cannot litter train my kitten.......

[mum2bean]

i brought a kitten about 4 weeks ago, (still unsure on the sex though, so any help on that would be great) and it is adorable, and i have really taken to it.
i have another more mature cat monty he's about 4 years now, and he litter trained straight away, never done anything outside of his tray. they are both strictly indoor cats because of where i live.

i thought, maybe rather foolishly, that i would be able to have the same 'luck' with my new kitten, but it's not working.

it will use it's litter tray, but has a really bad habit of peeing on clothes, towels ect if they are left on the floor in the bathroom, or even my bedroom!(i have yet to get a wardrobe, so they are in open suitcases)
im at my wits end, as i cannot get rid of it, but i cannot keep on with the wee thing as i am 32 weeks pregnant. my BF does all the litter related issue's, but not washing.
what can i do??? please help!!!!!

[sazm]

how old is it? tbh it should really be litter trained as soon as it started being weaned and before it left its mother.
my cat recently had kittens and they started using a tray at about 4 weeks,as shown by their mother.they left us at 9 weeks.

[mum2bean]

the lady we got it from said she was 12 weeks, but tbh, it is alot smaller than any 12 week old kitten i've seen, and i chose the biggest kitten from the litter. i think it may be about 11-12 weeks now.

as i said, my other cat was trained from the start, so should i take it that my new kitten is not in fact totally litter trained??

[catinthehat]

For a start, don't get cross with the animal (doesn't sound as if you are).
He has managed to use the tray, so next time you see it using or having just had a wee there, go absolutley mad with praise, stroking, more praise, pretend purring etc.
Even put him on the tray and tell him what a fab cat he is, so he decides the tray is great.
He probably thinks you are his mum, particularly as you are giving out mum to be smells, and will be desperate to please you.
Use his need for a mum, his desire to please and to be clean, and his showing-off instinct(which they all seem to have!)to encourage him to his tray.
Also, if he is weeing on your stuff, he's probably going to the most comfoting smells for him. Try to make his own wee smells really comforting and confidence boosting for him. I'm ignoring the other cat as you haven't implied Monty is causing any issues.
[Genuine cat behaviourists feel free to pick homes in the foregoing]

[catinthehat]

that would be "holes"

[mum2bean]

thanks, no i cant bring my self to be angry at the kitten, i wouldn't be anyway. and it is just too cute to do that!!!
i will give the praisng thing a go, as i did only assume it was a dog thing to praise, as cats are stubborn, and not very welcome to that, but i must be wrong lol.
thanks for the advice, hopefully i will be able to train 'it', and find out whether the poor thing is male or female, (hopefully female as we have been calling it kitty and little girl lol)

[girlywhirly]

How do the kitten and your older cat get on? The kitten may be scent marking by weeing on items other than the litter tray. Also, could be a bit wary of the older one, and tries to avoid the litter tray if he is in the way or has used it. How many litter trays do you have? It is recommended that you have one more tray than the number of cats in the home, and site them in quiet corners. Have you tried using a Feliway diffuser, a plug in cat pheromone scent which can calm any cat anxiety, vets will have them in stock.

Also, only clean the tray with water and no chemical cleaners which may contain compounds which put the kitten off using it. Avoid leaving anything on the floor that the kitten might wee on.You could also offer a kitten treat when the kitten uses the tray, Pets at Home stock some specially for kittens called 'Milky Flake-ums" (dreadful name), but are tiny discs that melt in their mouths, and may help you to reinforce the good behaviour. Kittens and adult cats do respond well to praise, they soon pick up on your tone of voice, a high enthusiastic tone when pleased, a low stern tone when not!

Sometimes the mother cats are just not very good at training their young. It would have been interesting to see what the rest of the litter were like with their training!

[PinkTulips]

the kittens i've got in the house at the minute all litter trained immediately when the mother broughtthem in but if they're too far fro the litter tray they tend to forget and just head to the closest corner.

i think with young cats it really is best to try and keep them to one smallish area of the house. teach them how to behave properly in that space and as they get older gradually introduce them to the rest of the house one room at a time.

you've got to remember, kittens are babies... we don't expect our toddlers to know where to go to the toilet in evey place they go... they tell us they need to go and we rush them to the toilet.

don't allow your kitten into any area but it's 'home' room unsupervised, as soon as you see him sniffing and scratching in a corner pick him up and run him to the litter tray, they usually hold onto it if plucked up and are then happy enough to go in the tray.

