I need any advise....?

Question

I just got a kitten. She's about 1 month old. I need all the kittten advise I can get. For starters how do I teach her to use her litter box. I would think it's going to be hard since we live in a two story apt. and her litter box is down stairs. She's to little to walk down the stairs. And can I take her a small bath with "Hartz 3 in 1 Foaming shampoo for Kittens" (it's for fleas).

Answer 1

She's a little small for flea treatments yet (generally the back of the flea shampoo bottles or the flea liquid treatment will say something along the lines of "Do not use on kittens under _ months old" ) but you could treat the mother (if she is with you) for the fleas and that should help until the kitten is old enough. Be careful of flea treatment allergies too. I'm not sure what kind of contact your babe has had with the medication but keep on eye on her to see if she starts foaming at the mouth or acting strangely once exposed to it.

As for her using a litter, try keeping one in a room with her. If she is locked in a cage overnight you can make a small litter box out of a cereal box, lined with a plastic bag, and then filled with litter. This is usually small enough to stick in a cage with her and then she can get used to the smells. Alot of little cats like to play in the litter instead of actually using it though so don't be discouraged. ;-)

I have the same set-up as you with my litterboxes on the lower level. We have 3 older cats and one kitten and the baby is too little to climb stairs yet. We have been keeping her in our bedroom overnight (safely locked up. We don't want to have any problems with her learning to climb into the bed while we sleep and having her get killed because she's so small.) with a separate litter pan for her to get used to.

I've recently had a problem with my kitten (I think she's just under 2 months old) using a spot on my carpet as her litter even though her cleaned box is just feet away. I've cleaned up her poop messes and put them in the litterbox so that way she can smell her feces in the litter. I also put her in the litterbox periodically throughout the day so she knows where it is and it can give her a chance to use the bathroom even when she didn't think she had too. Cats like to repeat their bathroom usage habits in places that already smell like it so try to clean the area well if yours has an accident (they do happen) and maybe spray the area with a scent neutralizer.

I've also moved her litterbox over the area she kept using so I'm hoping that will help. I'm thinking in a few short weeks she'll be able to climb downstairs on her own and I can show her the litter there.

Best wishes. I love cats.

LEC

Answer 2

Only a month old? Are you bottle feeding her? If not, you might want to as she is way to young to be taken away from mom.
You will need to get a litter box for the upstairs. Use a clay based or paper based litter (don't use clumping until she's older). Once you show her the litter box she should start going right away. You might want to consider a homemade one though because the ones you can buy are probably too tall for her to get into.
And NO, you cannot use flea shampoo on a kitten that young. If she has fleas, first of all you need to get her to a vet as she probably has worms. All you can do at this point is bath her in some plain dawn dish soap. Once she is older (8 weeks I think) you can get some flea meds from the vet. What ever you do, don't use any over the counter flea meds. Those are crap and very dangerous to your cat.

Answer 3

NO HARTZ - very dangerous products, especially for kittens - and it doesn't work! Look at this www.hartzvictims.org.

Get flea treatment from a vet - for such a young kitten, you will ONLY be able to use Frontline spray, which can be used on kittens from 2 days of age. It's the only product that's safe that actually works.

Why is the kitten away from the mum at this age anyway? No wonder she's not litter trained, she's been taken away too early - they usually learn litter training from their mothers. Put her in a litter tray when she's about to wee or poo, if she poos anywhere else, put it in the tray so she gets the idea.

Feed her kitten replacement formula and KITTEN food until she's 8 weeks old, the kitten food only until she's a year old.

Any questions, do direct them at a vet, not at Yahoo Answers!

Chalice

Answer 4

***I'm assuming you're underestimating the age of the cat... if you had a 1 month old, you'd be asking different questions***

Take a deep breath! About litter training, they are naturally driven to bury their poo, so they are likely to go there if you just show them where the litter box is. If your kitten doesn't immediately catch on, set it (all 4 paws) in the litter box and dig in there yourself. Make sure the kitten sees what you're doing. If the kitten can't do stairs quite yet, I would advise you just leave him/her on the floor with the litter box, or get another one (you can phase it out later if he/she doens't use it).
Any shampoo made for kittens is good for kittens. Just make sure you got it from somewhere you trust, like a PetCo or a Pet Supplies Plus or something.
Also, as a side note, make sure you're feeding it kitten food made specially for kittens under 1 year. They have different protein requirements.

Answer 5

A 1 month old kitten should not be separated from it's mother. It is way too young. You need need to go to the vet and get professional help to take care of an animal that young. It needs the litter box nearby in order for it to learn to use it, so either the kitten stays downstairs in the room with the litterbox or the litterbox moves upstairs with you. If it stays downstairs, then make sure that the baby has a place to stay that feels safe. And at that young of an age, put something that has a ticking (ie: clock) in it's sleeping area so that it will not feel so alone. It is used to sleeping with mom and sibs and hearing their heartbeats.

Answer 6

Firstly, a four week old kitten hasn't even been weaned yet and needs to be with its mother.

Secondly, unless you're willing to nurse this kitten every four hours by hand with formula, the animal will probably not survive because it can't eat solid food yet.

Thirdly, if the cat cannot go down stairs, how do you expect it to use a litter box at all?

Fourthly, you need to take a kitten this young to the vet for flea treatments. Commercial products are made for much older animals and can be toxic to babies.

Answer 7

***Do not use Hartz products***

Hartz medicinal products were recalled because of death in animals. The toys are fine, but I would not trust their flea, tick, heartworm, etc products. Please tell anyone you can.


Allow her to be downstairs as much as possible. It's going to be difficult seeing that she's a month old. Can you bring the litter box upstairs?

Answer 8

keep her litter box in the same floor she will be on . And to teach them all you have to do is put them in the litter box watch them and move around the litter with their paw. Don't let them eat it sometimes they try to. Cats are born with that instinct.

Answer 9

Well, for starters, get another litter box and put it upstairs where she can get to it. If you see her go to the bathroom outside the box, put her inside it, so that she knows where to go.

I've also read about isolating the cat in a room or large dog crate with food, water and the litter box. Cats are clean animals, she'll not want to go where she sleeps or eats.