Kitten not always using litter tray ! Help

[Mrsmost]

We have a new kitten 8 weeks old and we know he is fully litter trained as has used it ever since we got him last week , but he has had 2 poos now on separate occasions in the corner of the room even though a clean litter tray is near by , can anyone help me as to why and what I can do to stop him repeating again , many thanks ,

When you say clean do you mean the tray itself has been washed? What do you wash it with?

I have two thoughts Mrsmost which are sort of related.

One is that he's not recognizing his litter tray because maybe it's a different litter to that used in his old home and/or that you're cleaning it and removing old litter so quickly and assiduously that it's not retaining the very faint odour of 'litter place' that he needs. (Or has the wrong smell altogether as Fluffy might have been implying.) Often they'll poo an pee with a fairly short interval and if you're rushing in to clean up after a pee (when that came first) it might - interrupt his train of thought so to speak. So he crosses his legs and hangs on until things calm down.

The other thought is that he's only 8 weeks and while you would hope that a kitten would have learned his tray behaviour from Mum by that age, some are just a little slow and it may not quite have 'taken'. In other words you're getting a couple of accidents as you would with a little kid so some continued training from you might be necessary.

As you see, the thoughts are not entirely independent. He's only little and unsure of himself in a new place so things that might not faze an adult cat might just throw him.

When was his last accident and has he used his tray today?

Both times he has done it is while he on his own , the first time was during the night in Sunday and today was when we popped out for a couple of hours , during the day and even the other nights he has been fine with no accidents ,
His litter tray isn't OCD clean he had a couple of wees in there and when he has a poo I take that straight out as he doesn't always cover it so its quite smelly , we tend to wash it out with hot boiling water very diluted with washing up liquid ,
I'm hoping its him just finding his feet and that he will settle down ,
Should I start putting him in the litter box again once he's eaten and woken up

Myself, I think I'd add on an extra tray. (A spare clean tray is always useful to have in the cupboard and they're only cheap to buy. I'm assuming that it's a standard open tray you're using.)

You might well try some extra encouragement if you're feeling strong enough. Placing him in the tray should do it at his age - and putting a little old (but clean) litter on top if using a new tray at all. They usually pee or poo shortly after eating so if he's eating and then falling straight asleep, then your timing would be about right.

I feel for you - I hate to go to the loo in the middle of the night (or something similar) without knowing whether I'm going to go squelch suddenly.

Best of luck and let us know how it goes.

PS - remember to clean the dirty spots thoroughly as well so that he's not living in a (to him) miasma of litter tray smell. Non-bio washing powder should do it.

Thank you so much for all your help , he has just woken up and headed straight for the spot he has been using instead of his litter tray , so I picked him up and put him in his litter tray and he did a poo straightaway .

I have scrubbed the area he has used and our some bicarbonate if soda down on it as someone else suggested that but I will defo try the non bio washing powder aswell , I have hardwood floors too so that doesn't help ! Lol

Poor little thing must be so strange him away from his mum ,

Fingers crossed he stops soon , If only for my sanity and my sense of smell.

Now that's good - that you interrupted his wrong move and he took the correct message from you. You may have a few days to keep an eye on this but with luck (and some good judgment of meal times etc) you should crack it.

You're obviously getting to know him very well.

PS - this is almost a stronger bonding experience for a kitten in my experience than feeding.

If you weren't before, you'll definitely be mommy shortly!

Ah thank you so much for all you help and advice , i was starting to get abit stressed about it , but am feeling a lot better about it now . I know he is still so young and it's only his first week with us . So am sure it will work out fine ,
I have another 12 year female tabby too who hasn't taken too kindly to the addition yet , she is keeping her distance at the moment and the couple of a casinos they have met there's been a bit if hissing and growling and then she walks away , but bless her she hasn't gone far just sitting outside the back door or garden . She's still coming in to eat though , so hoping she will come round ! I was beguining to think we'd made a bad mistake but we so wanted our little boy to have a pet to love and love him back as our existing one isn't exactly a lap cat if you get my drift

Thanks again I'll sleep better tonight