Litter training your cat is mandatory training that all owners need to undertake as soon as they bring home a kitten or cat. Many cat owners recommend that you have one more litter box than you do cats and to keep litter boxes on each floor of the house. Make sure that the litter box is in an appropriate - preferably private - place. However, do not place the litter box in an area that is too hard to access or that family members may forget to leave open. Size is also very important. A litter box needs to be large enough that your adult cat can turn around in, or it will not be used. Also, if the litter box is too high for a kitten to easily climb in and out, he will not use the box. It might be necessary to start small and upgrade to a larger litter box as the kitten grows.
Most cats, especially kittens, will eliminate shortly after waking, eating, and exercising. Taking a kitten or cat to the litter box after these activities will let them know where they are to eliminate, and litter training your cat will be easier. When litter training your cat, scratch at the litter when the cat is first placed in the box. This will prompt the cat to investigate the litter, and eventually they will understand what to do. Until your cat is reliably house trained, he or she should not have free run of your home. Provide your cat with a bowl of water and a warm place to sleep at one end of a room and a freshly cleaned litter box at the other end until litter training your cat is complete. Cats will not eliminate near where they eat or sleep.
The most common reason a cat stops using a litter box is because the box is dirty. The litter is a substitute for dirt, and cats will scratch at the litter to cover its waste. Keeping the litter box clean will assist in litter training your cat. Your cat will be less likely to use his litter box if it smells of urine. The litter box must be cleaned daily, and the urine and feces removed. The entire litter box will need to be cleaned and rinsed thoroughly with water periodically. Adding a little vinegar or lemon juice to the water will help neutralize the urine odor. Do not use ammonia; this will make the litter box smell worse.
If, even after litter training your cat, he or she continually has accidents, then you should make sure that there are no medical reasons for them to be eliminating outside the box. Other reasons for a cat refusing to use a litter box include stress from something that has recently changed in the cat’s environment, not liking the kitty litter and being attracted to a previously soiled spot in the house. You should make sure that any accidents outside the litter box are cleaned right away and deodorized. Deodorizing the area will help prevent the cat from coming and eliminating in the same spot. Placing the cat’s food in the location of the repeated accidents may help to prevent future soiling of the area.
Punishment doesn't work with cats. The prevention of accidents and praise for using the litter box are the keys to litter training your cat.
