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The litter tray

Join our community of cat lovers on the Mumsnet Cat forum for kitten advice and help with cat behaviour.

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Original poster

Kitten advice

13 replies

punkman · 19/10/2015 07:32

We have a 15 week kitten which we got 2 weeks ago. He is fully litter trained and settling into family life well, other than the kids chasing him round way too much.

My problem is I noticed this morning he had done a poo on my daughters bed at some point during the night. This is the first time in two weeks it's happened, should I be worried this could be the start of him not using his litter tray? He's not locked in any room at night and his litter tray is fully accessible downstairs.

Any advice greatly appreciated as I'm a complete cat novice.

OP posts:

cozietoesie · 19/10/2015 09:01

I'd right away get him another tray for upstairs. Going downstairs can be a long way at night if you're caught short and you're only little - Twoago used to actually be frightened of a thing in the downstairs bathroom at night when it was dark and there were no people around to give him confidence. See how that goes for a few days.

Oh - and clean your DD's room thoroughly.

Original poster

punkman · 19/10/2015 16:30

That's a second litter tray purchased for upstairs. Hopefully that will help him.

All bedding, including duvet, was taken to be washed.

I'm just worried that the kids chase the cat so much it goes to hide in his litter tray and he associates that with fear and being scared rather than somewhere to do his toileting.

OP posts:

cozietoesie · 19/10/2015 16:43

That's twice you mentioned that and they shouldn't really be chasing him at all - he's not a toy and he probably won't understand that it's high spirits. So Yes - there could be some stress in his life which won't help overall.

How old are the DCs and how is he reacting to their antics?

EvansOvalPiesYumYum · 19/10/2015 16:47

I'd say your kitten is definitely stressed. Why are you allowing your children to chase him?

Kitten needs a safe place to go, where he knows he won't be bothered.

EvansOvalPiesYumYum · 19/10/2015 16:54

You should seriously consider locking him in a room at night on his own as well (with water, litter tray and a cosy bed). Saying the litter tray is fully accessible downstairs is not good enough, quite frankly. He is just a baby, and needs to feel safe and secure.

Also, your children need to learn to treat him properly. As Cozie said earlier, he is not a toy. He is a living creature and deserves to be treated as such.

Original poster

punkman · 19/10/2015 20:01

I'll definitely consider shutting the kitten in downstairs room tonight with food and litter.

The kids are 3 and 6. Most of the time the kitten loves to be around us so when the children are in bathroom at bath time it likes to be in the room too watching or it will sit in their bedrooms at story time or at meal times it will sit under the kids chairs to be close to them. It just seems to be when they are wanting to play with the cat and not understand it needs its privacy and quiet time that the problems occur. And I can assure you I tell them how to behave around the cat and I fight its corner.

OP posts:

cozietoesie · 20/10/2015 08:22

How did he get on overnight?

Original poster

punkman · 20/10/2015 12:26

I tried to keep him downstairs last night but he got out the room and sat outside the bedroom all night as he does seem to prefer to be around people. There have been no further accidents and both litter trays have been used. I'm also making sure the bedroom doors are fully shut at all times if possible.

The kids are back at school and nursery now after half term so I'm hoping he has plenty of peace to establish himself.

OP posts:

EvansOvalPiesYumYum · 20/10/2015 13:56

Oh, that's good. Hopefully he'll get a chance to properly settle in now.

I think probably the children need to understand that when he wants to play, they can gently play, but if he is sleeping or makes it plain he doesn't want to play, then they have to know to leave him alone. Does he have a place he can go to if he wants to be quiet?

Good luck with him

cozietoesie · 20/10/2015 14:08

That is indeed good. Two trays are usually best for indoor single cats - even mature ones - because they often don't like pooing and peeing in the same tray in quick succession. (And the two functions often follow each other very quickly.) He may also, for various reasons, have started a 'thing' about downstairs as well, especially at night when it was dark and quiet down there and all his people were upstairs in bed.

Fingers crossed for you all.

Bogburglar99 · 21/10/2015 08:58

It helped explaining very clearly to my two (7 and 9, so a bit older) that kittens need a lot of sleep and rest in order to grow properly and be healthy.

claraschu · 21/10/2015 09:20

I would have zero tolerance of kids chasing the kitten. I would also not allow kids to pick up a kitten who doesn't want to be picked up, or to pull him out from under furniture, etc. If you are 100% determined, the kids will learn. Also, it will help if you give them lots of fun things to do with the kitten (which kitten will love) such as dragging a string for the kitten to chase.

RubbishMantra · 22/10/2015 01:54

Following on from what clara says, interactive toys are a brilliant way of kitten having playtime with kitten. I've never met a cat who didn't adore the Flying Frenzy fishing rod toy. My 2 purries particularly like the wiggly worm attachment.

Are you going to post a photograph of your kitten?

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