Kitten rolling in litter box

[Ornery]

One of our newish rescue kittens (around 5 mo old) loves to play in the litter box. He rolls in it, jumps in and out, sprays litter all over the floor, etc. It is his favorite thing to do. Not too bad of a problem as I keep the litter box very clean so it isn't as if he is rolling in ick but then he stinks like cat litter and there is litter all over the floor. Is there any way to discourage this? He has been doing it for about a month now and doesn't seem to be growing out of it. When the box has been used, he doesn't do it but then I have a nasty litter box.

Our other kitten looks at him like he is insane when he does it. She is far to regal to get involved.

[Aries1985]

I have no idea, but my 7 week old, hand raised kitten does it, too. He doesn't roll in the litter, but the box he uses is very small, so he probably can't. He does play with pieces of litter on the floor. We use Petco's brand of Yesterday's News litter, so the pieces are big. I just pick them up whenever I notice any on the floor and it seems to help. I've never had a cat do this before. I thought mine was just weird because he was never with his mother.

[Ornery]

That's funny because this little guy was a feral kitten who lost his mama before he hit 2 weeks old. He was raised alone from week 2 until week 6 when he came to live with me and we rescued his "sister" shortly before him. He did not do well with her for the first couple of days AT ALL but has learned how to play nice. I wonder if it is just poor manners?

[karika]

I think it is linked to the smell thing animals have. The animal is getting 'scent' on themselves with the rolling. The playing is just a kitten thing IMO. Get a litterbox with a hood and it son't end up on the floor at least. He will stop doing it one day also. Are any of the females old enough to be fertile? This would also be a factor in that he would want to spread their urine or feces on himself if so. Much like a lion rolls in a fertile female urine (I think it is a way of marking her as his and him as hers), and they even drink it...