Kitten pees and poos - help!

[Jayinthetub]

Morning All. We have a gorgeous 13-week old boy kitten, Marty, who has joined our 3yr old boy cat, Rico. He’s been here 4 weeks now and they are getting on well. Lots of wrestling, chasing, turn-taking, pouncing, cuddling, head bumping, sniffing and grooming each other.

Things are going well but we’re having odd pee and poo “accidents”. We have had 2 poos on our bed, a poo on the floor overnight in his sleeping room and last night on his first night free roaming the house at night, we had a wee next to our bed on a large envelope left on the floor which sadly had DH’s phone on it too…🙈 We have lots of litter trays now since the pooing on the bed with one tray outside our bedroom door which is always open. He pooed in there last night but wee’d on the floor at the opposite end of the room which is a head scratcher. We also have another 2 litter trays downstairs and another litter tray of Rico’s which Marty hasn’t discovered yet.

Despite having separate feeding areas, the boys share biscuits, water and treats from the same bowl and there are no issues. Rico who toilets exclusively outside has always been interested in Marty’s litter tray and has often been in there rearranging litter. Yesterday he also pee’d in the new upstairs tray which Marty has continued to use.

What is happening with the random wee and poo accidents??? Cat tax added - I know the rules 😊

There might be something the kitten doesn't like about the type of litter? You could try a different one, add a small layer on top at first with the old one and gradually increase amount of the new one. With the other one it might be a sign of stress.

Are you using wood pellets? A lot of cats don't like the way they feel on their paws.

Have you taken them both to the vet? First thing I would do if any behaviour outside the norm. You want to rule out any health issues.

I’ve switched to clumping litter as mine would go next to the tray (found this twice with different foster cats at different times) and i switched it and they stopped doing it

Thank you both - all suggestions welcome!

We’re using Catsan and the strange thing is that Marty (kitten) has been fine with his litter tray for the first 3 weeks. Accidents have only started to happen as he’s moved out of his initial room into the rest of the house - although strangely, one of the poo on the floor incidents was whilst locked overnight in his “safe” room.

As well as one poo and a wee in litter trays today, he’s also poo’d again on a large sheet of tissue paper I had put on the floor which they’d been playing with. Grim. Good job he’s cute.

I will try a different litter and book a vet trip in if issues persist. Marty saw the vet on Monday for his 2nd injections and all well but I know things can change quickly. I’m putting Rico’s indoor wee down to him being an awkward bugger and having a bit of FOMO!

Kittens really shouldn’t be having accidents like that - most are litter trained well before they leave mum.

Is he definitely the age he’s supposed to be? Was he raised by mum or in foster?

This is the strange thing, for the first 3 weeks there have been no issues with him using his litter tray. The issues have only started happening as he’s been let out of his initial room to explore the rest of the house. I’m wondering if it’s something to do with suddenly having a bigger area to explore?

He’s also stopped digging and covering everything where previously he used to dig for ages then cover for ages. It’s like he can’t wait to get out of the box now. He does absolutely adore Rico though and is like Velcro at his side so another theory is that toileting is just an inconvenience that takes him away from his brother!

He’s definitely the age he’s supposed to be as his mum was rescued whilst pregnant and he was raised in a foster home with her and his 4 siblings.

He’s at the vets every month to be weighed for flea and worming so I’ll keep an eye on him.

Maybe go back to restricting how much of the house he has access to?

This is the strange thing, for the first 3 weeks there have been no issues with him using his litter tray.

When locked in the room the litter tray was his and only his.
Now he is having to share and that makes him uncomfortable especially since the whole house smells of Rico and not him. He no longer has his own space. Which also coincides with him leaving the poo/wee uncovered - it's to alert other cats that this is his space too - a form of territorial marking.

Out of interest do they play or stalk each other when one goes to the tray? They need peace and space rather than keeping one eye out for an "attack".
I used to have to follow one of my DD cats when she went for the litter tray to protect her from a kitten who thought it was great fun to wrestle her whilst she was otherwise occupied. Her utis and fur pulling reduced considerably but nobody had made the connection that she was so stressed about it as they normally got on together.

You say they feed together. Is it equal or does one defer to the other more and let them eat/choose first? Again that is a subtle sign of dominance and area of stress. Get some pet remedy to help calm it down and start to separate them again at feeding times.

Edit - I’m putting Rico’s indoor wee down to him being an awkward bugger and having a bit of FOMO!
No. That is territorial marking.

Thank you all. @Pixiedust1234- I get the territorial marking and appreciate the whole house smells of Rico so Marty needs to get his scent about and our bed is where Rico sleeps so will smell strongly of him, maybe explaining the pooing there although I would have expected scent marking to be wee rather than poo? All play and stalking stops entirely when Marty uses the tray - Rico walks away to the other end of the room, turns his back on him or walks out and as far as I know, Rico’s only used one of the indoor trays once.

In terms of feeding, Rico has never been particularly food motivated, doesn’t like dreamies, doesn’t finish wet foot when we put to down for him but loves lik-E-lix! They have always been separated at feeding times and both have separate food areas and bowls but regularly eat each other’s biscuits. Marty normally zooms in first and Rico just steps back and lets him, even when it’s his favourite treat. We make sure to even this out and often have to redirect Marty to his own treat bowl. Sometimes, Marty steps back and lets Rico eat his biscuits and there doesn’t appear to be any stress with this but will keep an eye on it.

@tumblingdowntherabbithole- it’s tricky to restrict how much of the house Marty has access to as we’re quite open plan and Rico has always had access everywhere so any restricting would have to apply to both of them. For the initial 3 weeks Marty had a large lounge which he became desperate to get out of and he’s finding his favourite spots elsewhere now.

From all the comments it seems like it’s possibly territorial so will keep an eye on it and maybe look at some plug ins/pet remedy in case it’s a bit stressful.

Thank you all 😊

I would have expected scent marking to be wee rather than poo
Poo can stink to high heaven and can let others further away know there's another ferocious kitty living there. The wee will be for those who are nearby, so he's not just marking for Rico but your neighbourhood cats. He's unsettled and unsure and anxious. Keep scent swapping on the main areas (beds, sofas), stroke him before Rico, then stroke him again after Rico so you blend their smells together, and of course the pet remedy things. I'm sure it will settle eventually ❤

Personally I would go back and restrict him to one room when he can’t be supervised if he’s having that many accidents. I know it’s not ideal when you have two cats but the last thing tor want is for them both to start doing it.