Kitten not using litter box full time problem

[rosehaired1979]

For anyone who has indoor kitten/cats help me.

I have a 4 month old kitten that was outside most of his kitten life and when he got big enough to come in so the dog wouldn't kill him. Anyways the cat uses the litter box but lately there are times he doesn't. Can anyone give me any advice to teach this cat to go to the litter box full time because if I can't he is going to have to go back outside.. I mean there are 2 litter boxes in the house (have another cat who won't use the other one because he is so used to the one he had when he was a kitten -thats another problem in the future I am mainly concerned right now for the problem I have right now)

BTW all together there are 4 cats in this house

 

[OldHag]

Cats will stop using litterboxes as a sign of stress. It needs its own zone. Where it can go to eat or poo or relax and not worry about the dogs/cats bugging it. Give it a room that it can go hide. A perch up high perhapse, where it can feel safe. Once it feels at home it will be able to interact better with the other animals and stop having accidents.
ALSO, when a cat smells a spot where others have used the bathroom, they will think its an appropriate place to go as well. Youll have to remove ALL scent with one of those enzyme smell removers. Put down something it wont want to walk on... tin foil or tape or something. If it keeps on doing it maybe put its food there. They tend not to want to poo where they eat...
There are also types of litter that will "attract" the cat to use it. I think one is called Cat Attract... not sure.
Covered cat boxes sometimes freak out some cats..

Thats all I can think of....

 

[bugmankeith]

My guess is the fact you have other cats, and this is most likely the youngest, and the older ones scare it away before it can do its buisness (or the other cats scent scares it)

He also may have a urinary tract infection, but i doubt it.

For my cats I brought the booda dome litterbox. My male cat used to scare my female cat away everytime she tried to use the litterbox, so she ended up going all over the house. But now with the booda dome litterbox she can safely go inside the enclosed litterbox and do her buisness in peace, because only one full grown cat can go in at once. Then when he is out of sight she leaves the litterbox and carries on with her day. It's not see through so it's completely private. Your kitten would probably be more comfortable going to the bathroom if it's not seeing the other cats in sight. When it gets older though it will msot likely overcome this and go to the bathroom just fine.

 

[Fini]

Another thing you might try is a different brand of litter. Many cats have an aversion to some litter. Don't know why, it's just that way.

Good luck!

 

[mikeythefireman]

We had a kitten that wouldn't use the box if it had already been used. We got him his own box and cleaned it 2 to 3 times a day. Once he'd established a reliable pattern we went to a more feasible schedule and he was fine.

Another cat wouldn't use a box if the litter wasn't fairly deep. If she could scratch the bottom of the box she got out and did her business under the couch cushions. Took me forever to figure out what mader her happy.:?

I've never had four cats in the house, but I've always figured 1 less box than cats. 2 cats, 1 box. 3 cats, 2 boxes. Etc. Maybe 4 cats, 3 boxes would work better.

 

[Reptilemama]

I would definitely get him in to the vet to make sure there is not a medical reason. Urinary tract infections and crystals in the urine are very common in cats, and will often cause a cat to urinate outside the box. In males, crystals can form a blockage, which requires immediate medical attention. If not treated, toxins build up quickly, which can become deadly, and if the toxins don't kill the cat, a ruptured bladder will. This may not be the cause, but a vet visit should always be the first step when dealing with innapropriate urination.

 

[Barbedwirecat]

I do agree with the last post, plus he needs his shots. And to be tested for FElv, and a fecal done to make sure he doesn't have any worms/intestinal bug/cocidia (cause like 95 percent of kittens and puppys have worms when they are born)
Stress can cause this problem, but I'm not sure if you outlined if he was peeing outside or pooping or both, peeing might be territorry marking issues and they can dot his at this young, then the little guys needs to get neutered (he needs to anyway, or he will spray DEFINITELY, plus no testicular or prostate cancer later in life, good thing) Pooping might just be "hey I don't really like where you put this weird box full of sandy stuff, I normally just poo in the dirt" Trial and error. BUT they do make this nifty stuff you can pick up at the petstore called "CatAttract" it has some sort of pheramone in it that attracts them to it like a magnet, and the vet i worked for reccomends it too.

I did just notice you stated there were 4 cats and two boxes..... You need more boxes. Rule of thumb as my vet said, one box per cat in household, then one box on each level of house. I know...its alot of boxes BUT! I'm sure you really want to solve the issue here. At that point you might invest in a Littermaid self cleaning one, the whole aversion to going where another cat goes potty thing, this might help.

ALSO are you cleaning you litterboxes enough? Clean at least once a day, and toss ALL litter out every 2 weeks as well as disenfecting the boxes IE 1/10 bleach solution sprayed on scrubbed litter boxand rinsed off, let dry....fill with clean litter etc.

Good Luck!!