5 Secrets For Litter Box Success

Cats make wonderful pets, they’re soft, cuddly and affectionate without being overbearing and they don’t require too much maintenance. In fact they’re almost perfect except for one thing - the litter box. While most cats will use the litter box with little or no training it can be a smelly and messy area in the home but it doesn’t have to be that way. Here are five tips that will help keep your cat’s litter box smelling and looking great.

1. Make sure you have enough of them. Cats like to have a clean litter box and some of them can be a little quirky about the way they use it so you should have at least one litter box per cat. Now this doesn’t mean that each cat will have its own litter box they’ll probably use all the litter boxes some may like to only urinate in one and defecate in another while others won’t like to use litter boxes that other cats have used - you really won’t know until you watch your cats and see how they behave and then you can decide what works best for them. It’s also not a bad idea to have an extra litter box if you have the room. If your house is more than one floor you’ll want to consider having at least one litter box on each floor.

2. Keep it clean. The biggest reason that cats will use the litter box is that it’s full. You wouldn’t want to dig around in a bunch of clumped up pee and poop would you? Well, neither does your cat so you should be sure to keep his litter box clean. Be sure to scoop it at least once a day and totally change it out and wash it every week. This will cut down on the litter box smell as it is actually the bacteria that’s causing the smell and, remember, even if you can’t smell it your cat probably can, so keeping it clean is important if you want to keep your cat using the box.

3. Use a litter your cat likes. If your cat refuses to use the litter box, it might simply be the litter. Try using different types to find out what the cat seems to like best. unscented litter is your best bet and kittens under four months should use a non-clumping letter only. I personally like a clumping litter that is made out of wheat which is called "Swheat Scoop" and is all-natural and biodegradable and doesn’t have all that dust that clay litters have - and my cat likes it too!

4. Make it private. Just like you, your cat wants to feel relaxed and comfortable when he’s using his litter box so you want to put it in a place away from noisy areas that has a little bit of privacy. Make sure it’s not anywhere where something might happen that could frighten the cat away. Also, do not put the litter box near their food and water dishes.

5. Proper introduction. Young kittens already have the instinct to use something that can be raked as their litter, but they might find that your plants or other things in your house are just as convenient as a litter box. Until your kitten gets used using a litter box and only the litter box, you might want to limit where they can go so that the litter box is the only appealing place for him to do his business. If you bring a new cat into your house, confine him to a small area that has his food, water, bedding and litterbox. Once he has used the litter box several times and you feel comfortable it’s the only place he wants to go in, you can widen his range and slowly move the litter box to where you eventually want it placed. Once you find a spot for the litter box keep it there always.

Having a litter box is a necessity if you have a cat, but keeping the area clean and introducing your cat to the box properly can make this part of cat ownership a breeze.

Author: Lee Dobbins

Lee Dobbins writes about cat litter at Topicgiant.com where you can learn more about cats and cat litter problems.

How Often Do You Clean The Litterbox?
I do my best to scoop the litter box daily but i’m not as good with changing the litter. I typically wait until the litter box smells like a litter box and then kitty gets fresh litter.

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Is the Litter Robot LRII automatic self cleaning litter box a good deal and does it really help control litter box odor?

Omega Paw Litter Box Review
With three cats in my armory of cat boxes that do work better for me. 

CatGenie Self Washing Litter Box Review
The CatGenie is a very unique self-cleaning and self-washing litter box. Almost more like a kitty potty, the unit uses permanent granules instead of litter and cleans and flushes away cat waste

Top Self Cleaning Litter Boxes Compared
Self cleaning litter boxes can be a major asset to busy pet owners. These nifty gadgets live to clean cat poop, so you dont have to! No longer will you have to feel like a slave to the litter box and yet the box will saty fresh and … up to 40% with the Litter-Robot vs. traditional boxes; Low maintence and reliable; Uses a variety of ordinary litters. Cons:. Unit is costlier than many others. Is the Litter Robot worth it? 

