Blind kitten refuses to poop in litter box

by Leeza
(New jersey)

We're currently fostering a blind 2.5 month old kitten. We've had him since he was less than a month old.

We had initially kept him in a small little dog tent with his litter box and we'd give him food and water periodically throughout the day.

He was able to use his litter box but only to go wee in. Whenever he did make it to go poo he'd only get a little bit of it in the box and the rest all over the floor of the tent.

As he got older, we'd let him roam around the room we kept him in more and more. This created a problem. Whenever he had the urge to go, instead of looking for his litter box in the tent, he'd just start screaming and then mess himself.

We thought that maybe he needed to learn to find his litter box, so we got him a much bigger play pen which would force him to walk and actually search for his box on his own.

This didn't work. He still only wees in the litter pan, so we know that the problem isn't that he can't find the box. He knows where it is, and can go to it, he just doesn't want to go poo in it.

TL;DR: Blind kitten will pee in litter box, but will not poop in it.

He's not totally blind. He sees shadows and a little bit of light. We think he went blind due to a head trauma.

My thoughts: I'm sorry to hear your kitten is having troubles, and thank you for fostering! I have no experience with blind cats, but my first thought has nothing to do with his being blind.

If he's finding the litter box to pee in, then perhaps he just doesn't like to poop in the same box where he pees. While I don't believe I've heard of a kitten this young (2.5 months) with that preference, I wouldn't rule it out.

Another possible thought is he may have more control over his bladder than his bowels. This may be due to his being young, or if he suffered head trauma, perhaps it's related to that.

I would try adding another litter box that he can use and see if he takes advantage of it.

I hope that helps and please keep us updated.
-Kurt