Kitten diarrhea after starting solid food. Why no litter box use?

Mother cats typically will clean their kittens and ingest their stool to keep the area clean, however it shouldn't cause GI upset. Hormonal changes, changes to diet, underlying illness, parasites, etc, however may cause GI upset or diarrhea, so if it continues, having your vet take a look in person is best to rule out causes and provide treatment that is safe for mom and babies. The mother cat should start to litter train the babies once they are old enough (usually around the time they start to try solid foods around 3-4 weeks of age), however as they get older, you can start bringing them to the litterbox as well to encourage them to use it.

Thank you for submitting your question regarding your new kittens. They are having trouble using the litterbox due to the diarrhea they are experiencing. Diarrhea is usually accompanied by urgency and an increased frequency of defecation. This makes it difficult for young kittens to make it to the box in time. They will need to see their veterinarian and have fecal testing performed. From there medication can be prescribed. Once the diarrhea is resolved, I suspect they will use their box again. I hope this information helps you!

At 8 weeks your kitten can be on a completely solid diet, and if you're feeding regular cow's milk it could be what is causing the diarrhea (cats can't handle milk.) If she doesn't drink a lot and doesn't like moistened food, you can try adding in a pet fountain or other running water source that may encourage her to play or drink a bit more. If she is still having loose stools even after feeding only her regular food, a vet checkup to rule out parasites and GI upset is also a good idea. If she is trying to nurse your other cat, just separating her for a bit can help deter the behavior.

At the age of 6-7 weeks, these kittens are completely capable of eating dry kitten food. Perhaps this would help to regulate the stools and firm them up. You can do a combination of soft kitten food and the dry kibble.

It's very possible this momma cat is just really good at cleaning up after her kittens. At a month of age, she should start taking them to the litter box and teaching them how to use it as well, so you may start to see an increase in waste there instead. Watching the momma cat to see if she is eating/cleaning up the waste can help alert you to if this is the case. If any of the kittens seem unwell, constipated, or don't seem to be urinating/defecating properly, scheduling a vet check to rule out any issues is always best.

Hi there and thank you for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach! It appears that there is more mucous than I would like to see in the stool. This could be due to the diet and it could also be due to intestinal parasites. I would recommend switching food to a kitten food and see if that helps. If it does not improve and continues to progress, I would recommend having a veterinarian test her poop sample to check for intestinal parasites. I hope this helps! Please let me know if you have any other questions or concerns and I would be more than happy to help you further.

She's adorable! I would be a little more concerned that she might have intestinal parasites or another disease causing her diarrhea. I would recommend seeing a veterinarian if you have not taken her in already. They can check a stool sample and she may be old enough for vaccines at this point. If there does not seem to be a medical issue you could try seeing how she does on just wet or just dry food - kittens sometimes do better on one vs. the other.