10 week old ragdoll - single accident out of litter box

Question
Hello -

we just brought a 10 week old ragdoll into our family.  she has been with us for just over a week.  she has responded well to the family.  she is very loving and loves to be in the same room as her family and even responds to her name.  she was litter box trained from the breeder and had no issues adjusting to the litter box when she arrived to her new home.  this morning my boyfriend and i were in bed (one floor up from her litter box) and she had an accident on the end of the bed.  is it normal to have an accident out of her litter box?  how do i prevent this from becoming a routine?  her litter box is clean and i added a little fresh litter to it this morning.  

Thanks for your advice!

Answer
Kay,

At 10 weeks old your ragdoll baby is still quite young... She may have simply not been able to hold her bladder to get to her box - I would suggest adding a kitten sized box in your bedroom to prevent such mishaps - if you find that she has accidents in other places just add litter boxes... As she grows and matures you'll find that she doesn't use every box, so you can begin to weed out the boxes that she doesn't use. If she is the only cat it's probably a good idea to have at least one box per level of your home, but a minimum of two in total to prevent accidents. Based on my own experience with my ragdoll I can honestly say that they are slow to mature, so just be patient with her, she will get the litterbox sorted out soon enough. I would also suggest washing anything that she does have an accident with as soon as possible and if at all possible add an enzymatic cleaner to the wash as this will permanently remove the smell of urine or feces, even for a kitty's sensitive nose. If your kitten continues to have accidents on a consistent basis an exam by the vet might be a good plan to rule out any medical reason for her to pee outside of her box, such as a bladder infection, but for the moment I wouldn't panic - she's a very young kitten and this is her first accident. If you have any further questions or concerns, please don't hesitate to contact me again at any time - I'm more than happy to help in any way that I can.

Kind regards,

Ali