No More Litter Box Dilemmas

Many novice cat parents have a lot of questions about how to give their feline friends the best bathroom start in their lives and one of the most asked questions is ‘How do I teach my kitten to use the litterbox?’

Many kittens arrive in their new homes having already learned how to use a litter box from their mothers, and even those who haven’t are helped along by a strong instinct to bury the evidence after doing the deed. However, if your kitten is completely clueless, discussed below are some tips and supplies that can help.

Super supplies

Here’s what you will need –

• Boxes: It is a good idea to have one extra litter box than the number of cats who will be using them, so if this is your first cat, you should start with having two litter boxes. Place them in areas that are easy to get to, while offering privacy at the same time.
• Kitty litter: You will find a lot of options, from sand to shredded pine shavings and clay litter to eco-friendly options made from pine pellets, recycled newspaper and even wheat and barley. Some kitties don’t care about what kind of litter you use, whereas others are very selective. In the beginning, it might be a bit of a trial and error kind of exercise.
• Treats and toys: When you see your pet using the litter box, reward her with a treat or a piece of dry food. You can also use toys and praise to create positive associations with eliminating in the litter box. Eventually, she will learn that using the litter box is a good thing and slowly you can wean her off the treats.

Mastering the art of litter box etiquette

There is a variety of litter available in the market, and you can never tell which one your pet will prefer. So let her choose her litter. In the beginning, buy the smallest bags of few different kinds of litter and a few different litter boxes. The cat’s evolutionary substrate, for elimination purposes, is sand. But indoor cats sometimes also prefer clay-based litter. It is really about the particle size of the litter. The ones with big particle size usually don’t appeal to most cats. Cats also don’t like synthetic scents and odour control additives.

Discover which litter your pet uses the most by placing the pans next to each other and once the decision has been made, remove the rest and you can even donate them.

Choosing the appropriate litter box is also critical. Some cats don’t like covered litter boxes. Buy one that is easy to keep scrupulously clean, because if odors linger, your feline friend is less likely to use it. Cats are fastidious animals and like their bathrooms clean. Your cat should also be comfortable getting in and out of the box, so the sides of the litter box shouldn’t be too high, but not so low that she can kick the litter out of the pan. The pan should also be big enough so that she can turn around comfortably in it as an adult. If the litter box gets scratched on the sides or on the bottom, which it is likely to get, as cats scratch the litter box after eliminating, you should plan to replace the litter box at regular intervals, because the scratches trap odors.

From mess to success – the ‘purr’fect protocol

Finding the best location for the litter box is the next conundrum. It shouldn’t be in a part of the house where there is heavy footfall, neither should it be next to appliance that makes a lot of noise. Choose a warm location, but not a basement or garage, which is difficult to access on a regular basis. And make sure that the litter box isn’t close to your pet’s food and water bowls. They don’t like to eliminate close to where they eat.

Keep it clean. Wash the litter box with hot water at least once a week. If you use soap, use one that has no fragrance. Make sure you scoop out everything at least twice a day and scrape the sides and bottom of the box with a wet paper towel once a day followed by a clean paper towel. Then replace the litter and dry the litter box thoroughly.

Never punish your kitten for making a mistake. Rubbing her nose into the mistake is only going to make her averse to you and she is not going to make the connection between the mistake and the litter box. Yelling will only scare her. All of this will simply teach her that she should fear you and your connection would be broken. Instead, if you see her eliminating outside, gently scoop her up and put her in the litter box, and then reward her for eliminating there. If you find a mess, simply clean it up.

Litter box literacy

Sometimes, all of a sudden, your pet will stop using the litter box and change her preference to the carpet, the laundry basket, the Persian rug or the bedroom closet. That is when it becomes a problem. But it is not because she is being a brat. There is a genuine problem underlying all of this. There is a always a reason for her to stop using the litter box and once you uncover it, she will be more than happy to start using the litter box once again.

A household of multiple cats – who did it? This might be a bit tricky to figure out. You might try isolating one cat at a time, but if the cat is eliminating outside the litter box because of stress, isolation will take away that stress and you will never be able to tell.

Medical issues can also lead to litter box woes. If you have a male cat and he starts eliminating outside the litter box, spends a lot of time licking his genitals or strains when trying to go, take him to the vet immediately. This may be a sign of urinary tract infection, or worse, a blockage. It causes pain when urinating, which he then associates with the litter box, and avoids using it. Some cats will cry while urinating and go right in front of you while crying or go in the sink to let you know they are in pain. Don’t wait for it to resolve on its own. This is a life-threatening condition.

Some cats are perfectly happy with their litter boxes, wherever they are, however small, large, high, low they are and what is in them. Then there are some that are picky. For a number of reasons, known only to her, she might have decided that the litter box is not a good place to eliminate. These might be that the litter box isn’t clean enough, or the box is too big/small, high/low, has a lid/doesn’t have a lid, is too hard/soft, the litter is too big/small, the litter has a smell, it clumps, doesn’t like the litter, there is too much or too little litter etc. She might not like the location of the box – it might be out in the open, or near a noisy appliance. She might be too young or old or unwell to get into the box. She might have been ambushed by another pet when trying to get into the litter box and is now scared to use the litter box. There might be too few litter boxes. Something in her environment might have changed and she might just be marking territory all over her home to feel secure, and worst of all, she might have been punished at some point for failing to use the litter box and associates foul memories with the litter box.

Taming troublesome toileting – addressing the woes

Change the litter, move the litter box, start her litter box training again, make sure the litter box is spic and span clean and make sure there are multiple litter boxes around the house. Put a litter box in the location your pet has been eliminating. When she has consistently used this for a month, move it to a convenient location at a rate of one inch per day.

To make spots that she has been eliminating at less appealing to your pet, cover them with upside down carpet, aluminum foil, place citrus scented cotton balls over the area. You can also place water bowls on that area, as cats don’t eliminate where they eat and drink.

Clean the soiled area well. Find urine stains with a fluorescent light and once you locate a scent, clean it with an enzymatic cleaner, available at a pet store. Don’t use ammonia or scented cleaners, as this will only encourage further soiling. You might have to clean the area several times to remove the odour completely. Even treat the carpet.

All animals develop preferences for a particular surface on which they like to eliminate. These preferences can change over time, but find out what they are now. Find out the surface that your pet likes to eliminate on, whether it is carpet, tile, cement, grass, bathtubs, sinks etc. If your feline friend likes soft surfaces, try using a soft litter made of pine shavings or shredded newspaper, or even a piece of carpet with sprinkling of litter on it. Gradually replace the carpet with litter only. If she is eliminating on slick, smooth surfaces, try giving her an empty, clean box, putting a very thin layer of litter on one end of the box. Slowly increase the amount of litter if she tolerates it. If she likes the outdoors, use mud.

Think outside the box to foster a happy and healthy bond with your pet!