The Proper way to House Train Your Cat

Owning a cat is fun of course! However when it comes to the cute kitty’s potty needs, some training is necessary if you don’t want "surprises" all over the place. The article below shows practical ways to show your cat or kitten the way to the litter box.

Many people think that owning a cat is so much fun, you get to have an animal that loves you so much and you won’t even have to get yourself dirty when it comes to the cute kitty’s potty needs….boy, oh boy, are you in for a surprise?!

The phrase, "house cats train themselves" is not true. It is true that it is in their instincts to go to the bathroom in a spot that is sandy or soft so that they can cover their mess; that soft place might be your living room rug or the laundry basket just as much as it could be their litter box…in their eyes that is; it might take a lot of training and a lot of patience to get your furry little friend to go where he is supposed to…meaning the litter box.

First, get a litter box that is big enough for the cat, or kitten; something that he will be able to get into and out of easily. It needs to be big enough so that he can move around and get comfortable without getting lost in the process.
Put a couple of inches of cat litter in the box.

Note: do not use wood shavings, the little blue crystals (even if they are pretty), and try to avoid the all natural stuff because they makes the cleaning up a lot more difficult then it should be…although most people do not recommend this, get the litter that clumps real well ( this is usually the cheaper stuff). Now before you write me off as a freak just listen…put a couple of inches of litter into the litter box and get a little bag of lava rocks (you can find them at Wal-Mart), set the bag next to the litter box and you will have no problems with smell. Of course other people have different ways of dealing with the smell, this is what I use, and it works.

Now that you have the litter box all ready, it is time to place it somewhere that the cat will like and that means a place that is quiet and out of the way of everyday traffic ( I use a extra little bathroom that nobody uses); do not place the litter box around any bags of dry cat food that you might have because a cat is not going to go to the bathroom in the same place that his food is kept…cats are clean animals and they will not dirty their food or their bed.

The problem that you have to face now is the one of getting your cat to start using the litter box; that can be tricky especially if you are dealing with a small kitten that has just been taken away from his mother.

Kittens are sometimes taken away from their mommas too soon, which means that they do not have a role model to follow and they do not have anybody to show them what to do and how to do it; because of this, they need you to be there for them and to have a lot of patience with them because it is usually the little ones that have the most problems in learning to use the litter box…they can go for more then a month sometimes without using the litter box, it just takes that long.

Tip: Try using vinegar and some nice smelling oil to get the stain and the smell out of the carpet in places that your little friend has had accidents.

After you have gotten your cat to use the litter box regularly…if you want, you can even get him to start using the toilet, something that will save you a lot of money and effort. Just move the litter box a couple inches at a time (maybe every other week or so) until you have the litter box up on top of the toilet (seat down) let the cat get used to it, then there is a special box that you can hook on to the inside of the toilet, when your cat has gotten used to that and is using it without any problems then just remove the litter box.

If your cat starts having accidents then you know that you have moved too fast… and you will need to start from the beginning…

By Claudia Miclaus

 

 
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