Litter Box Training
It is not too hard to train a cat using a litter box if you have some patience and good will. The first thing you need to take care of is a propper "cat toilet". There are 2 alternatives: A regular plastic litter box or a self cleaning one. It box must be placed in a quiet area of your home, cats need their privacy just like us humans. Any noise wheter it be from humans or household items will scare the cat and can cause an abnormal behavior.
Train your cat using the litter box
A good way to train you cat using the cat toilet is to give her a little treat or praise her when using the litter box. But before that can happen you need to make sure that your cat finds the location of her toilet. If there are signs that your cat needs to use her place then guide her the way to it or simply pick the kitten up and place her in the litter box. You can also do kind of a basic training throughout the day. Simply play using the litter box with your cat even if she does not need to urinate. For this you can scratch the litter in the box so your cat gets interested and jumps into the litter box. Then praise the cat and give her a little treat. This way the cat starts to like her place and will more likely use it.
Never punish your cat for urinating outside the box
It will happen that your kitten urinates where it shouldn't do it, don't punish it for doing so because that would make things worse. Also your kitten might start to dislike or fear you. Simply get a cat urine cleaner and remove the mess.
There are several things you need to take care of for propper training:
- always provide a clean litter box where kitten likes to go
- have the cat toilet at a quiet place
- when training praise the cat and give treats for successfully using the litter box
- never punish your cat physically and don't yell at her, it won't do any good
- clean the cat toilet on a regular basis, best is daily
- use water to clean it
- fill up the litter box with enough litter
Sometimes it happens that a cat just not uses the litter box. In this case you should try to change the kind of litter first. If that does not work then choose a different location for the cat toilet. If nothing helps take the kitten to a veterinarian. Always have patience when training your cat for using the litter box. It takes some time since it is a learning process.
added 03.24.2007
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