u/boiled_whiskey

Her name is Ahi and she's 5 weeks old now. She seems to be doing good. Full of energy, eating 5 times a day, peeing a couple and pooping once a day.

However she doesn't poop in the litter box. I am using an aluminum baking pan for the litter box with pine pellet litter. She will pee in it herself SOMETIMES. Other times she pees right next to it on the pee pad I put in front of the litter box. She has never pooped in the box herself, I had to put her in the box when she was going to start pooping. I have tried different boxes and moving locations to different corners of her enclosure and it's the same.

How do I fix this? Is there anything else I can do other than physically putting her in the box after every meal and when I see her go into the pee position? Or will she just figure it out? I also have a bag of pretty litter. Should I mix them or try switching entirely?

Honestly cleaning my entire room every night is getting a bit annoying but it's ok because I know she'll get it eventually. Just trying to speed up the process if I can help.

I found a little baby last week. She was in a pipe that went straight down for like 4ft. I tied a frozen piece of salmon to a string to get her out lol. She's been dewormed and is just getting used to the litter box.

I also don't have the best experience raising a kitten so I've been non stop researching. Could anyone give me some tips and recommendations? I want to give her the best life possible and also desensitize her to everything.

Edit: She's 5 weeks now and the vet said she was healthy and found nothing wrong with her during her first exam.

Edit again: Im feeding her 1/4 Wholehearted Grain Free wet pate can mixed with kmr every meal. She eats 1 can a day. I wanted to feed her Hills Science wet food but petco didnt have the kitten ones so I had to get wholehearted.

For the litter Im using pine pellet litter. If anyone knows if there are any issues with the food brand or litter Im using please lmk