Expert: Ali - 9/1/2008

Question
My family decided to move my kitten out from our small room and put him in our living room. But i've read somewhere that you have to slowly move the litter box and food or else he won't eat/use it. Is this true? If it is, do you have any suggestions on how to move his litter box/food into our living room (the small room is on a differen floor than the living room)

Answer
Paul,

My recommendation when it comes to multi story homes is to be sure and have a minimum of one litter box per cat plus one on each level of your home, at least initially. I am guessing that your new kitten is somewhere between 6-12 weeks of age and young kittens sometimes have difficulty controlling their bladder/bowels so litter boxes on each level will ensure that the kitten won't have any accidents simply because he got to the litter box too late. It's not a bad idea to use disposable litter boxes for about half of the litter pans in your home as this will allow you to have litter boxes set up that can be disposed of if they aren't needed. Disposable litter pans can generally be found in most pet supply stores and they often come with their own litter inside. It's very important to avoid using scented litter or air fresheners in your kitten's litter box as some cats are very sensitive to chemicals and dyes found in perfumes in the same way that people are. Essentially younger kittens are somewhat equivalent in terms of their development to young children attending kindergarten or early elementary school. If you show the kitten where the litter boxes are on each level of your home and save the odd pee puck or piece of poop to put into other litter boxes he will be able to find them just fine by smell and memory. Once the kitten is confident and using the litter boxes you may find that certain boxes don't get used while others seem to have more waste to scoop out. Over time you can gradually eliminate litter boxes that aren't being used and keep the more commonly used litter pans where they are. Litter boxes should be cleaned a minimum of once a day because cats prefer to use clean toilet facilities and this will also minimize odors.

It's a good idea to keep the food dishes in specific places, for instance I feed my cats in the kitchen and the master bedroom. It's very important to avoid having food dishes in close proximity to the litter pans as cats are naturally very fastidious and they don't like to eat where they eliminate. I have three resident cats and the reason that I have food in two locations is that one of my cats is very dominant and will sometimes get a bit pushy with the other two cats. There's nothing wrong with allowing your kitten full run of the house provided that you have kitten proofed and made things like electrical wires and breakable items less appealing for a kitten to play with.