other cat's litterbox and it might feel threatened and don't want any trouble so maybe it's not using the litterbox as it belongs to the other cats.
5 litterboxes for 4 cats sounds like a lot, but then again I think 4 cats sounds like a lot If you have 4 cats you should have a big enough house/place for 5 litterboxes or you might have too many cats! I have a personal limit of 3, allthough I only have 2 currently. They share one litterbox but prefers to go outside so the litterbox is very rarerly used. If it was an issue though I would definately get them more litterboxes.

[Viscoe]

I don't know if the shelter I got her from did any kind of training, but she knew to use the litterbox instantly when I got her home. No training required. She had some tapeworms that had to be dealt with though, which was kinda gross.

The way I think it works is that cats have a natural impulse to bury their waste, so litter boxes click perfectly with it as long as they know where it is.

Some cats though, like ones that are used to shitting wherever they want outside or are too young to have been introduced to bathroom behaviors, can get confused and will like imprint on other materials or try to bury wherever they like best. That might be the litter box, or it might be under your sheets in the laundry basket. It all really comes down to personality... some animals learn faster or don't get stressed out by change.

In my cat's case, he just went on the carpet and tried to bury it but failed. He also marked (sprayed) on the walls. I believe he was able to pick up proper litterbox behavior from his role model Jewel while being confined to the basement until he was dewormed/didn't have fleas anymore, and we fixed the spraying by having him neutered when he was old enough.