Litter Training Kittens Step by Step

Let me guess, your kitten is not using the litter box and it’s driving you crazy. If so continue to read and you will learn some real helpful tips.

Litter training kittens is not because the kitten does not like you, it’s because you are not kitten educated and it really makes you and your cat frustrated. Litter training kittens can become a little frustrating but don’t worry here are some tips to keep in mind:

1. First and foremost you need to understand that a kitten learns how to use the litter when its mother teaches it how to do so. So now the mother kitten is not around, so that leaves you to teach your kitten how to train your kitten

2. Never place your litter box in the bathroom unless you have nowhere else to place it. Also do not place your kittens litter box in any busy place at your home, it does nothing but makes your cat feel uncomfortable.

3. Use great litter! If this is not new to you then you have nothing to worry about it, for those who use really dusty cheap litter, stop it now. It does nothing but hurts your cats lungs and the texture does not feel great your kitten.

4. Do not use scented litter! Yeah I know it smells good to you but you are not the one that has to use that area to go potty. Scented litter turns your kitten away from it because they want to smell themselves in there litter. It complicates the whole going to potty for the cat.

5. Empty the litter box completely once a month at least. This by itself will make litter training kittens much easier. Just dump the litter in a handy trash bag. Do not use any type of strong home cleaners to clean your kittens litter box.

6. Use a cat spray! Most cat owners don’t really know that there are sprays on the market that help you attract your cat to there litter box, check your local pet store and see which one will be best for you.

Author: Jovan Johnson

7. Get cat training book! Here’s a great Cat training book that I strongly recommend. It will teach how train your cat to use the litter box guaranteed! Its a really great book check it out. And not only will you learn litter training but you will learn how to solve any cat training problem in a couple days! 

Clay Cat Litter

As you can see, you are spoiled for choice when litter training a kitten. You can use clay cat litter, clumping cat litter, crystal cat litter or even biodegradable cat litter. For kittens, clay is probably the best and safest choice.

Litter Training Cat

Litter Training Cat discussion. By training your kitten to do something as small as using the litter box, you can make sure that you and your pet have a long and happy relationship.

Kitten Toilet Training

Kitty litter training is just something you have to do, so choosing the best cat litter pans and a safe cat litter are vital.

Litter Training A Kitten

Originally, people used sand when litter training a kitten. Sand is easily available, helps to absorb the cat urine and makes handling cat poop much easier. It is still used by some cat owners.

4 Steps For Effective Cat Litter Training

By training your kitten to do something as small as using the litter box, you can make sure that you and your pet have a long and happy relationship.

How I Trained My Cat, Oscar, To Use The Toilet

The first thing was to get a Cat Training Kit that has been around forever and that has a proven track record. I chose Kitty Whiz because my parents used it for our cat when I was growing up and my son recently used it for his cat with great success.

My cat, Oscar, isn’t the brightest of cats, so I didn’t want to fool around with one of those Johnny-come-lately imitations. Plus, they are all so over-priced! One is about $90.

Anyway, my experience in training Oscar paralleled instructions in the kit. Oscar always needed more love with everything because he’s a little slow. I figure that if Oscar can get it, any normal cat can.

The Kitty Whiz package included a bag of herbs, a plastic form, a clever cartoon style instruction booklet and a diploma for when Oscar graduated. The diploma was a nice touch and it gave me a confidence boost.

There were standard warnings. And Oscar was to have been litter trained already. Warnings could be summed up as good sense. My personal advice here is to schedule a little me-time to do this thing right. You can’t be jet-setting around the world or working 168 hours a week on a corporate merger.

The process was to take about 2 weeks. I lost track of time, but it was about that for Oscar to get into the groove.

There was a recommendation to use a padded toilet seat cover for off-balance cats and Oscar qualified because he is pretty clumsy. The poor thing stumbles over his own shadow.

Kitty Whiz divided their training into stages. Everything I personally did was covered in the instructions. I do have additional recommendations, which you will read.

