Kitten peeing in her bed? How do I stop this?

On 15 Jun 2004 00:59:08 -0700, (Eden) wrote:

My husband and I acquired a 4 week old kitten a few days ago. I am in
the process of trying to litter train her, which is proving difficult.
She seems to have a thing for towels (I think?) I have been making
her a bed with towels, and she keeps peeing on it. I also put a towel
on her litterbox with litter over it, so she'd link the two together,
but why does she keep peeing in her own bed? She SLEEPS there? I'm
surprised she'd soil it.

Any suggestions on training her not to use her bed? I should note
that she's currently living on our ground floor which is tiled, and I
don't want to take the bedding away because I don't want her to sleep
on a hard floor. Additionally, any ideas of what to use instead of
towels for her to sleep on, in case she associates toweling with
urine?

Is she just too young to "get it"?

Many thanks!

Eden

You might trying some hospital pads or baby diapers. As you know, she
is much too young to be away from her mother. She won't learn any
"cat" things. The woman just wanted to get rid of the
responsibility.. (IMHO) MLB

On 15 Jun 2004 00:59:08 -0700, (Eden) wrote:

My husband and I acquired a 4 week old kitten a few days ago. I am in
the process of trying to litter train her, which is proving difficult.
She seems to have a thing for towels (I think?) I have been making
her a bed with towels, and she keeps peeing on it. I also put a towel
on her litterbox with litter over it, so she'd link the two together,
but why does she keep peeing in her own bed? She SLEEPS there? I'm
surprised she'd soil it.

Any suggestions on training her not to use her bed? I should note
that she's currently living on our ground floor which is tiled, and I
don't want to take the bedding away because I don't want her to sleep
on a hard floor. Additionally, any ideas of what to use instead of
towels for her to sleep on, in case she associates toweling with
urine?

Is she just too young to "get it"?

Many thanks!

Eden

You might trying some hospital pads or baby diapers. As you know, she
is much too young to be away from her mother. She won't learn any
"cat" things. The woman just wanted to get rid of the
responsibility.. (IMHO) MLB

On 15 Jun 2004 00:59:08 -0700, (Eden) wrote:

My husband and I acquired a 4 week old kitten a few days ago. I am in
the process of trying to litter train her, which is proving difficult.
She seems to have a thing for towels (I think?) I have been making
her a bed with towels, and she keeps peeing on it. I also put a towel
on her litterbox with litter over it, so she'd link the two together,
but why does she keep peeing in her own bed? She SLEEPS there? I'm
surprised she'd soil it.

Any suggestions on training her not to use her bed? I should note
that she's currently living on our ground floor which is tiled, and I
don't want to take the bedding away because I don't want her to sleep
on a hard floor. Additionally, any ideas of what to use instead of
towels for her to sleep on, in case she associates toweling with
urine?

Is she just too young to "get it"?

Many thanks!

Eden

You might trying some hospital pads or baby diapers. As you know, she
is much too young to be away from her mother. She won't learn any
"cat" things. The woman just wanted to get rid of the
responsibility.. (IMHO) MLB

Like everyonbe else has said, your kitten is too young to be box trained at
4 weeks. Depending on whether or not the kitten's mother was box trained,
any training at all about where to pee might be meaningless or even
detrimental to your attempts at box training. You will win the battle if
you are persistant and consistant. I have know people that have trained
their cats to use a toilet, and then they would gripe because they would not
flush it.

I got one once whose mother had been killed by a rotary mower. The mother
was a farm cat and was never trained to use a box. The kitten was about
eight weeks old when we got him but my wife worked with him until he was box
trained. He never really got the concept that the new deposites were to be
covered up, but instead he would kick the liter around usually making a big
mess.

Off the subject, but we had to put him down at age eithteen due to failing
health and autheritis. He never did learn hot to cover up his poop!

Like everyonbe else has said, your kitten is too young to be box trained at
4 weeks. Depending on whether or not the kitten's mother was box trained,
any training at all about where to pee might be meaningless or even
detrimental to your attempts at box training. You will win the battle if
you are persistant and consistant. I have know people that have trained
their cats to use a toilet, and then they would gripe because they would not
flush it.

