A kitten naturally becomes housebroken instinctively very early in contact with its mother, around the age of 5 to 6 weeks. However, kittens sometimes become unhousebroken due to urine marking or other behavioral reasons. Our tips for understanding housebroken kittens and how to correct unhousebroken behaviors.
Cleanliness is an innate behavior in your kitten.
At birth, the kitten does not relieve itself. It is the stimulation of its mother licking the belly of her newborn that will trigger excretion. After a few weeks, by following and imitating its mother’s behavior, the kitten begins its first approaches to the litter box or to soft ground if it has access to the outdoors. Its mother will also teach it not to relieve itself in the immediate vicinity of where it sleeps and eats.
At what age does a kitten go to the bathroom alone?
Within a few days, the kitten has learned this, and is usually clean by the time it is weaned after 6 to 7 weeks: each time it uses its litter box, the kitten scratches its litter, does its pee or poop, then scratches again to cover its excrement. This behavior in felines (which differs from that of dogs) comes from their wild ancestors and is intended to mask odors that might attract the attention of predators or encourage potential competitors into their territory.
My kitten is showing signs of uncleanliness.s
Once you bring your kitten home from a breeding facility, if you notice that it is not clean and sometimes urinates outside of its litter box, here are the reasons and what to do:
- His mother, the mother, is not fulfilling her role at first, making sure that the litter box is located in an area away from his resting and eating places (the cat always defecates far from where he eats). Place the kitten in his litter box after naps and meals. With his paw, dig a hole and then get him used to covering his excrement. By repeating this process regularly, your kitten will soon be housebroken. Also, make sure to regularly renew his litter box.
- Your kitten is marking its territory: an unneutered adult cat marks its territory by sending small, powerful jets of urine horizontally, without squatting: it turns around and, standing on its paws, sprays behind it from above. However, it is possible that a neutered cat may start marking its territory following stress: moving, arrival of a new human or animal member in the family, change of litter brand or disinfectant used, passage of a strange cat in its territory… Making this stress disappear, which affects your kittens, should stop the peeing next to the litter box.
- Poorly positioned litter box: A litter box placed in a busy area or too close to the kitten’s feeding or sleeping areas.
- Dirty litter box: A cat’s sense of smell is much more developed than ours, and if you don’t clean the litter box often enough, it may look elsewhere for a less unsanitary place for its delicate nostrils. A litter box must be able to be washed with plenty of water and bleach often (cats are attracted by its smell). Use a plastic box and not a wooden box; otherwise, it will soon become permanently impregnated with the smell of urine. The litter box must therefore be cleaned at least once a day and completely changed at least once a week.
- Too few litter boxes are available: you need as many litter boxes as there are kittens or adult cats in the house. Indeed, if one cat feels intimidated by another (and this is common), it will be stressed by having to use the same litter box as its fellow cat and risks developing behavioral problems.
What type of bin should I choose?
A cat must feel comfortable in its litter box: the tray must therefore measure at least 1.5 times its length (measured from the nose to the base of the tail).
A closed litter box limits the spread of odors, but the atmosphere can become unpleasant for the cat. In cases of uncleanliness, it may be useful to test both alternatives.
Where to place the litter box?
The litter box should be placed in a well-ventilated area to prevent odors from building up. The litter box should also be easily accessible to the cat and should be placed in a quiet area where the cat feels safe. Some cats refuse to use a litter box placed next to the washing machine!
What type of litter is recommended?
- Plant-based litter: Made from fibers or sawdust from spruce, pine, or fir, species that absorb moisture well and degrade easily in the open air after a few weeks. Twice as light as mineral litter, plant-based litter produces less dust, lasts longer, and is biodegradable.
- Clumping litter: Made up of compacted particles that form balls when exposed to cat urine. Only these balls need to be removed daily with a scoop, but the litter itself can last a long time; simply top it up as needed.
NB: Scented litters: the neutralization of bad odors must come solely from the structure of the litter rather than from artificial perfumes that kittens do not like
