Kitten sleeps in litter box

[Noah's Mommy]

Hello, I've been online looking for a place like this. A co-worker had some stray kittens she was looking for homes for. I took a kitten and her neighbor took the other. The kittens were about 8 weeks when she let us have him. We took him to the vet and had him all checked out. Noah is now 14 weeks and he is started to get these quirks. About 2 weekends ago, he started slobbering, like a dog. We took him to the vet and they said he was fine. (We narrowed down that he will just be a slobbery kitty. He doesn't slobber all the time, just when he is playing or we're petting him.) Now, just last weekend, we've found him several times, sleeping in his litter box. I just don't know what is going on with him. We clean his litter box out everyday, but he isn't the greatest at covering his stools so sometimes he is laying on top of his stools. Then I have to give him a bath and he just hates it. What can I do? Any suggestions? Sorry to type so much, I'm just frustrated and I am trying to figure this out. He has plenty of room in the house and has a bed and he's even slept in my bed or will jump in bed with my kids sometimes. (Which is really bad when he is laying on his stools.) Okay, now I'm rambling, but if anybody can help me with my 2 probs, I would greatly appreciate it.

1. He slobbers, does anybody else have a slobbery kitty? Do they grow out of it?
2. He sleeps in his litter box!

Kimmi

[kehorner]

Some cats are just droolers. My parents have one that drools up a storm when she is getting petted and purring. Perhaps it might be a temporary reaction to teething?

Also, some cats just like to sleep in the litterbox on occassion. I had one that would do that intermittently, but he stopped after a while (he graduated to sleeping on the toilet lid!). Maybe you could try adding a second litterbox, and perhaps he would choose to sleep in the cleaner of the two? Sadly, it's hard to teach cats to cover their stuff if they haven't figured it out on their own or learned it from mom.

[Traci]

See a new vet please....depending on what you mean by drooling, this may need further addressing. Drooling a large amount of saliva or excessive drooling could indicate several problems, such as a diseased tooth, dehydration or nausea, ingestion of something toxic, etc. Your vet needs to rule these out. Drooling minimally during an excited state may be considered normal for some cats, but it is not an excessive or constant thing for them. So, you need to determine the severity of this problem.

Sleeping in the litterbox is not normal, and may signal a health problem. It could also be a result of stress, from something in the environment (i.e., recent changes in the home, unclean litterbox, urination or defecation problems in which the cat chooses to be near the box in cases of difficulty urinating/difficulty, pain, withdrawal, etc). You need to keep the litterbox scooped and cleaned on a daily basis and keep all waste removed. Add a second litterbox nearby, with a different litter type in the event he prefers a different litter and different location (private area) of the box.

Please see a new vet who can help you rule out potential underlying health problems....these two problems combined are not normal for a healthy kitten.

[marhpb]

What kind of litter are you using? Once when I was cat sitting for my sister's cats I had to supplement their litter from my supply. I used a green litter, which my sister did not. One of her cats sniffed the litter and immediately got into the box and lay down on it, which she had never done before. Nor did she ever do it again.

[Noah's Mommy]

Thank you for replying. I think I will check in with another vet. Even today coming back from work, and petting him, he starts drooling and his little chest gets damp and with the weather getting cooler I don't want him to catch a cold. Sometimes he drools just a bit and we don't know he's drooled until he moves and we see his chin has left a puddle on our lap. Other times it is like tear drops coming out where we can see a drool bubble.

For the litter, we are using Fresh Step Crystals. We clean it everyday when we come home from work. Maybe I should start changing it in the morning and night? He has bowel movements and the urine just soaks into the crystals so the bottom of his litter box is dry. We clean it waste daily, but we only do a thorough wash with warm water/vinegar every other week. He sometimes covers his stool, but if not, we still clean it out. When we first got him, the co-worker I got him from gave me a small supply of (I believe it was Tidy Cats) sand type clumping litter and some kitten science diet. I am still feeding him the same food, but after his first week, I dumped the sand litter and bought the Crystals and he's been using it since.

I checked books out when we got him to learn a bit more about cats. I did some searching online and read that it could be a dental problem/liver shunt/feline herpes virus and I told the vet my concern, but she looked him over and asked a few questions and said he was fine. But, I was still uneasy so I'm so greatful to have found this site. I was thinking I was just going through a "new mommy" stage and took what the vet said as right. Thank you all again.

Kimmi

[Tina B and crew]

Just too add, I think the only time I see my cats drool is when they are "kneading" and purring on my lap or on a blanket/pillow or something. Of my 4 cats some do it much more than the others and they are all adult cats, not kittens. I've never seen a kitten drool much. It may be nothing but the fact that the kitty is an excessive drooler, but I would have it checked again just to be sure.

Oh..only other time I've seen them drool was when they were nauseated, like when my Gizmo was being treated for liver problems. But the behavior around that was different. He did it when presented with food, not when being petted or purring.

[Cleo]

Do not use clumping litter with kittens. The litter and dust it creates is very fine and can cause damage to their respiratory systems. Plus some kittens see the clumps as play things -- obviously not a good thing.