I got one once whose mother had been killed by a rotary mower. The mother
was a farm cat and was never trained to use a box. The kitten was about
eight weeks old when we got him but my wife worked with him until he was box
trained. He never really got the concept that the new deposites were to be
covered up, but instead he would kick the liter around usually making a big
mess.

Off the subject, but we had to put him down at age eithteen due to failing
health and autheritis. He never did learn hot to cover up his poop!

Like everyonbe else has said, your kitten is too young to be box trained at
4 weeks. Depending on whether or not the kitten's mother was box trained,
any training at all about where to pee might be meaningless or even
detrimental to your attempts at box training. You will win the battle if
you are persistant and consistant. I have know people that have trained
their cats to use a toilet, and then they would gripe because they would not
flush it.

I got one once whose mother had been killed by a rotary mower. The mother
was a farm cat and was never trained to use a box. The kitten was about
eight weeks old when we got him but my wife worked with him until he was box
trained. He never really got the concept that the new deposites were to be
covered up, but instead he would kick the liter around usually making a big
mess.

Off the subject, but we had to put him down at age eithteen due to failing
health and autheritis. He never did learn hot to cover up his poop!

circa 15 Jun 2004 08:38:28 -0700, in rec.pets.cats.health+behav, Eden
) said,
I thought 4 weeks was too early too, but when we went to visit the
woman with the litter (she has 10 cats), this was the last one left
and she said the kitten was eating solid food, and was fine to go.
And because of the food issue, we thought it was okay. We figured she
knew what she was talking about!

So, just so I understand - will our kitten finally get the hang of
this all? Is she just too young? Additionally, what are the links
that Laura has given? I haven't seen them.

Thanks so much!


Sorry, Eden, I have a no-archive header on my posts, so they don't
show up in Google. I'll pull the header off of this post so you can
see it. This is what my response was to your original posting:

"She's too young to be away from her mother, let alone know how to
use
the litterbox. What caused her to be taken from her mother so early?

As far as the litter training:

http://utut.essortment.com/cathowdolitte_rqwp.htm
http://cats.about.com/library/howto/htlitter.htm
http://www.mismatch.co.uk/catlitter.htm
http://www.healthypet.com/Library/pet_behavior-5.html
http://www.healthypet.com/Library/pet_behavior-6.html

And as a side note:
http://www.showcatsonline.com/at_wha...en_go_to_a_new
_home.htm "

Unfortunately, the person who gave you the kitten at such a young age
was wrong. With that said, if you act as your kitten's "mother" for
the next month or two, she should be fine. :-)

I fell for the same song and dance sixteen years ago when I got my
Jacob- the people swore up and down that he and his brother were
older than they were, and they said they'd have to "cut their heads
off with a shovel" if they couldn't get rid of them. Obviously, I
took Jacob and his brother that day. Gabriel died at age four, sadly,
but Jacob is still going strong. :-)

Laura
--
Experience is the name every one gives to their mistakes.
-Oscar Wilde

circa 15 Jun 2004 08:38:28 -0700, in rec.pets.cats.health+behav, Eden
) said,
I thought 4 weeks was too early too, but when we went to visit the
woman with the litter (she has 10 cats), this was the last one left
and she said the kitten was eating solid food, and was fine to go.
And because of the food issue, we thought it was okay. We figured she
knew what she was talking about!

So, just so I understand - will our kitten finally get the hang of
this all? Is she just too young? Additionally, what are the links
that Laura has given? I haven't seen them.

Thanks so much!


Sorry, Eden, I have a no-archive header on my posts, so they don't
show up in Google. I'll pull the header off of this post so you can
see it. This is what my response was to your original posting:

"She's too young to be away from her mother, let alone know how to
use
the litterbox. What caused her to be taken from her mother so early?

