Kitten won't always use litter box...uses bed instead

[KimmieLou124]

I have two kittens, sisters, they are about 16 weeks old now. They have both been treated for infections of their colons. One of them is awesome with the litter box, and the other one really only goes either when I'm in the bathroom or her sister is going, but if she goes on her own, sometimes she'll do it alone, but most of the time, if my door is open to my room, she'll pee/poop on my bed. I have two litter boxes, one up stairs and one downstairs. I am constantly cleaning them whenever they go to the bathroom. If they poop, I immediately remove it and if they pee, I kinda blend all the litter together. I'm not sure if it's the material of my bedspread (linen) because she did it when I had a different bed spread that was just cotton and she did it when I was in the bed as well. I don't want to get rid of her because I have her sister as well as I've spent too much money on her. What am I doing wrong? Also, she just got off her antibiotics because she had diarrhea with mucus and blood at the very end, and while she was on the medication, her poop was normal, but now that it's gone, her poop is not as runny, but not solid, whith a little mucus, and no blood. What could this be...Oh man, I'm stressing!

[Lucky Rescue]

I know this is horribly frustrating and I really sympathize, but please don't think of "getting rid" of your kitten.

You're not doing anything wrong! Your kitten has been sick, and seems like she is not completely well yet.

The infection probably made it painful for her when she pooped in the box. In her mind, the BOX was hurting her, so she decided to go somewhere else and see if it would stop hurting. Maybe by coincidence, it didn't hurt when she went on the bed, so now she goes all the time there. Makes sense to her!

What are you feeding her? Has she been thoroughly checked out for parasites like coccidia or giardia? Semi-solid poops with mucus may mean there is still some irritation in the intestines, and she may still be experiencing discomfort when she goes.

If there is still a problem, you must get this cleared up first. Then, if you can borrow a dog crate, you need to put her and her box in it until she uses it all the time. Put her food at one end, and her box at the other, so there is no place for her to poop except the box. Try putting a different kind of litter in, so maybe it wont' scare her as much as the litter that (she thinks) hurt her.

Please let us know what happens!

[KimmieLou124]

I am no where near actually giving up on her, I'm just so frustrated!!! It makes sense about the box "hurting her". They've both been treated for Colitis, which I'm not sure is close to coccidia or not? Lucy, the one that's having problems, acts fine, eats fine, drinks fine, plays fine, everything! It's been 3 times that's she's had an accident on my bed, but three times in like the past two weeks. Other times have been prevented from me grabbing her or my door to my room being shut. She has pooped once on the carpet upstairs in that time period as well. Last time they were at the vet was for their spay and declaw...yes, I know declawing is controversial, but it was the right thing for me. The vet said that they both look extremely well and healthy, and I asked about her poop again and she said that they were too young to get treated for any worms yet...so I think what I'll do is go ahead and give her a call and see if they can schedule me. For the first two weeks that I had them, I locked them in the bathroom everytime I wasn't home so that their food and litter was in there, and then once I let them roam the house at night, Lucy would pee on the mats in my bathroom, so I got another litter box for upstairs and she was great for a while. I guess I just hate how I can't tell if she's hurting or not? What is coccidia and giardia? Is it contageous with the other kitten? Is it life-threatening?

[BMDLuver]

Coccidia: http://www.marvistavet.com/html/coccidia.html

Giardia: http://www.pethealthcare.net/html/bo...a_in_cats.html

As far as worming kittens goes... from my understanding.. and correct me if I am wrong... should they not be like pups and started on a worming program ideally at 2 weeks of age?

[KimmieLou124]

I'm not sure about the worming because I adopted from a shelter, where first they going feline respitory infections, than bloody poop, now this. Thanks for the links. Any other suggestions what to do until she can get in to the vet?

[BMDLuver]

Depending on where you adopted them from... they quite often come with some baggage as the facilities have difficulty keeping the premises disease free due to the volume of animal intakes. It's great how you have not given up on them!

