Thread: Kitten peeing outside litter.

hi there - congratulations on the addition to your family :-) I am sorry, you may find that this little tike might be a bit more work than you bargained for, at least at first. You probably thought you were getting a nice fluffy cuddle monster to curl up with in the evening after a hard day's work, but indeed as per above, I'm afraid you might have got him rather early and his education is not complete. If you are not careful it might become rather unpleasant.

First just a note for guidance on the food - I can give you an approximate measure of how much mine ate - when she was little, as an indication, she ate about 7 pouches (100g each) per day + water-a-gogo. I did not give her any dry kibble (lots of posts on the reason why on this forum, but bottom line: It's a personal choice I think it's not good for her kidneys) - if you give him enough then I don't think the times should be really an issue - I only fed her kitten food in JELLY - gravy is too rich for little tummies and you run the risk of having some very liquid poo on top of the wee on your blanket. From 12 months, I switched her to normal cat food progressively, added some dry kibble - she now only eats 3 pouches and finishes up with the dry kibble - oh and always have water available of course.
I think he's just a little young - it did happen a couple of times with mine too when she was little - it's OK. if he peed at 19:30 and was fed again at 20:30 it is certainly not related - it's far enough apart...

another note, from experience I think you might possibly run into the same problem as I did - seeing as you got your little Teemo a bit (lot) young, hopefully you might have been told: I did get mine very young too, her dam got an infection at birth and could not raise her, so she was raised by hand anyway, so as soon as she was on solid food we were able to bring her home on the promise that we would complete her vaccination and spay her.
Well, with a little one separated that young from his mother, there is always the danger than he might not socialize properly, if raised by humans. Mine for example is... troublesome.
My sister had the same issue, she got her cat very young (found her in a bin!!!), she was at work for long hours, then partied a lot, the cat grew extremely antisocial and fearful of everyone (except her and her husband).
Possibly because I was at home and was able to correct some bad behavior with mine, mine is less antisocial than hers, but it has been a journey - believe me, you do NOT want an antisocial maine coon at home! They are BIG! My MC's behaviour took 2 painful years to be corrected...
This being said, my other sister's cat was also young when she got her (just a bad breeder) and grew up to be the softest mellowest kitteh in the world, even gets on with her 2 and 4 years old children without a hiss. So you might be that lucky with Teemo too.... And also, my Neevie's 2 brothers are reportedly good as gold.... so it's not a rule that "a kitten separated from his mother too young will become antisocial" but more a possibility
An additional cat would help socialize Teemo. It can be a grown cat, or a kitten, it doesn't matter. Just get it early.

Hoping to help, here is another note, this one might be unpleasant, and I hope you do not take it the wrong way: one thing you NEVER do with cats - you NEVER punish them. Doesn't work. You reward them CONSISTENTLY (the key is consistently) for good behaviour, you do not punish them. They are not dogs, they just don't get it the same way dogs do, all you might do is actually hurt them, perhaps irreparably. Teemo might come to hate the caging area and therefore the litter area, and develop weird behaviour - that's one danger indeed - but overall the reason for not doing it is that it really really doesn't work. Don't feel bad for doing it, I've done it - I don't want to scare you with my cat's antisocialness, but it started getting better when I stopped trying to punish her (I would shout at her ... and just lock her in time out, slamming the door behind her - ahemmm ).

So - my final (set of) advise:
really really if you can't be at home with him, see if you can get Teemo a companion to grow up with - it does help a lot - MCs are social and sensitive animals.... I really regret not doing that with Neevie...
alternatively, see if you can bring him back to the breeder to complete his education for a few weeks? untill 12 or 13 weeks when you take him back again? (I don't know, others might chip in, here, tell me if that would be an idea?)
have a LOT of cuddles with him when you're home - talk to him (I know it feels daft, but Neevie started getting better when I did that) -
and play with him always, but especially when he's been good - it's a nice reward for a kitten.
Don't punish him, just say NO (don't go all "WAAAAAAAA NOOOOOOOOO!" like I did at first - actually turns out mine seems to think it's encouragement - just a firm no should do) he will get it eventually.
He's only little, give him time.
Work on the carrot rather than the stick - don't let frustration get to you when he slips up - oh and by the way cats are fragile, (sorry if it seems obvious, it is not obvious for everyone) don't hit him (not even on the nose with a newspaper - doesn't work, once again he's not a dog, does more potentially irreparable harm than good)

POST PICTURES OF YOUR TEEMO PLEASE!! :-) I'm dying to see him! Which part of the world are you in? (roughly)
PS: (edit) I hope I didn't scare you with my alarmism - antisocial MCs are rare, really - I happen to have one and am talking more from my negative experience... In the unlikely event that Teemo turns out to be "a difficult teen" you know where to find me - in the meantime, what the others said ;-)