6-week-old kittens dig heads in litter. Is pellet litter too heavy?

Hi, thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach! Now is a perfect time! Digging and using a litter box is natural to them. Make sure it isn't deep or too high for them to jump in and out of. You can put a little used litter in there (smell of urine and poop) to encourage them to use it. Kittens are very quick to learn. Put them in the box every few hours. I hope this helps!

Hi there and thank you for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach to address your concern. This sounds behavioral and will likely go away over time. However, in the meantime while the behavior is occurring, I would recommend switching the type of litter or even consider spraying bitter apple onto the litter itself. 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.

While there is no scientific literature stating that clumping litter is not safe for kittens under 3-4 months, it is something where kittens the young are more curious and may eat it. I would introduce clumping litter after 3-4 months and before that you can use non clumping litters. You can also use the Tidy cats breeze system, which has pellets instead of litter. https://www.chewy.com/s?query=Breeze&query2=Tidy+Cats&rh=brand_facet%3ATidy+Cats&gclid=CjwKCAiA9rjRBRAeEiwA2SV4ZZGRCuV_aF9_QmHa53nyRcwsuSgid-XwU6FgjAm95WHLhxDE7KJp1hoC4F8QAvD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds I would stay away from the biodegradable clumping litters also because if ingested it can cause intestinal upset. Not all kittens will ingest litter but it is something to be cautious about. Thank you for using PetCoach.

Hi there. Most cats prefer an unscented clumping litter with a fine, sand-like texture - so I would recommend offering something like this. The litter box should be large with low sides, so it's easy for her to get in. If you try this and she still has no interest in using the litter box, then you may need to observe what type of surface she prefers to potty on and use something similar to this in her litter box.

I think this should be safe for your young kittens to use. They may be inquisitive at first about the new litter but they probably won’t ingest enough to cause an issue. Usually the biggest concern with ingesting litter is that it can cause a blockage if too much is eaten. I hope this helps. Thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach. Best of luck.

What naughty kittens! I think you can do a few things. First, I would work on environmental enrichment. Kittens have a lot of energy and "should" hunt multiple times a day for their food, so we need to find ways to help them entertain themselves (without resorting to playing with poo). This website has a number of good ideas for environmental enrichment. https://indoorpet.osu.edu/cats One of my favorite things for cats is a no bowl feeding system like Doc & Phoebe ( https://docandphoebe.com/ ) that requires them to "hunt" for their food. You could also try a feeding ball. I also recommend using laser pointers and interactive cat toys like a Cat Dancer ( http://www.catdancer.com/ ) to help get their energy out constructively. Finally, you could consider adding anther automatic litter box, so they don't have the opportunity to fish anything out of the litter box. Good luck! I hope that was helpful and gives you some ideas. Thanks for using PetCoach.

Thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach! This is not uncommon as they are learning to use the litter box. This usually improves with time alone. I would recommend you discourage this behavior as much as possible but other than that it should improve. Good luck and have a great day! I hope you find this information helpful!