STAGE 1

I took Oscar into the spare bathroom where nobody would bother him. Remember to start this training in the evening because your cat will need to stay in the restroom overnight so they will do their first poops and pees.

While Oscar was meowing around, I put the form together. It was simple so don’t be alarmed.

I chose to train Oscar with the toilet seat down because I thought it was safer and it is usually down anyway. The padded lid stayed up. I figured that the more routine things were, the better.

I then took the old litter box out to the shed so Oscar couldn’t find it and he would be focused on his new toilet facility. Good riddance to that smelly thing. Now my husband will hope for Oscar’s success so he can get rid of the litter box in his tool shed.

Per instructions, I filled the bowl part of the form with regular litter so it looked similar to Oscar’s regular litter box. This made for a smoother transition. A slow smooth transition is the key in my opinion.

Since Oscar had been known to poop and pee in everything resembling nature, I covered my houseplant soil with aluminum foil where possible and rocks where possible.

In the restroom where Oscar was training, I put his bowls with his favorite food and fresh water. Any place with food is a good place to Oscar.

I opened the herb package and took a whiff. It did nothing for me and I felt no sudden urge to use Kitty Whiz myself, but Oscar responded. He followed the package as I led him up onto the toilet seat.

I sprinkled a little on the litter and Oscar sniffed around. This was to help Oscar take note of where his new kitty litter box was now located.

It was a little heartbreaking, but I closed Oscar in his restroom for the night. He needed to poop in peace, and he doesn’t like for anyone to interrupt his work. Instructions mentioned that cats are that way.

In the morning I checked on Oscar and he was perfectly content and maybe a little too proud. The litter was saturated with pee and there was a healthy mound of poop.

There are instructions for cat owners who may not be as successful at this stage as I was with Oscar. But, neither my parents nor my children had any problems.

I read over the steps to take if one is unsuccessful. They boil down to doing things over, keeping things real clean and encouraging one’s cat with love and finesse. Oscar may not have been blessed with smarts, but he was blessed with a loving family. I’m sure your cat also has a loving home environment.

STAGE 2

I was glad to move on to the next stage because Oscar was leaving me with mounds of love each day. I was anxious to flush instead of clean up litter. I think Oscar was laughing at me during this stage. He always had a slightly twisted sense of humor.

After four days, Oscar was accustomed to using his new litter box on top of the toilet. So, I saw the principle involved here. I gradually removed parts of the plastic form until nothing was left. After about two weeks, Oscar was going into the restroom all by himself and using the toilet like a regular human.

This is my own personal touch to the toilet system. I secured the toilet seat lid so it was always in the up position. Otherwise, someone might leave it down. I also had the door fixed so it was always open enough for Oscar to walk through. I did these two things to make sure Oscar was never prevented from doing his work.

Nowadays, it is quite humorous to see Oscar get up from his favorite TV program and wander off to use the restroom. My only responsibility lately is to flush the toilet. Maybe Kitty Whiz will someday invent a way to train Oscar to flush the toilet.

I think Oscar was proud to officially join the human race as a toilet user. He always knew he was human, but it was good to have official recognition in the form of a degree. We gave him a graduation party and presented him with his Kitty Whiz Degree. He wore a blue winner ribbon and we framed his degree and photo together and hung them in his office, right above the toilet.

Here is my personal testimony about Kitty Whiz as opposed to other cat trainers:

I remember Kitty Whiz from the 1970s. It was around a long time before other cat toilet training systems. It is proven and trusted in my family. And I know other families that used it with success and I recommend it to first-timers. I’ve seen many imitations on the market lately and they are usually way over priced. I saw one for about $90 dollars. All I can say is, Get real!

I trained Oscar for less than $20 and got quick delivery from an online pet store named Bluejayz Pet Supplies.

By: Brandy Connery

www.bluejayz.com Questions and comments? brandyconnery@hotmail.com

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