Do Kittens Need Special Cat Litter?

Kittens will need a kitten-sized litter pan and plain clay gravel cat litter. They should not have clumping or silica litter (eg. litter pearls or crystals) until they are at least a few months old and have gotten out of the phase of playing in and with the litter.

Some kittens love to spend time in the litter box sleeping, playing with toys (or unfortunately other things...!) and can ingest litter. Clumping litter and silica litter should never be eaten, so to avoid any illness or complications it is best to go for the regular clay litter in the beginning, then slowly transition your kitten to another litter if you prefer once they are through the litter box-as-toy phase. The kitten won’t mind if you choose to stick with the clay litter, though!

This can get tricky if you have adult cats already in the household and they are using other litter. The easiest way to deal with this situation is to transition your adult cats to clay litter before the arrival of your kitten. This way you will not have to monitor the litter boxes to make sure the kitten does not get into the other litter. If everyone is on the same routine, it will make your life easier!

Once your kitten is old enough, transition everyone to your preferred litter at the same time.

If you are not sure how to transition your cats between types of litter, please read our transition help.


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