Hey all,

This is my first post in the Pets bit, so be gentle!

My son's cat was at my house for a few weeks whilst he re-floored his living room, and lo and behold, she was pregnant. She stayed here with me rather than be carted back home, and she's had three beautiful babies who are 6 weeks old tomorrow. I'm a great-grandma!

My problem is litter-training them. I'm not as mobile as I'd like to be (arthritis) and tend to stay upstairs a lot. They're all on three meals a day of kitten food since Tuesday, and doing soooo well, but I'm struggling with how to litter-train them. Shouldn't their mummy have stopped "helping" them by now? I'm not seeing any signs of little presents hanging around, and their mum's still giving them a good grooming. I've given them a shoe box lid with a bit of litter in it, and they see their mum use the big tray.

The advice sites I've read sort of say "When you see them squat, put them in the tray" but I just don't ever see them squat like that, and neither have my sons.

Any tips you experts can give me will be welcomed with open arms.

OK, it's been a good while since I dealt with this and I am sure others will be along with more expert advice....
I don't think you need a shoe box for a litter tray...they should be ok to use same as mum, although i would have thought a simple cheap tray is best at this stage rather than a fancy box with lid. You can get a spray which attracts them to the litter tray...or I think even some litters contain the same ingredient.
Basically, I think the cat mum will take care of this and most kittens litter train very easily and reliably.
Ooh...and how many are you keeping Great Grandma?

Hi Charliesugar, and thanks for the reply - most useful! I didn't know they did litter and sprays that attract the cats to it.

I'm only using the shallow lid bit of the shoe box as their "learner" tray because I read about it on the net somewhere and it seemed sensible. It's nice and shallow, and not likely to scare the babies. However, I'll get rid now and look around for the litter with the scent, or the spray.

Great-grandma here's keeping one of the little girls - there are two girl tabbies and a little boy. The other two are going to people I know; I don't want them to go to strangers. I've got an older cat here too - she's 14 now, bless her, and a bit confused with all the sudden feline activity! My room's her safe zone.

Just as an aside, the mum cat's a rescue cat. My son got her when she was 2, and they told him she was a neutered boy. Imagine our surprise when we found out! I was pretty angry, but my son's okay about it. It's not fair on the cat, though.

Anyway, thank you again - much appreciated.

Ahh, it's a lovely story...kittens are such a joy aren't they? And now you get your very own new little kitty.
To be honest, the spray etc is probably slightly overkill, I know I bought some when my lot were young but the mum trained them well and there was never a single accident.
I remember the time I saw one of the kittens do his first proper pooh....he looked SO surprised!
Are they weaned yet? I guess this makes a difference in the toilet regime.

They're not fully weaned, no. The little boy's been eating solid food mixed with kitten milk every day for about 10 days, and the two little girls for about 8 days. Tuesday was the first day that all three of them had three meals of kitten food - before that, only the little lad would, whilst the girls turned their noses up at the second and third meals, and can't you just tell by the boy's size compared to the girls! A right little tubby.

And yes, they're so lovely - I want to keep them all! Fortunately, the one I've picked is a little madam. I do love a wonky personality in a cat. If she's playing with something and I move her to somewhere else, she hisses at me. The other two are so soft, it's unbelievable.

It must be 20 years since I last had kittens in the house - I never let my little old lady have a litter before getting her done.

I found a little "present" downstairs earlier tonight, so I definitely need to get my act together with this toilet training lark!

Thanks again, Charliesugar! I think I'm rapidly turning into a kitten bore! Haha sorry!

My Delilah has had two litters, and I used a shallower litter tray for them.
She pretty much did most of the job herself, but yes, a few times I had to rescue my carpet when I saw a kitten squatting.
They learn very quickly that is where they must go. I also put a vinyl mat down under it, larger than the tray, as sometimes they don't quite make it there lol. Newspaper etc. just gets torn up, so a fairly rigid, washable plastic sheet is the order of the day.

Only trouble in my case, is that Delilah is absolutely useless at covering her doo doos, she can spend many minutes scratching at the side of the tray instead of the litter itself, until I shoo her, and use the scoop to cover it myself, and certainly the one kitten from her 12 I kept, has learned the same trait.

I kind of wish I had not had her done now, because the two litters are amongst the greatest experiences of my life, but it is better all round she has no more.

12 kittens?? Even if that's two lots of 6, that's a huge amount of babies to be looking after. Our 3 little ones are all over the place, and quite the handful! But yes, they're adorable too.

I sent my son out to the pet shop today for the "special" litter, but they didn't have any. But I reckon it's going to be okay; my babies are using the shallow shoe-box lid now, more often than they're not. I probably just panicked before I needed to! You know the thing:

Q: "Oh my lawdy, why aren't my kittens running about yet?!?"
A: "Give 'em a chance - they're only a week old"

... sort of thing.

Anyway, thanks so much for the advice and chat. It's been good (from my perspective) to be a kitten bore!

You sound as if you've done really well Linden !

She had five the first time, and SEVEN the next.
I kept them for 12 weeks too. A nightmare, but a real joy in every way.
I have tons of pics and some video of the first litter being born, and I kept the very first kitten Delilah had for myself.

Don't fret too much about things like litter training etc, as mummy takes care of most things.

Thanks, Curmy! I have to say, I reckon I've been more over-protective about these little babies than I was about my kids. If that's possible!

Aye, I'm definitely more chilled about it now, BigBHM, and thanks for your advice.