As far as the litter training:

http://utut.essortment.com/cathowdolitte_rqwp.htm
http://cats.about.com/library/howto/htlitter.htm
http://www.mismatch.co.uk/catlitter.htm
http://www.healthypet.com/Library/pet_behavior-5.html
http://www.healthypet.com/Library/pet_behavior-6.html

And as a side note:
http://www.showcatsonline.com/at_wha...en_go_to_a_new
_home.htm "

Unfortunately, the person who gave you the kitten at such a young age
was wrong. With that said, if you act as your kitten's "mother" for
the next month or two, she should be fine. :-)

I fell for the same song and dance sixteen years ago when I got my
Jacob- the people swore up and down that he and his brother were
older than they were, and they said they'd have to "cut their heads
off with a shovel" if they couldn't get rid of them. Obviously, I
took Jacob and his brother that day. Gabriel died at age four, sadly,
but Jacob is still going strong. :-)

Laura
--
Experience is the name every one gives to their mistakes.
-Oscar Wilde

circa 15 Jun 2004 08:38:28 -0700, in rec.pets.cats.health+behav, Eden
) said,
I thought 4 weeks was too early too, but when we went to visit the
woman with the litter (she has 10 cats), this was the last one left
and she said the kitten was eating solid food, and was fine to go.
And because of the food issue, we thought it was okay. We figured she
knew what she was talking about!

So, just so I understand - will our kitten finally get the hang of
this all? Is she just too young? Additionally, what are the links
that Laura has given? I haven't seen them.

Thanks so much!


Sorry, Eden, I have a no-archive header on my posts, so they don't
show up in Google. I'll pull the header off of this post so you can
see it. This is what my response was to your original posting:

"She's too young to be away from her mother, let alone know how to
use
the litterbox. What caused her to be taken from her mother so early?

As far as the litter training:

http://utut.essortment.com/cathowdolitte_rqwp.htm
http://cats.about.com/library/howto/htlitter.htm
http://www.mismatch.co.uk/catlitter.htm
http://www.healthypet.com/Library/pet_behavior-5.html
http://www.healthypet.com/Library/pet_behavior-6.html

And as a side note:
http://www.showcatsonline.com/at_wha...en_go_to_a_new
_home.htm "

Unfortunately, the person who gave you the kitten at such a young age
was wrong. With that said, if you act as your kitten's "mother" for
the next month or two, she should be fine. :-)

I fell for the same song and dance sixteen years ago when I got my
Jacob- the people swore up and down that he and his brother were
older than they were, and they said they'd have to "cut their heads
off with a shovel" if they couldn't get rid of them. Obviously, I
took Jacob and his brother that day. Gabriel died at age four, sadly,
but Jacob is still going strong. :-)

Laura
--
Experience is the name every one gives to their mistakes.
-Oscar Wilde

"Eden" wrote in message
om...
My husband and I acquired a 4 week old kitten a few days ago. I am in
the process of trying to litter train her, which is proving difficult.
She seems to have a thing for towels (I think?) I have been making
her a bed with towels, and she keeps peeing on it. I also put a towel
on her litterbox with litter over it, so she'd link the two together,
but why does she keep peeing in her own bed? She SLEEPS there? I'm
surprised she'd soil it.

Any suggestions on training her not to use her bed? I should note
that she's currently living on our ground floor which is tiled, and I
don't want to take the bedding away because I don't want her to sleep
on a hard floor. Additionally, any ideas of what to use instead of
towels for her to sleep on, in case she associates toweling with
urine?

Is she just too young to "get it"?

Many thanks!

Eden

At 4 weeks you basically have to finish doing the job their Mom should have
been given the opportunity to do. My Boots' litter was just starting to be
ready to use the box at 4 wks. Others might be more precocious.

Wait until about 10-15 minutes after she eats and put her in the box and
help her scratch. You may want to try taking a damp cotton ball or paper
towel and gently stimulate her butt to get her to go. OTOH she might have
gotten to the point where this will offend the heck out of her - depends on
how far her mom got with litter training (if at all) before they were
separated. If she goes, praise the heck out of her and help her scratch
again so she learns to cover up. Continue to plunk her in the litter box
after meals until you see her reliably using the box herself.

Get the towel the heck out of the litter box. You might be confusing her.

You might want to consider getting one of those really big and deep plastic
storage bins and setting her up in there when she's napping and overnight.
Put a towel in there for her to sleep on, her litter box (at the far end)
and some food and water. This way she doesn't have to go far to find the
box. Once she starts consistently using the box you can gradually expand her
horizons and give her a larger area that she's free to roam.

She might just be too far from the box when she has to go and doesn't
remember how to get back to it. I think Boots was almost 9 -10 weeks old
before he got the run of the house (and we have a small house)


W