Expert: Norman Auspitz - 8/21/2009

Question
   
  Dear Expert,

             I recently captured a feral kitten(approx. 16 weeks old) from the alley behind my home. It took some time for her to adapt to being around humans, but now she's doing quite well. The problem now is that when I first caught her, I used Tidy Scoop clumping liter, and while the odor is not too bad and the waste is very easy to remove, she now has clumps of litter between all of her toes on both the front and hind paws. I soon realized the problem began during her first few days here. While she was rather docile during the day and early evening, she would obviously do her best rendition of the Tazmanian devil cartoon character in the middle of the night, as evidenced by the cage being totally trashed every morning. The big mistake on my part was leaving a small container of water in the cage overnight. It would be turned over every morning and her toes would have more litter lodged between them than the night before. I have since stopped leaving water in the cage overnight, and it appears no more litter has accumilated between her toes. However, she is still burdened by the initial litter that got stuck in there. The stuff is literally hard as rocks! She seems reluctant to even walk around in this condition(maybe even slightly embarassed that the sound of her steps on a hardwood floor sound more like 6 inch stiletto heels than a stealth feline). I've yet to do anything about it because, quite frankly, I have no idea what to do. When I try to examine the problem, she seems fine initially, but if I tug at one of the clumps, she'll jerk the paw away. If you could provide any tips on this issue, it would be greatly appreciated.

                                             Thanksabunch,
                                                
                                                          Ken

Answer
Ken,

One thing us breeders have discovered is that clumping litter and kittens make for a bad match. A major problem that has occurred in some situations is when the little kittens decide to eat the stuff (and many kittens go through a stage of eating litter), it can often be fatal as it congeals in their throats!!!!!

So, what to do?  I would suggest using something besides clumping litter for your kitten.  To loosen the clumping litter, give your kitty a bath, first and then see if you can gently loosen the clumps between the toes.  If at all possible, clip your kitten's claws before attempting a bath.  Also, remove anything from the area that might be damaged by water.  At the very least, your kitten's first bath will be an adventure for you both.  You might try putting about an inch of water in the sink first to see if you can get it loosen at all before bath time.

Please let me know how it goes.  You can come back to me for other suggestions of litter for your kitten.

Best regards... Norm.