[_Mistletoe_]

I adopted a new kitten this Christmas, she was born in the shelter and she is about a year and a half old now. I love her to death!
Well, she is an inside cat because, obviously, she has never been outdoors. I think someone found a mama cat and brought her to the shelter and then that cat had her babies and died of something. I don't know. But in any case, she has obviously not been taught how to use a litter box. Now I don't mean she doesn't use it. Not at all! She goes in the litter box, does her business, but when she is done, she doesn't scrape litter on the top! She scratches the sides of the litter box! So it ends up realllly stinking my room up and it's a big hassle. I don't know what to do, because she has been living inside all her life and I won't put her out now, but she has GOT to learn how to use the litter box. I'm not a mama cat I can't teach her, well, I don't know how to teach her. Any suggestions?

[Wondergirl]

Put her in a clean litter box and hold her paws to scratch the litter. She's getting a bit too old, though, to learn this.

I have a couple of rescued cats who don't cover their messes, so I do it for them with my handy-dandy scoop.

[paleophlatus]

You're on the right track. If she was born in the shelter, Mommy probably didn't have the chance to teach her kids everything she should have. Maternal teaching often takes place mostly after the kittens start to move about more. Not much chance for that in the shelter. At least instinct has partly kicked in and she uses the litter pan. Maybe with a little boost from you she will stop working on the sides of the pan and go for the litter itself?

A large influence on that smell in the pan is what she eats. Byproducts of bacterial digestion in the intestine causes most of the odor. Try another brand of food, preferably dry, and give the bacteria something else to do their thing on.

And your helping show her what to do may supply the missing instinct she needs to cover it. Best wishes.

[_Mistletoe_]

Ok thanks