# Kitten- messy poop



## CatMonkeys (Sep 27, 2012)

I recently adopted two kittens and they are almost 15 weeks old. One has been having problems with loose stool and making a mess all over herself. (At first it was due to fiber issues, now she is on an antibiotic for suspected Coccidia.) She only covers her poop in the litter box about 50% of the time and when it's on the wet side, it ends up all over the back of her legs and tail. She's longhaired and very fluffy, so it really gets in there and she doesn't always seem up to the task of cleaning herself immediately.

My questions:
1. Is there anything I can do to encourage her to cover her poop every time she goes? She has a large box with several inches of litter and I scoop it 3-4 times a day. Even when she doesn't have loose stool, it would be nice for her to cover it. The other kitten (littermate) almost always covers his poop.

2. Is there anything I can do to get her to clean herself? (It would be great if she would just cover the poop and not step/sit in it in the first place...) I check her backside when I see her leave the bathroom and clean her if necessary (which she HATES), but that doesn't work if she goes while I am at work.

3. I live in an apartment with carpet (not my preference), a medium brownish-neutral color. I imagine my kitten is probably getting a little poop from her legs on the carpet, especially if she gets messy while I'm not home, but I don't see any obvious stains due to the color of the carpet. Should I do some kind of steam cleaning/carpet shampooing the whole floor every so often to keep everything clean? She has not pooped directly on the carpet, it's just wet poop rubbing off the back of her legs.

The cats are used to roaming the house all day, so I would rather not keep them in the bathroom while I'm at work when there are loose stool problems. I feel bad that she keeps having bathroom issues, but I can't have poopy cat legs all over the house. Please tell me there is some way to minimize the mess?


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## midgiepooh (Sep 19, 2012)

Hi!

I'm afraid I am not going to be much help for you, nevertheless I am going through a similar situation. We'll just cry on each other's shoulders until someone can sort us out!

I don't know how old my kitten is (showed up at my ma's house a couple of days ago) but I imagine our babies are around the same age, give or take a week or two.

Mine has had messy poop almost the whole time he's been here. There hasn't been a vet available to check him out since its been the weekend (small town, eh?) I figured it was due to the fact that my first instinct was to feed the kitten when I got it home - and it ate a _lot._ He seemed to have a little trouble with the hard stuff, so I switched to canned. He gobbled it up and wanted more...and more...and more. Not sure exactly how much I gave him overall, probably half a can in the course of 12 hours maybe.

He pooped and "tooted" all the next day, and this little rascal doesn't know how to use a box yet! So I rushed to the store quick as a wink and got the little one some Purina Kitten Chow - I would have gotten some more wet but the store didn't have anything for kittens. Ugh!

But it has made a big difference already. He doesn't have any problems chewing it up and his poopies seem to be back to normal. I still can't get him to use a box, though! I don't get it! I've had kittens before and just sort of "plopped" them in there when they had to go and _boom_ - they were trained! I never had one who was resistant!

But even though mine won't use the box, he still scratches around the mess as if he wants to cover it up. So I guess our kittens are backwards from each other! ha!

My kitten has also stepped in it and gotten some stuff on his legs. I just picked him up and gave him a bath in the sink, really scrubbing (with my fingers) the back-end and he got the picture. I know its been only a couple of days, but he's bathing his own back-end now and avoiding his own poo. I had to do this twice but I think he "got" it.

As for your carpet, how about getting some of that spray-foam stuff and doing a room that way? It would be much cheaper and less trouble than using a steam cleaner. Besides, the foam stuff should be able to tackle a small problem like that and you'd be able to do it whenever you felt like it. I just bought some from the Dollar General the other day and its only $1.75 per can!

Resolve has a product that comes in a jug - its a powder you sprinkle around the room and scrub in with a brush (we always just used a broom - its much easier and faster) The powder somehow turns into a liquid when scrubbed. When dry, just vaccum and voila! Its a bit more pricey than the spray stuff, but it works 10 times better and its still more economical than a steaming.

Let me know how it goes! I'm sorry I can't help with the litter problem!


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## minikin44 (Aug 25, 2012)

OP, I feel your pain. I went through weeks of that with my kitten Bear... I always ended up washing him off (just water, I found that out the hard way) and then using the hair dryer on low on him. That being said, he wasn't just a little poopy, he'd get covered b/c the parasites were giving him diarrhea so badly. If it's just a little mess, I got kitten wipes that I use to "spot clean." He does seem to have eventually learned to try not to step in it, though sometimes it still happens. Hopefully with time your little one will avoid it more too. You can also try firming up the stool by adding some pumpkin mixed into kitty's food. As for covering their poo, all four of my cats try, but only one succeeds, so I have no idea what to tell ya... Midgiepoo, you could try cat attract litter to get your kitten to use the box.


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## CatMonkeys (Sep 27, 2012)

Midgiepooh- thanks for the suggestions of carpet cleaners! I will have to check those both out! I will also try giving her a bath in the sink next time and hopefully that will serve as a warning for what happens to cats who step in poop  I have been cleaning her off with a cat wipe or a damp washcloth, but she is so fluffy that it takes forever, especially if the poop is dried. If I can get her to sit in the sink for a few minutes, that will probably be more effective. She is very meticulous about grooming otherwise, but I don't blame her for not wanting to tackle her dirty legs!

Minkin- poor Bear! Do you know how often I can feed the cats pumpkin? Kelly was havng loose stool problems about a month ago and I gave her pumpkin for the week and that worked wonderfully. I didn't give it to her again yet this time because I wasn't sure if there are any negative effects from regularly feeding cats pumpkin?


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## minikin44 (Aug 25, 2012)

As far as I know, there aren't any negative effects; rather, cats just don't get any nutritional value from the pumpkin, but they should be eating enough otherwise that it won't matter. I mentioned it to my vet today at Bear's booster appointment and he didn't say anything bad about it. I feed it to Bear (and now Yoshi as he had diarrhea two days ago... I'm hoping his was a fluke) every day... he won't eat it by itself, so I put couple cans of cat food in two tupperware containers, add pumpkin, stir it up, and then have it ready so I don't have to mix it at every meal. Oh, and as for sink baths, fill the water up in the sink high enough that it covers the poo spots when she's sitting in it, and then just hold her there... it really does help loosen up the dried bits. Bear didn't like it but thankfully when they're that small it's not an issue.


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