My family is fostering a 5-week-old kitten this week, and the adorable little thing got me thinking about the two uses for the word "litter" as it relates to the feline set. First, it refers to the set of kittens that the momma cat births: "Rum-Tum-Tugger was part of a litter of five kittens". Also, it is used to refer to the sandy/clayey material in which those kittens (even at the age of five weeks!) deposit their leavings (usually used in the compund form "kitty litter" or "cat litter").

Are those two terms used worldwide? And are they etymologically related?

I'll just sit here tending to my gnawed ankles until you respond...