litter box issues

[Kelly]

My kitten (almost 3 months old) seems to be literally terrified of the litter box. She will go in front of it, behind it, next to it, but not in it. I scoop it out 3xs/day so it's not messy.
Honestly, when I try to carry her to the litter box, she claws and fights like crazy...do I have a psycho kitten?
Oh, and she can jump out of it so I see no problems with her climbing into it.


Thanks, Kelly, aka:brtfnk

[Dr. Jennifer Sobie]

Hi Kelly,

First, please don't try carrying her to the box. That will probably frighten her and may make things worse. It sounds as if she either doesn't like the litter you are using or doesn't like the style of the box itself. I'm going to attach a file on litter box problems in cats for you.

Dr. Sobie,
ASPCA Animal Behavior Center

[Carmen Buitrago, MSc, CPDT]

She's probably not psycho, and from what you describe, she is clearly afraid of it. I'd work on changing different aspects of the box and to see what she prefers and what doesn't scare her. It's kind of a process of elimination. The best way is to provide her with several different kinds, and see which one she'll actually use. Aspects you can vary: try boxes with lids and without lids, boxes with different kinds of litter, boxes with different depths of litter (although cats usually like shallow, 1-2 inches at most), boxes of different sizes (under-the-bed sweater storage boxes are nice and large, just remove the lid), and boxes in different locations in your house. Your cat's behavior indicates that she'd like to use the box, but her fear prevents her. So hang in there...she'll likely quickly choose one of the options you provide her.

I've attached our article, Feline Inappropriate Elimination, which will help you troubleshoot the problem and arrive at a workable solution.

Carmen Buitrago, MSc, CPDT
ASPCA Animal Behavior Center

[Kelly]

Thank you to Dr. Sobie, and Carmen Buitrago for your input. I've never had this happen to a car before and I've had cats since I was an infant (actually tried to use one of my cat's kittens as a teething toy when I was about 9 months old....lol)
I will utitlize your tips and keep you both posted. I appreciate you taking time to answer me today, I know you had a very busy afternoon.

Kelly, cat lover in Delaware

aka: brtfnk

[Susan]

Hi,
This may not be the problem in your case, but I do know that if there is a urinary tract infection it could cause pain and the cat relates the pain of unrination to the litter box. I went through this with a male cat that had FUS, feline urological syndrome, and he would just try to go ANYWHERE but the litter box. Susan