Kitten Adoption and Litter use

Question
Hello!
I work at a Human society and I am considering adopting a particular kitten. It's a 3 month old male who was returned after being previous adopted because he has some issues. He's a biter and scratcher, which isn't the big problem. This bigger problem is his litter use, or lack there of. I read all the information I could find about litter training a kitten, but none of that seemed to answer my question. "Richie" is defecating and urinating outside of his litter box and often he defecates while he is playing or doing something, there is no squatting or preparing actions. He just goes. He knows he has a litter box as I have seen him playing hide and seek in it. :) And scratching in it. There are also miniscule pieces of feces in the box, but most of the damage is done outside of the box. It also tends to be diarrhea. One of the other workers told me about special litter that cats are drawn too. Do you think this would be a good idea? Are there any tips I can use that will help me in the decision making process? Hope to hear from you soon. Thank you!!
Beth

Answer
Beth,

It sounds like the kitten has medical issues and not behavioral ones. It could be something hereditary or something intestinal that could be treated, such as intestinal or stomach parasites or some other type of intestinal problem.

If he is a biter and a scratcher more than likely he was a feral kitten and could have inherited anything. I would take him to a vet and have the kitten given a good exam with bloodwork.

I bet he will turn into a super cat with your love and attention. I would give him a chance. If you focused on him there must be some connection there and it was meant to be.

Write back if it's not a medical issue (which I'm guessing it is) and we can go from there working on the litterbox issue.


I am including a couple of good links for you to read just for more info: (copy and paste or type the whole links into your address bar)

http://www.geocities.com/heartland/pointe/9352/litterboxhelp.html

http://cats.about.com/cs/behavioralissues/a/outsidebox_two.htm

Tabbi