Establishing litter box training can be literally hit and miss, but ensuring your kitten is fully toilet trained whilst still young will save stress and mess in the future.
Read on for our practice advice on how to train your kitten and maintain good habits. If you have any questions relating to litter box training or any other pet care queries, feel free to contact us for more advice.
Mimic a natural habitat
Owners sometimes choose a litter tray that is aesthetically pleasing and fits the style of their home. However, a cat wants a litter box that mimics their natural environment.
In the wild, kittens learn to cover up their urine and faeces to avoid attracting predators. This is why soft, sandy and minimally scented litter is best. Some kittens will feel confined in a covered tray while others appreciate the privacy so early on its a good idea to have a couple of different trays available so you can see which best suits your kitten. The location is also important, most cats prefer to toilet somewhere that is tucked away so try and put the tray in a quieter corner. Cats generally don’t like to eat where they go to the toilet so try and locate trays away from feeding and resting places.
Keep it clean!
Cats can be very fussy about the cleanliness of their tray, and if it’s not kept clean they may decide to toilet elsewhere in the house. Soiled litter from litter trays should be cleaned at least daily, and the whole contents changed every few days. Washing the tray out with hot water will prevent it getting smelly, but avoid using strongly scented disinfectants as cats are very sensitive to smell this may deter them from going back to the tray.
Multiple cat household
If you own more than one cat, the general advice is one tray per cat and one extra. So, if you own two cats, you need three litter boxes. If you own three cats, you need four litter boxes.
We recommend that you space these out in easily accessible areas.
Enforcing good habits
As soon as your new kitten arrives, show them where their litter tray is.
You need to place your kitten in their litter box after they have eaten, played and slept. Eventually they will learn to associate this time with going to the toilet and will take themselves to the litter box after each event.
Remember, litter training your kitten will not happen overnight. But persistence and patience are key to ensuring good, lifelong habits. If they do go to the toilet in the wrong place it could be because they don’t like the type of tray, or the location of the tray, the type of litter or possibly the tray is not clean enough.
Thanks for reading our article on house-training your kitten, we hope you found the advice helpful.
If you are having problems do give us a call on (01223) 359021 or message us on PetsApp and we can help you trouble-shoot.