Kitten help please!

She's not going in the litter tray if there's a smell would be my guess, at 5 weeks she won't be litter trained she's just a baby, they take up 13 weeks to get the hang.

I would take her to the vets for a check up if you haven't already and she'll be bossing the dog around eventually but it's going to take months not weeks for them to settle down together.

She was taken by a seagull and then dropped on razor wire at my husbands work. Him and another guy managed to rescue her and the vet managed to stitch her paws up so thats understandably why she's so timid.

im not expecting her to be at ease after 2 weeks but if she's constantly still hissing at the dog I dont think its fair on him to keep her. I wasnt 100% sure about taking her but at least we can give her a home just now and if it doesn work out we can take our time and find the rght home for her.

The litter tray we clear out everyday, its the clumping stuff so it says on the bag just to remove the clumps and it doesnt need emptied completely but i do anyway. She has been using it but im not sure she's used it today so she's possibly pee'd on the carpet where she's hiding which would explain the smell. Ill need to wait til my husband comes in though to help me move the sofa and ry and coax her out!

We use something called 'City Cat', 'City Fresh' or similar name from Wilkos or PaH - it's in a blue bag (about £4) and is a crystal-like litter that means we only get smells if one of them does a REALLY stinky poop - and only then for a few minutes. It dessicates all the poop and you just remove the poop every day or so - and change the whole thing once a month...

I think what the others have said makes a lot of sense. It may takes weeks and will require a lot of patience. Just let her hide and come out in her own time.

Also, the set up you have for her sounds fine but I just wanted to ask how close the litter tray is to her food ? They need to be a good distance apart (opposite ends of the room at least) as they don't like them too close. This may reason why she has possibly not used it. The litter I used to use was a pine pellet type one and rarely smelt.

Good luck and let us know how to you get on (oh and some pictures would be lovely when she stops being camera shy).

This isn't Blackie the kitten that is in my local paper, is it?!!

Yep it sure is! We've renamed her Willow though ?

Thats a good point about the litter tray, we probably have it too close to her food just now!

I discovered what the smell was anyway, she had done a poo in the living room behind the curtains so i didn't notice it straight away. I'll go to pets at home tomorrow anyway and try and find a better litter!

She sems a lot better now anyway. We got her out her hiding place and she's currently sitting on my husbands knee purring and getting stroked. The dog is in the room but as long as he doesn't get too close she's ok!

Thanks very much for all the advice everyone! And as soon as I can get some pictures of her, ill put them on!

I would give her lots of time and space - def. longer than two weeks.

Our cat, who is now 8 - my partner had her from 8 weeks old - was very timid and scared. She came from a farm so was not very 'domesticated'. She used to hide behind the sofa all day. Once, when he was on holiday and I went round to his to feed her, the little bugger had managed to find a hole in the wall behind the toilet (where the pipes etc went in) and was hiding in there! I was dreading him coming back to no walls as I had no idea how to coax her out! A cork on a bit of string, wiggled past the hole did the job!

She is still very skittish now, but she has learned to trust us. I think it is good that she is skittish - a good defence mechanism. You might find that Willow will never be completely tame etc, but you will certainly get so much enjoyment out of her, and se wll you in her own little way.

Re: the cat litter. I cannot remember which one we used, but it is very hot at the moment so I can imagine that it doesnt help the smell situation. Eventually you will be able to let her out and you prob. wont need a litter tray, so just bare with it if you can!

We got two labradors a year ago - they are very soft and would not harm our moggy. She stared at them angrily at first, and hissed a bit and took a few swipes as they quickly ran away from her! We are not, and are not likely to be ever, atthe stage where she would sleep in the same basket as them but she certainly walks past them with confidence and rubs her head on them every now and then (to which they stay extremely still!).

So, what I have taken a very long time to say, is to give her all the time and space that she needs as she is probably terrified of her new surroundings. I am sure your dog will be resiliant, and anyway, it is always best if the cat rules the house!

I hope you have many happy years with her!

Lx

I thought this story rang a bell too, i read it in the local paper the other day too.

I posted on your original thread, but we also had a wild kitten. The first few weeks he has very timid. He would hide behind the sofa constantly and we even had to slide his food and water in behind the sofa. But when he did come out he loved cuddles.

He got used to us very quickly, and is now very tame and a big sook.

I think if you are willing, you need to persevere. Same with the dog issue, although id give it longer than 2 weeks.

Re. the litter, we used a cat litter freshner powder stuff and try and scoop out poos as and when. Change whole litter tray every few days too. We also used littetr tray liner bags to make it easier.

Thanks again everyone for the answers!

Seems I may be expecting too much too soon so ill scrap my 2 week plan and give it more time! She's improved so much already and the dog just ignores her now so hopefully she'll do the same.

She's in her bed just now just watching everything, doesnt even hiss when my H goes near here - she's becoming quite attached to him which is nice!

We have a house cat and have tried all kinds of litter. I found that the crystal type doesn't soak up the wee. The best we've found (and it's a reasonable price too) is Tesco's antbacterial litter, it's in a big blue bag and is great for keeping whiffs at bay and easy to change.

She just needs a bit of time at home, all kitties are different!

Good Luck

Willow is a much nicer name ?.

I keep finding more and more Hitchers from around here!