Need advice litter training a feral kitten

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Chris & Mally

Chris & Mally

Member Since 2009
We have a feral cat community in our neighborhood and most of them hang out at my house because I feed them every day and provide shelters for them. I have a litter of five kittens right now living in the shelter I have and I'm about to adopt one and bring it into the house. I wish I could bring them all in, but I already have four indoor cats and the one I'm about to bring in will make five. The kittens are about 8 - 10 weeks old and their mother died around two weeks ago. The one I'm going to adopt is the runt of the litter and needs medical attention. His (I think it's a he) eyes are weepy so I'm taking him to the vet tomorrow to get his eyes treated, get him wormed, and anything that needs to be done so it's safe to bring him into the house with my other cats.

The kitten has never seen a litter box, let alone know how to use one, and this is a first for me. All of my cats were litter trained when I got them as kittens, so I've never had to teach them how to use the box. I picked up the kitten yesterday and he had poop stuck to his butt, so I have no idea what he's doing when he has to go. He's very fuzzy and looks like he'll be a long-haired cat, and the poop was stuck to his fur. This little guy is extremely friendly and loves to be handled, so it's easy for me to check him and make sure there's nothing stuck to his butt. He also doesn't mind being cleaned with a warm cloth and we took care of cleaning him up.

I have no idea how to go about litter training a feral kitten and I'm hoping someone here can offer some advice. Any help would be greatly appreciated. As long as I get the okay from the vet tomorrow, I'm planning to bring the kitten inside when we get home from the appointment.
 
It's actually instinctive for them to "bury" their waste, so if you provide him with a litter box, he'll probably figure it out pretty much on his own, but after feeding, take him to his box and "show" him how to dig in it....hopefully he'll get the idea

You can also put him into a large kennel with a litter box and you can be pretty sure he's going to figure it out

If he's around your other cats, he'll also learn from them
 
I've "tamed and trained" many feral kittens over the years, one when he was about 3 weeks old. Because this kitty isn't used to scented litter, I'd suggest either using unscented clay litter or just plain sand for a while. Use a smaller shallower pan and set him in it. Take his little paws and help him scratch in the sand a few times, then gently "tickle" or rub his bottom with the pad of your finger to emulate what his mama would do to help him potty. Good luck to you, and thank you for being kind hearted and taking the little guy in. :cat:
 
A moist cotton ball may be used to clean and stimulate elimination. Do this right after feeding and it is very likely he'll go (wear gloves!)
A sanitary trim of the long hair around the anus will reduce the accumulation of feces. Since he's still a baby, he isn't quite up to the self-grooming level of an adult cat.
 
He is adorable!!! For young kittens I usually do not use the clumping litter until they are about 3 months old. By then, they realize the litter box is for their business and not for playing. I am concerned that they would accidentally ingest the scooping litter and that can cause all other kinds of issues. I use the clay litter until then.
 
My daughter is picking up clay litter tonight along with a few other things. My grandson has named him Alex, since he is definitely a boy. I took Alex to the vet today and they wormed him, gave me drops for his eyes and some antibiotics because he was sneezing a little. They ran a test for feline leukemia and that came back negative. I brought him into the house and gave him a bath in warm water. He only weighs 1.3 pounds and is too small for any type of flea treatment, so I figured a warm bath would help get rid of some of the fleas. They guessed his age to be 8 weeks old.

This kitten is so friendly and fearless. He absolutely loves the dogs and they are all big dogs. Cooper, the dog he loves the most, is around 100 lbs. Before I brought Alex in, he would sit outside the fence and poke his nose in at the dogs. Aside from my three older cats, we have another kitten in the house. Her name is Zoe and she's 7 months old. She's been really good with Alex so far and hasn't even hissed at him.

I've never had a male cat before, so I don't know what to expect as far as the litter box goes. The rule in our house is all dogs and cats are either spayed or neutered at six months old, so I'm guessing having him neutered will help cut down on the urge for him to mark his territory. If anyone has any words of wisdom for male cats, feel free to pass them along. :)
 
Just keep putting him in the box. He will figure it out. My kitten loved to play in the box. He likes it when the litter moved so he thinks it's playing with him.
 
I kept putting Alex in the litter box last night and he went a few times in it. Yeah Alex! Now I just have to get him to remember where it is and understand that's where he is supposed to go all the time. Zoe, our 7-month-old kitten has been helping him. She goes in the box with him and covers everything after he goes. She plays with him a lot too.

Alex loves to be cuddled and he'll climb up on you and pat you on the face with his paw. I've been caring for the feral cats in our neighborhood for the past few years and I've never seen one like Alex. I do have another very friendly feral we call Monkey and he loves people, but he's not too jazzed about being picked up.
 
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