Kittens walking poo through the house....

[catquestioner]

Please help!

New kittens arrived at the weekend, they are lovely and have settled in a treat. The only problem Im having is that when they poo in the littertray, although they try to cover it, they end up treading in it and walking it around.

I did have tray liners in but their claws were getting stuck in them, so I've removed them.

I have bought some antibacterial pet wipes but wondered if there's anything else I can do to prevent it happening.

I'm concerned from a hygiene point of view and also, they are starting to pong!

Thanks in advance!

Are they still really young? When we first got ours we had to wipe his bum, and then just removed the poo straight away. Their mothers clean them after they go to the toilet while they are little, so we have to do it!

They are very clean animals, and once they get the hang of it, will bury it and clean themselves so this isn't a long term thing they are just learning.

Thanks for the reply. They are just over 8 weeks and were hand reared from 2 weeks (their mum was run over)

They have used the tray every time so have done really well, but the poo thing is stressing me out! Glad to hear its only a temporary problem.

You have more than one? Is the litter tray big enough and deep enough to have a good dig about?

I think they do take a bit of practice to get the job done properly, but they def get the hang of it fairly quickly because cats hate to be dirty. I remember ours getting a bit gunky when they were very small. I used to shower them, just with luke warm water (which they hated).

We've never had much success with the plastic liners either but I use about 3 sheets of newspaper to line the tray which seems to work.

The tray isn't massive to be honest...maybe that is the problem. There's room for them both but maybe not enough digging room. Thanks.

I'll get a new one tomorrow.

Daft question, but how much litter do you put in? Maybe I'm being stingy.

Are you using a kitten litter tray? Get an adult one. At least half fill it with litter, maybe 3/4. If you stick your finger in you want it to come just over half way.

Mine was 8 weeks too so similar age, it won't take long to come right.

Also are you cleaning the litter enough? Poo should be removed asap, and if 2 kittens are using it I would change the whole thing every day.

Yep, by the sounds of it I haven't been using enough litter (although have removed poo at the the first sign and changed the whole thing daily)

Don't think the tray is a kitten one but definitely not a large one so will invest in a bigger one.

Thank you.