One of the most important things to do with your new cat or kitten is to train it to use the litter box. In the wild, one of a cat’s more useful behaviors is to scratch a hole in some kind of soft medium to go to the toilet. This behavior is still strong in domesticated cats, which makes it easier to train them.
When cats have access to a yard – especially one with a garden, they will often prefer to go outside. But if your cat is confined to the house or apartment, it is necessary to provide him with a litter tray or box to prevent puddles and other nasty things happening to your floor.
The litter tray should be wide and shallow, but with vertical sides. This will help to retain the medium when the cat is scratching and digging. It should be in a place where human traffic is at a minimum. The laundry is often the place chosen for the litter tray, although many people also use the restroom if it is large enough. Sand could be used in the tray, but commercial cat-litter is best due to its high absorbency. And cats seem to love using it.
If you have a new kitten, it is not too early to start training him to use the litter box immediately. As soon as he has finished drinking his milk, take him to the litter tray and set him down gently on the litter. It’s a good idea to feed him close to the litter tray at first, so he will know where it is. If you feed your new kitten in the kitchen and then carry him into the laundry to the litter tray, you cannot expect him to know his way into the laundry the next time round.
So feed the kitten next to the litter tray until the habit of using it is well established. After this, it will be possible to change the feeding place if desired. If the kitten does a puddle anywhere else but in the litter tray, be sure to clean it up with strong smelling disinfectant to completely remove the odor, otherwise your kitten will simply follow his nose next time he wants to go.
Once you have placed the kitten onto the litter tray a few times, he will soon get the idea of what he is supposed to do. Cats and kittens are very easy to train to use a litter tray. Placing an attractive cover over the litter tray is a good idea, but make sure he knows how to use the tray without the cover first. Then you can cover it up and show him the way in.
Entries (RSS)
hi! thanks for this article! we ended up loving crystal based cat litter once we started using our automatic litter box. we hadnt heard about it until then, and i would highly reccomend it to others. the crystal litter absorbs urine and our litter box automatically self-cleaned and rakes the poop away so we are very happy litter box (and cat!) owners. We invested in a scoopfree litter box (scoopfree.com) and have been very pleased with it as a whole. Again, thanks for the article!
Thanks Jess! I appreciate the information and I am sure it will be a big help to many cat lovers. In fact I will pass that info on to my daughter.
By educating yourself about cat care and practicing the best, scientifically tested cat care techniques to provide your cat with optimum attention, you can make sure that your cat is as happy as possible.