I would try to get the kitten to the vet as soon as possible. The kitten sounds like it needs another round of antibiotics and some tests done. It's important that the kitten not get dehydrated in any way as their little systems can crash quickly. If you notice any change in activity level such as lethargy, etc.. then don't wait.. getting a kitten to the vet quickly is very important.

LR is at an adoption event today but I'm sure she will check back later as well. There are many cat people on the board with experience as well.

[amber416]

May not apply here, i don't really know in what order things have been happening, but litterbox aversion is sometimes a side effect of declawing. Poor thing, i hope you get her to the vet as soon as possible.

[Lucky Rescue]

litterbox aversion is sometimes a side effect of declawing

It can be. Cats handle stress poorly, and the colitis could be a side effect of these kittens having been dumped, being in the shelter, going to a new home and being declawed in short order.

Illness and stress are the two main reasons cats avoid the box. If your kitten has loose stools, she is no doubt having some discomfort at litterbox time.

Am I misunderstanding, or are you saying your vet told you that 16 week old kittens are too young for deworming??

They can be wormed at 6 weeks. Have yours never been dewormed at all?

If not, you need to get that done immediately. Discomfort from worms can also make kittens sick and not use the box.

Personally, I would be worried about a vet who is willing to declaw little kittens, but not deworm them.

[KimmieLou124]

What's weird is that she'll only go to the bathroom on the bed when it's made. When I'm sleeping in it, she doesn't, or when there's something on top of the comfortor when it's made, she doesn't. Since the incident, she's used the box. I'm just confused. They've been declawed for over a month now, and it has happened before the declawing, so I would guess it's not becuase of that. They also only had their front paws done. Her poop this morning was not loose, so I'm not sure if it is just going to vary now and that the medication really helped? I guess time will tell. It may be a misunderstanding between me and the vet assistants, but they are just now 16 weeks, which is what they told me they had to be to get rabies. I haven't directly asked about deworming, so maybe I'm assuming that since I got the kittens at about 5-6 weeks from the shelter that they would've been dewormed there. Now that I think of how little of help the shelter has been (when they had feline resp. infections from there, it was not their fault, and they pretty much told me that if I wanted them to live, I would have to take them for a check up and get the medicine, and they would have no part in it....don't take it the wrong way, I had no problem doing it, I thought it was just rude that they didn't offer to help in any way), I doubt they got dewormed. I asked for their file and they told me "nothing was on file" so I told them that when I adopted them, it came with first shots, so I took them back for the shots, FVRP or something like that, and after they got it, they came out and said ....well they've had these once already, so you pretty much got a free shot....blah blah blah. Just plain rude. I'm not entirely sure how to exactly go about owning kittens, which shots they need, how often, because my mom always did it with our cats at home. Anyways, I think she's feeling better, I'll just have to keep an eye on her as far as using the bed goes. I have an appointment with the vet to get their shots, it's not her fault because maybe she assumed I just knew how it went? Who knows? Thanks so much for ya'lls help!

[CyberKitten]

Have you considered buying a book about how to care for a kitten - there are many on the market. There are also some good articles on this site and others kittenrescue.com and kitten-rescue.org come to mind (If those urls do not work, the former may be .org as opposed to the latter and vice versa.)

Inappropriate urination is one of the most common questions vets are asked. (I am NOT a vet!) I agree with all of the other comments - and also think dfeclawing may have caused such stress that the urination in your bed may be one outcome. But then the kitten seems to have had other medical probs (you said she was on antibiotics - or was that postop?) so that may be a factor.

You might try Yesterday's News litter and once the kitten realize that will not hurt - when she eliminates- she may continue there.

Good luck!

[Lucky Rescue]

Indoor, spayed and neutered cats do not need annual shots, so don't let anyone talk you into that. Cats and chemicals/pesticides are often not a good combination, so the less meds the better.

As for the respiratory infections, most cats in shelters do get it from the stress and the crowding, and it's not normally a serious thing.

Before anything else, you must take a stool sample and have it checked for worms, which these kittens probably have. Tapeworms are the most common.

Do not buy any dewormers at the petstore.