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From: ph@wucec2.UUCP (Paul Hahn)
Newsgroups: net.pets
Subject: Help!  Kitten has strange excretory habits
Message-ID: <1180@wucec2.UUCP>
Date: Mon, 11-Nov-85 22:58:15 EST
Article-I.D.: wucec2.1180
Posted: Mon Nov 11 22:58:15 1985
Date-Received: Wed, 13-Nov-85 07:16:24 EST
Reply-To: ph@wucec2.UUCP (Paul Hahn)
Organization: Washington U. in St. Louis
Lines: 35


	    Motley, our 3 1/2 month old kitten, has had problems ever
	since we got her, as far as I can tell.  (We thought we had
	one licked for a while, but it turned out she was just doing
	it where we didn't notice it.)
	    The first and lesser of her problems is this: she doesn't
	cover her shit when she takes a dump in the litterbox.  She
	makes the right scratching motions all right--next to the
	shit, on the inner side of the box, the rim of the box,
	outside the box--in short, everywhere but where necessary to
	actually cover the stuff.  The vet says there's nothing to do
	except wait and hope she figures it out when she gets older,
	and I'm beginning to believe him.
	    The other is a little more serious: I suspect she never
	urinates in the box AT ALL.  Instead she finds nice soft
	things lying around on the floor--bedclothes trailing off the
	bed, paper bags I give them to play with, my SO's nightgown,
	my sleeping bag, etc.  I have actually seen her take a dump in
	the box (not covering it, of course), climb out, go over to a
	nearby paper bag, and piss on it.  I haven't asked the vet
	about this one yet, but you'd better believe I'm going to.
	    She is left alone for about six hours five days a week
	with another kitten, about 7 months old, for company.
	Attempts to train her have so far brought zero results.
	Otherwise she seems fairly happy if unusually brainless.  Any
	helpful comments you can offer would be appreciated, and may
	save her life as I am considering strangling her (:-).

						--pH
/*
 *	    "A kitten is so flexible she is nearly double; the
 *	hindquarters are equivalent to another kitten with which the
 *	fore part plays.  She does not learn that her tail belongs to
 *	her until you tread upon it."
 */