How to punish when training a kitten?

We've had the kitten 3 days and she uses her litter box. Yesterday she messed in my bed and on my couch. What should I do? Also can I feed a kitten imitation crab meat?

  • Vetinfo

    By: Erika Raines El Segundo, CA

    Replied on 04/19/2011

    Concerning the imitation crab meat, even though this product is made from fish, it is not recommended to be fed to cats. Imitation crab meat is very high in salt, sugars and phosphorous which is not ideal for a cat's diet. If you wish to feed a special treat, many pet stores sell plain dried or freeze dried fish pieces which are nutritious and a very palatable treat. With regard to the house soiling, your kitten is likely still in a period of transition owing to the short amount of time that you have had her. Depending on the size of your house, number of litterboxes, age of the kitten and presence of other cats, there may be too much space and stimulation for the number of litterboxes and maturity of the kitten. While she is young and small, it is best to confine her to a room or two of your house where the litterbox is always a relatively short distance from her. A bathroom or a small bedroom is best. If you have other cats, your kitten should be isolated from them and slowly introduced. Additionally, you should have one litterbox for every cat plus an extra one.

More Questions on Training

Please do not use our site to attempt to diagnose or treat your pet. Your veterinarian is the best source of health advice for an individual pet.

Please do use our site to become better informed about the medical problems your pet may have. We will do our best to ensure that information presented is accurate and up-to-date. The most current information will be at the top of each page. Remember that veterinarians often disagree about the best treatments for pets. There are often several perfectly acceptable ways to treat the same condition. Just ask a lot of questions!

For all emergency situations, please contact your local Emergency Pet Clinic or on-call Veterinarian. Answers are not provided in real time. We can not guarantee an answer to every question, nor can we provide timely responses to urgent questions in many instances.