[PinkTulips]

btw... as for the sexing thing. sometimes with boy cats it's quite obvious as they have little bumps of balls from quite young but the 4 i have at the minute don't seem to although they all seem to be boys.

boy cats have an anus, then a stretch of skin before the slightly extended bit where their penis is hidden and thepee comes out.

girl cats have an anus and directly below that is their vulva, which usually has a little bulge on either side but you can usually see the little hole and below that a third hole.

sounds simple but is often tought o tell on a young cat, try googling images and seeing what matches your kitten best.

[mum2bean]

ok, kitty/little girl is in fact a little boy, now a very gender confused one!!

now i know that she is a he, could he be spraying?
or marking his territory, as monty is a boy (castrated) and now, we know he is too?

and could changing the make/brand of litter help?

[PinkTulips]

boys are easier by far as they won't end up pregnant at 5 months when you didn't even think they were sexually active yet [has happened to me]

they do spray as adults but that won't start til sometime between 6 months and a year and you can have him neutered at 6 months.

you can leave him unneautered and keep him restrained to one area of the house and he probably won't spray but unneautered males do disappear for weeks at a time and are a bit pongy generally themselves so if he's a lap cat it would be best to do it.

[NutterlyUts]

Your supposed to have one litter tray per cat + at least one extra in difference places, as often they can get hangups about one cat guarding the loo and so won't go.

[mum2bean]

i have two seperate litter trays in completely different parts of the house, but they use each others? im unsure whether to stop this, because of the problems i am having.

kitty will definitely be getting neutered as i had my other cat done as well and it would be unfair really, especially as they are indoor cats and i dont really want them competing with dominancy!!

[PinkTulips]

wouldn't be much competition; a hulking great tom cat against an indoor living neutered male

[mum2bean]

lol, ture, but my other cat is pretty big for an indoor cat, but totally scared of everything lol

[MatNanPlus]

Try popping He-Cat into the tray you know Monty has just used if he hops out or scrabbles then it signals he's unhappy, do you have open tryas or lidded?

If lidded i would use card to make the entrance on one smaller to prevent Monty having access and rush He-Cat to that one when you see toilet signs.

[mum2bean]

i have open trays, the thing is, they do both use each other's, and kitten does use the tray, but also takes it upon himself to wee on whatever he feels like (usually clothes and towels, not sofa)

i clean their trays everyday with fresh litter, so i dont just scoop out bits, i completely empty the whole thing.

i have attempted to rush kitten to the tray as soon as i see him weeing, but he stops as soon as i've got him to the tray

[mum2bean]

great excercise but frustrating!!

[MatNanPlus]

I would restrict his space for a bit then so

[a] clean up is easier as none of the usually pee'd on things in there!

[b]he will get the idea if his loo is close by, he sounds like a toddler who is too engrossed to take a break to pee!

[c]is it just your used things he pee's on?

[mum2bean]

most of the time it is what i have worn that day, all bunched up in the corner waiting to be washed, or if im in the bath and have my towel on the floor. he only seems to do it if i am in the room though.

[MatNanPlus]

Affection

[Lovesdogsandcats]

I recommend Feliway plug in.
It sounds like stress spraying or marking to me. When cats do it on sheets it isn't because they are not litter trained, it is because they are scent marking...not confined to males either.

You need to get one or two more trays and place them where the clothes are, see if that works.As well as the Feliway. Also try the Feliway spray, over the areas where you don't want any spraying.

[PinkTulips]

sounds like he just likes being near you and is too lazy to head to the other room to use the litter.

have faith, i've had plenty of cats that started out life peeing absolutely everywhere and driving us mad and within 6 months or so they were all angelicly clean animals.

until he get the idea it really will be best to restrain him to one area of the house as the more his smell gets everywhere the more he'll be inclined to do it. and monty might start following suit to get rid of small cats smell.

[mum2bean]

i am hoping that he will stop doing this, but i dont think i help as every time he mews i go running and cuddle him (he is too cute to ignore!)

i really hope monty doesn't follow suit, but im not too sure he will, he is the only cat i have had who listens when i say no, or tell him to get off, come here etc.

so far, i've been picking everything off the floor, and no more wee anywhere other than litter tray, and treats are working well!

[PinkTulips]

excellant. so he's cute and he's motivating you into becoming a domestic goddess. he truely is a clever cat