Picking up from my last comments concerning Socks the Cat and her two kittens, Smokey and Bandit, the day before yesterday I discovered the first kitty mess in the kitchen. Being as she was in the immediate area at the time, I suspect that it was Bandit who left the little, yellow puddle for me to clean up. Thankfully, her accident occurred on a piece of plastic which I use to cover the wooden palettes on our kitchen floor, so it was easy to soak up with a few paper towels.
In case you are wondering why one would have palettes on their kitchen floor, it's really quite simple. We live in an area of the world which is prone to being hit by typhoons, although we haven't had one since 2002, thank the Lord. When typhoons do strike us, it is very common for homes to be flooded by the horizontal rains which blow in wherever there is a crack, such as under the doors. As a result, we keep all of our extra food supplies elevated on wooden palettes, such as you would find in a warehouse.
But, to continue; upon realizing that the kittens are now capable of urinating -- and, I assume, defecating -- on their own without mother Socks' assistance, I determined to place them in their litter box frequently throughout the day, which I have been doing now for the past three days. Whenever I place them in it, I dig a hole with my finger so they understand what they are supposed to do. Socks just sits by watching the entire lesson.
Speaking of Socks, I knew that we were dealing with a tricky situation, and that she might become confused by having a second litter box in the kitchen. Sure enough, thus far she has made two attempts to use the kittens' litter box, which has resulted in a litter mess on the floor, being as the basin I am using for the kittens is considerably lower in height than her own litter box. In both instances, I simply told her "no", and then carried her to the correct litter box so that she would get the point. So far, she hasn't tried again to use the kittens' litter box.
As the title of this blog entry denotes, once again little Smokey surprised me by taking the lead. Yesterday he was the first one to actually urinate in the box. While he has already grasped the concept of digging in the litter, he doesn't seem to realize that all proper kittens are supposed to bury their mess afterwards. No doubt that will come with a little more time. Please remember that Smokey and Bandit are not even a full four weeks old quite yet.
Today, Smokey again urinated in the litter box after I placed him in it, which was, of course, encouraging. However, what I really wanted to see was if he knew how to get into the box on his own, and take care of his business. Well, a while later, he did exactly that. I have the litter box set right up against the edge of one of the palettes, so that it is easy for the kittens to step from the top of the palette -- which is about three inches above floor level -- into the litter box. The problem is getting out of the litter box after they have taken care of their business. Three sides of the box drop straight to the floor -- again, a distance of about three inches -- so they just kind of plop/tumble to the floor.
And Bandit? Oh, what a renegade and a rebel that little cutie has been!
Previously, I mentioned that Smokey has been chowing down on solid food -- meaning my chicken-tuna mix -- for several days now, and has been thoroughly enjoying it, although he is quite messy. Good manners will no doubt come as he improves his eating skills. The minute I place a plate of fresh food on the floor, Socks and Smokey both go right to it and share a meal together.
On the other hand, even though Bandit clearly sees mother Socks and Smokey eating from the plate, she still refuses to have anything to do with it. Each time that I place her near the plate, she steps backward in her rebellious little way. Even trying to entice her by placing a small bit of food on my finger, and then putting it on her mouth, does not work. She will clean her mouth with her little, pink tongue, but that is about it. For now, all she wants is mama's milk. But that is okay. I am not really worried about it, because Smokey is actually a bit ahead of schedule according to the information that I have read online.
Concerning her litter box training, there again, Bandit has made it clear that it is just not her thing . . . at least not yet. All of my coaxing and digging with my finger has been to no avail. She freely goes into the litter box whenever she feels like it, but she never takes care of her personal business once she is inside of it. She stays in it for a short while, and then simply leaves it again.
But, when you gotta go, you gotta go; and that is exactly what she did again this morning. Read on.
As I have mentioned before, whenever I clean Smokey's infected eye, he tends to fall asleep on my lap. I mean, this little fellow is out like a light, and is as limp as a wet noodle. So, being as I had some work to do on my computer, I gently placed him --already asleep -- in the little pouch that I made on my shirt, and took him with me. Some time later, after completing my work, I went back to the kitchen. Not far from where she urinated the other day, I found a new yellow surprise. I know that it was Bandit, because Smokey had been with me in my room during that entire time.
Knowing that Bandit would just continue urinating in that same area now that her scent was on the plastic, I removed all of the plastic from the palettes, moved the palettes, and then swept and mopped the entire area with bleach and water. It has probably been a few years since I last did that. Actually, I ended up sweeping and mopping the entire kitchen floor, and then rearranging everything on top of the palettes.
So that is where we stand right now. Little Smokey is progressing in leaps and bounds, while Bandit is being a tough nut to crack. Oh, and one other point. While Bandit has been slightly larger than Smokey until now, I suspect that due to all of the solid food that he has been eating, Smokey may possibly pass her in size real soon. I can already tell that his little body is filling out more.
Come on Bandit! Let's get with the program, sister! 
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