LitterBox Training - Online Book/The Cat’s Meow Ch. 1

The nice thing about cats, is that they pretty much take care of themselves when needing to go to the bathroom - but we humans don’t like the stink and end up having to scoop up after them. Cats too, don’t like the stink and will let you know “Time to clean the litterbox or I’m going to pee on the floor next to it!” We don’t want that, so here are a few tips in regards to training your cat to know where to go to the bathroom and tips on maintaining a clean and healthy litterbox:

Getting your Cat/Kitten familiar with the litterbox:

I recommend adopting kittens at the age of 8 weeks. A lot of Animal Lovers will protest this age - saying 8 weeks is too young, but I disagree. At that age they can eat on their own and my personal feeling is the potential owners will have a far easier time having a close relationship and easy-to-train experience with their kitten. There also isn’t anything wrong with adopting adult cats. Cats need good homes and shouldn’t have to live their lives in cages at the pound. Adult cats are harder to train, and take a lot longer to learn what to do, and what not to do - it certainly isn’t impossible to teach them and break them of their bad habits, you just need patience and willingness to work at a pace that is comfortable for them. Nonetheless, it’s all worth saving a life and having a friend in the house.

Cats who are considered ‘Adult’ are of the age of 12 months and older. Anything younger than 12 months is still considered a ‘Kitten’. Litterbox training goes the same way no matter what the age. For this example, I will use the term ‘Kitten’ assuming that is the age that you are adopting:

When first bringing the kitten to your home, introduce your kitten gradually to the surroundings outside its “safe room”. The Safe Room is where you’ll keep the kitten for up to 2 weeks. In that room it should always have fresh water, food, toys, a scratch post/pad a bed & their litterbox. About every 30 min throughout each day or as often as you can - go and visit your kitten in its safe room. Talk to it, pet it and be very gentle and calm. Your kitten will be very fearful for the first day or two, it may yowl calling for its Mom, etc. Each time you visit the kitten, place the kitten in the litterbox and praise it while its in the litterbox and as the kitten walks out of the litterbox saying “Good Boy/Girl!, Good Boy/Girl!” Your kitty will get to the point where it really understands what you’re trying to tell him/her by purring and arching its back, possbily meowing back as if to say “ Thank you! “Repeat this process each session in the room 3 times. When I did this with Hero, the third time he actually went, even if nothing came out. He got to he point where he really wanted to impress me - even if he faked it, just to show me he understood what I wanted him to do. If they don’t show any interest in the 3 times you place them in their, assuming the litter is fresh and clean, take your hand and mimic digging in the litter. They’ll observe and hopefully mimic your actions. Cats learn the best by observation. That is how they learn how to hunt by watching their Momma Kitty. So, you may have to help them out in understanding what to do with that litter.

Each day, bring the Kitten out to observe its new world outside the Safe Room. Do this for an hour or a half an hour at a time. If you have another Cat/Dog in the house, make sure to switch them rooms. This way they can smell, but not see the other animal. You don’t want to introduce them to each other in person for at least a week. Also, use the same brush on them. They can then smell the “other guy/girl” on them and get more comfortable with the smell. This process, if you want the relationship between them to last for a lifetime, needs to be given PLENTY of time and not forced. They’ll smell the other animal and gradually get the point that this guy/girl is here to stay.

Keeping them in separate rooms is important. They’ll meet each other nose to nose through the bottom of the door and gradually start to play with each other with the protection of the door between them. I’ll go through this process more extensively in another chapter of this book.

It is also recommended that you have cats in two so when you don’t have the time to play with them or go away for any period of time, they have the comfort of a friend to play with, snuggle with, and talk to. But if this is your first kitty, it’s still advised that you give it time to get to know the entire house gradually, as well as any possible children. New smells can sometimes be overwhelming for them to get used to.

Bring your kitten out at least once a day. Keep a close eye on them because for the first week they are still learning where the litterbox is. Many Animal Lovers will say “Just show them where the litterbox is once and that’s all you’ll need to do“. I disagree. Every Cat is different and my experience with my boy Kitty Hero, it took him at least 4 days to get the point where he was supposed to go. I’d catch him scratching at a corner and turning around to squat. If that happens, you quickly pick them up and promptly put them in the litterbox. Praising them for being THERE. Cats are not like Dogs and if they have an accident you NEVER smush their face into that area. Cats are very well known for always remembering everything you do to them and they hold grudges and it’s hard to redeem yourself from scorning them like that.

If they have an accident, Natures Miracle is what you’ll need to have on hand. This product uses Herbal Remedies to take the entire smell out and remove the stain. It’s an all natural product and is very safe for both animals and children. How it works, is that it removes the smell so the Cat isn’t reminded that that is an area where ‘I can go’. It’ll treat that area as any other part of the carpet/floor. If you use any other cleaner first, you may have a tougher time getting the smell/stain out as regular cleaners embed the pee in the carpet and make the aroma more powerful. In this case, you’ll need to soak the area heavily with Natures Miracle and cover it with a cloth or piece of tinfoil. It may remain wet / or take up to a week to dry fully.

What is considered good litter?

Any natural, made of wood or wheat. The regular litter that is used underneath cars to soak up oil drainage is damaging to your cats immune system. The clumping litter (unless naturally clumping litter i.e. Swheat Scoop Natural Cat Litter. ) clumps by moister, so wouldn’t it make sense that it clumps inside your kitty as well when they lick their paws to clean themselves?

Kitty litter like Feline Pine - The Healthy Cat Litter in my opinion is one of the best kitty litters out there. This litter is really awesome. It does not clump, but nonetheless - it’s Healthy for cats which is what is really important. Feline Pine defines the word ‘’simplicity.” Liquid waste is COMPLETELY absorbed, at which time the strong ammonia odor is naturally neutralized. As the odorless pellets dry, they break down into sawdust (which can be messy, but not nearly as messy as reg. non-natural/non-healthy litter) and settle to the bottom of the litter box, leaving fresh pine pellets on top! Simply scoop and flush solids daily and your litter box will remain clean and dry! When it is finally time to clean the box, you can use Feline Pine as landscape mulch, as all Nature’s Earth products are biodegradable and recyclable!

Cats are very picky about their litter. If ever you have to change the litter, make it a gradual change and use half of the old half of the new litter mixed together for 1 - 2 weeks. During that time you’ll find whether or not your Cat likes the change. If they don’t, for instance Tiny Kitty HATED when I tried to change from Feline Pine to Swheat Scoop and she let me know by peeing on the bathroom floor right next to the Kitty Litter Box. In that case, tough luck on changing the litter. Hero is the type of kitty that knows the location of where he needs to go and will go there regardless of any change, and Tiny Kitty is very picky about her litter. You’ll get an either or cat, the only way you’ll find out is if you need to change litters. I wanted to try the natural clumping, but like I said- that didn’t work.

So, there you go. Patience is key in litterbox training and introducing your cat to its new surroundings. The more attention, the more gentle you are with your new kitty - the better the turnout. Taking your time is vital to creating lasting results.

Chapter Two - Introducing Cats…