Help! Our new kitty isn't litter trained, although the owners had said she was

She has gone in the litter box but it's when we put her in there. I think, and HOPE, she is peeing in it since I haven't noticed any wet spots on the carpet. I have found some poo though.

Any suggestions???? PLEASE!!!!!!!!!!

By Trina~moderator on Thursday, January 13, 2005 - 09:13 am:

Get a kitten friendly litter box and show her where it is. Be sure it has low sides and is easily accessible to her 24/7. Put her in it every once in awhile as a reminder. That's all we've ever had to do to litter train kittens.

Any pics?!

By Breann on Thursday, January 13, 2005 - 09:13 am:

No suggestions here. Usually kittens are VERY quick to pick up on the litter box thing. It's kind of just natural for them.

Is the litter box in a place where she can get to it quickly? Is the litter scented? Maybe that bothers her?

By Kaye on Thursday, January 13, 2005 - 09:32 am:

What we did to train our little one was keep her in the laundry room where the litter box was. We had a two story house and i just didn't think she could get from downstairs to the litter box fast enough. So after several days in the laundry room (out for supervised visits..lol) then we gated off the upstairs and keep her up there. I think we even closed 3 of the four bedroom doors. Oh and the other thing, make sure she can get in and out. We had one of those covers on ours and it made it too tall and she couldn't step into it.

By Janet on Thursday, January 13, 2005 - 10:09 am:

We used an old cake pan for a box when our kitten was very little. Occasionally, we'd put her in it and take her paw, making little scraping motions. Making sure it was very accessible was another thing. We kept her in the bathroom with the box at night, because we live in a huge two-story house. It usually doesn't take long. It did take her awhile to actually bury her poop, but she's an old pro now!

By Kellyj on Thursday, January 13, 2005 - 01:24 pm:

Our kitty wasn't trained when we got her either. We got a small box and put it into a bathroom. Since we had to keep her away from the other cat at first she was confined to that room a lot. I showed her the box but she didn't take to it at all. When she pooped on the floor I relocated it to the litter box. That seemed to be what she needed to understand the purpose of that box.

By Paulas on Thursday, January 13, 2005 - 06:48 pm:

Thanks. We got her on Sunday and have found 3 poops so I guess that isn't too bad. The first one was the first or second day and she was upstairs with the litter box downstairs so that might have caused that. The second and third time are the ones that concern me. The second time was right beside her litter box and the third time was in a bed that the kids made (cardboard box and blankets) that was in the same room as the litter box. She has used it some so she must be able to get in and out. I've seen her get out but haven't seen her go in.

We do confine her at night and during the day when we are at work.