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Issue - My 7 month (educated guess) kitten watches me clean our her (Julian is actually Julianne) litter box when I get home from work each day. She then will hop into it, and lay down!. She doesn't roll around in it but the litter is getting on her tummy. And of course it's not perfectly clean.Of course she tracks it around then too. She also will run back and forth - hop into the litter box, jump around in it a little, dart out and through the apartment and back again several times. Is this just a kitten playing? She was a stray before I got her and I don't know how long she was out in the wild. Maybe she misses laying on soil, I don't know. She generally has very good litter box habits and just started this. Any ideas anyone?

This does sound like play behavior. I know that very young kittens are notorious for playing in the litter box, but your kitten is a bit older.

I am not sure what to say that can help you. Perhaps someone else will have some ideas!
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Smile, it will make them wonder what you are up to!

>>Issue - My 7 month (educated guess) kitten watches me clean our her (Julian is actually Julianne) litter box when I get home from work each day. She then will hop into it, and lay down!. She doesn't roll around in it but the litter is getting on her tummy. And of course it's not perfectly clean.Of course she tracks it around then too. She also will run back and forth - hop into the litter box, jump around in it a little, dart out and through the apartment and back again several times. Is this just a kitten playing? She was a stray before I got her and I don't know how long she was out in the wild. Maybe she misses laying on soil, I don't know. She generally has very good litter box habits and just started this. Any ideas anyone?

Sounds like she's playing in it to me. After you clean it, she likens it to a sandbox and is just entertaining herself. She probably gets pretty bored, alone in the house all day while you're at work, and finds things to occupy her time. Another kitten as a playmate would be a good solution. Or you could try changing her litter to something that she doesn't like to play in such as Feline Pine which is pellets. One of my cats liked to play in Litter Pearls when she was a kitten but when I changed to Feline Pine, the fun was over. Good luck.

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Ruby and the Kitties
Simba, Samantha, Katrina & KatyKatt
Meow!! Meow!! Meow!! Meow!!

How wonderful to do nothing and then rest afterwards. Meow!

My kitten would lay down in the litter box and just sit there when we first brought her home. The woman that we got her from said she would do it all the time! Its been about a month now and she hasn't spent much time doing that anymore, so maybe its just a kitten thing and she/he will grow out of it!

Kate, Haz, and Turbo

I dunno...my 3-year-old still gets the urge to play in the litter box now and then...and it's always after I clean it too...