kittens cough and sharing litter boxes

Question
I just recently got a kitten (valentines day) and I notices she sneezes alot and
she does this coughing action/sound and her meow is very meek. I looked it
up on another website and she may have mucous/congestion in he chest...
does this sound right. i also just chnaged her food because she was eating
bad food from her previous owner... will this cause her to be more sleepy?
one more question she now shares a litter box with our full grown cat. I even
caught my kitten female sparying in the house. Is it healthy for 2 cats to
share litter boxes and isnt she young yet to be spraying. I had a female at
before tha sprayed until i fixed her.

Answer
Marlena,

Your kitten sounds like she has an upper respiratory infection. This kitten and any other resident cat who has had direct contact with her needs to see a vet before things get any worse. Your kitties will probably need antibiotics to help them get through this and prevent any secondary infections from cropping up. Being sleepy is just her body fighting the infection, but it is not a great sign, kittens should be bouncy and full of mischief, not sleeping all day long. My rule of thumb regarding litter boxes in multiple cat households is one litter box per cat, plus one, this will help to prevent some of the more common behavioral issues surrounding litter box issues. In order to avoid the potential of territorial urine marking you should have your kitten spayed before they are 6 months old, what this means is that you are trying to prevent her from advertising for a mate because she gets spayed before she is sexually mature. I hope that I was able to offer some useful information. If you have any further questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to contact me again.