adopted orphaned kitten need litter training tips

[faithsstuff]

hey all. So we adopted a 3-4 week old kitten nearly two weeks ago and boy did our life change! So we're off KMR and eating soft food. When can Greebo (any other Discworld fans?) eat solid food and why isn't he litter training. He blew out our cable router over the weekend by peeing on it and will not go in the litter box. A couple times he's spent a bit of time in there and I was hopefull but then I always find poopies around the house. It's starting to get to me, what am I doing wrong?

Also, he's not very good at cleaning himself yet and b/c he insists on laying in his food he gets an occansional bath. Is this o.k.? That's better then letting him smell like fish with bits of crusty food stuck to him right? Ugh, I don't even know what a mother cat should be teaching him that I'm not.

Help me here peeps!

[akimbo]

I took in an orphaned kitten about the age of yours last fall. He also had some issues with going outside the litterbox and not cleaning himself. Both habits he grew out of by about 7 weeks. When we weren't home, we kept him confined to the bathroom with his food and kitty litter (which were on opposite ends of the room - cats might avoid the litter if it's too close to their food bowl). We did allow him to roam the house when we were home (we're in a one bedroom apt - if your place is bigger, maybe just allow him to roam a few rooms at a time until he is better trained).

He did have a few accidents, but everyday, a few times a day, we'd bring him back to his box and swipe his paws in the litter so he'd get the idea. As for cleaning himself, he had a nasty habit of sitting down in his fresh poos when he did use the litter because he couldn't balance very well yet, so his back end was pretty gross. We just gave him baths with kitten/puppy shampoo, and after about 2 weeks he was able to balance and poo without a problem.

For about a week after we got him, I gently rubbed his privates with a warm wet cloth after each meal to get him to go. Mother cats will lick their kittens to stimulate elimination, so this worked out pretty well.

Everything you're describing seems pretty age appropriate for little kittens. He'll outgrow these problems soon!

eta: we also used a small foil baking pan for a kitty litter those first few weeks, b/c he was too small to get over the walls of the normal sized litter boxes. HTH!

eta again: I think we moved onto dry food at about 6-7 weeks, IIRC. Check with your vet to make sure though.