How can I get my kitten to use litter box?
Friday, March 12th, 2010 at
4:37 am
My kitten is nine months old. I got him when he was three months and he always used his litter box. Lately he has refused to use it. He will pee in the litter box, but he poops on the floor inches from his box. I scoop the litter box daily so it never gets full. I am very frustrated and I don’t know why he all of a sudden stopped or how to get him to start using it again.
Filed under: Cat Litter
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you have to try different litter boxes and different litter in different rooms, until you find the problem.
box could be too small, or, he may want it cleaner. try a larger box next to his box, if that does not work, try a box with same litter that is filled with clean litter.
pooping next to the box usually means the box is dirty.
are you sure he is not hanging his butt over the side of the box? that would mean the box is too small.
have you actually changed the litter in a while and not just scooped it out? cats are extremely finicky, also try febreeze in the cat box. what you should do is every time you see him squat on the floor spray him with water and toss him in the box
Is he your only cat? If he is then something is wrong, it could be physical or psychological. If there are other cats in the house he could be intimidated by one of them. A home should have a litterbox for each cat and one extra. It could also be scented litter. Think about how strong it smells and multiply it by ten thousand, that’s how strong it smells to the cat, some cats can’t stand that.
If you have other animals in the house, he may have reached an age where he is getting territorial and this is what he is doing to mark that it is his house. As gross as it may sound, I have tried it with my cat, scoop the poop up and put it in the litter box and clean the area really good with something smelly enough to erase his scent from the spot. then take him and put him in the litter box. It may take a bit of time but it shows him where is should be
Maybe the box isn’t big enough anymore. Try a bigger box and make sure you keep the floor swept around the litter box. Sometimes my cats will poop on the floor if theres a little bit of litter there.