liter training not going well

[waterflow]

I bought the "all natural" liter stuff this morning. Told the guy I wanted something that if the kittens did eat it, it wouldn't hurt. Well, I filled their little tray and sure enough all they wanted to do was eat it. I called the vets to get some suggestions they didn't have any. called the SPCA and they said they shouldn't eat any kind of cat liter. not sure what to use in its place but said they should be eating solid food by now and should be liter trained already. Now what do I use for the liter pan? I thought about shredded paper but they can eat that too. I'm almost crying over this. If I can't get them liter trained they can't stay and they are getting to big for their box but I can't let them out to pee all over the floor. I have made a spot for them to get exercise for a little while but they end up peeing on the sheets. Any help would be really really great! I thought this was going to be easy.

[ICNDonna]

Before the days of kitty litter, people just put some dirt in a box for kitties. You might give that a try.

Donna

[SandyRN]

Just keep putting the kitties in the litter box every hour or so after the nurse (which is probably all the time!) and take them out after a couple of minutes and if they start eating it. They're like babies, everything goes in the mouth. They'll get the hang of it, I promise. They really will learn how to use it, they are just very young still and it takes a little bit of time. I would imagine mama kitty still cleans their bottoms regularly and it's not a big issue yet. By the way, how old are they now?

[waterflow]

I thought about using dirt but thought it might have germs in it. I'm so afraid they will catch something before getting their shots. One of the woman at the SPCA said they can catch any of the cat diseases just by walking into their room. I have a huge pile of good dirt out there just sitting. Guess I will put it to use for some kitty fun.

They're almost 5 weeks old. One place said just canned food. Another place said just dry food. Which one?? I was wondering why they didn't pee in their nursery. Patches got to them. I've seen her licking their bottoms in the box and when I had them out on the sheets running around. I told her today it was her job to potty train them not me.

Ok, thanks. I'm not so worried about this now. I'll go get a bucket of dirt and see how it goes. They want out of their box to run and the one kitten will always pee about 5 minutes after getting out. Figured must be all the excitement. I call them my jumping beans. They sure are funny. Thanks again for the help.

[RAS6]

Mary,
I can't completely relate b/c our cat was my husband's and he found her as an older stray and she does fine. But I am having a heck of a time trying to get my almost 3 year old to potty train if it makes you feel any better!

[waterflow]

things going better

I tried the dirt but they wanted to eat that too so I went with shredded paper. They love playing with paper but won't eat it. Then I also put down a thick layer of paper over the sheet on one end along with the liter box. One is paper trained so far, two still don't pee on their own and one finally used the liter box last night. :woohoo: It was so cute. I put the paper in the box the one peed on in hopes that would lure them in it. The kitten went over in the box, sniffed, scratched and started peeing. I was happy. Clapping and saying go Popeye go. I was proud of my granddaughters first grown up peeing. She was so cute. I'm sure the others will follow along at their own time. They are also eating some solid food soaked in chicken broth. They love it and so does their mother. Only one that won't eat it. Not sure why but she is the fattest so might get enough milk from Patches. It sure is fun when they figure out things.