Should I keep my cat from playing in her litter box?

Question

I have a stray (cat) I took in a few days ago; a ~2 month old female with a clean bill of health and no unusual behavior.

She immediately used the litter box correctly and has not had any accidents (yet), but I am trying to reinforce her litter habits anyways. I've been giving her a lot of praise when she's in the box, and sometimes a treat when she's done.

But now sometimes when I'm near the litter box, she'll jump in it and roll around or hang out.

So I have two little questions, actually:

1. Do I even need to be doing this? She already seems to have the box down pretty well.
2. If so, what action should I take when she goes in the box but then seems to be in there for non-bathroom reasons? Should I just do nothing in general then wait until she's finished before praising? Or does it not matter at all (should I even care about this)? I don't really want to take her out of the box, especially if she's actually going to end up using it.

I want to make sure she's well-trained so I can begin the process of letting her out of the room unattended, but I also don't want to encourage her to play in the litter box and make a mess.

It's been a while since I had a kitten. My other cat is very well-behaved, but I can't remember how he was trained; it was about 14 years ago.

Answer 1

A stressed cat will sometimes cower it its litter box, as the remaining smell of her body from earlier uses will make her feel safe. This doesn't seem to be what is going on here.

Kittens will sometimes dig for 'practice' when young or because they like the feel of digging. This may be what you have, in which case you can just ignore it. If you want her out, bringing out a toy elsewhere might distract the kitten.

You might have even reinforced this, as the kitten now is intentionally heading for the box to cadge a treat from you only when you are around! If this is what is going on, you could find some other way for the mite to get you to give her a treat.