Does your cat or kitten defecate and urinate all over your house? Is this driving you nuts? Then you need to train them to use the litter box. First, you do know what a litter box is, right? I am not being sarcastic here, but I know of some cat owners who have no idea that these things exist. And second, you have to accept as a fact, that cats can be trained. Some cat owners allow their cats to run wild, adamantly refusing to believe that cats can be trained.
Assuming that you accept that you can train your cat not to mess up all over your home, how do you do so? To start, you need to gather some intelligence. You need to know when and where your cats like to defecate and urinate. And you need to learn how to recognize the signs when they are going to shit and pee. Luckily, cats are creatures of habit. They like to do their business in the same places, around the same times. Most cats eliminate when they wake up, after they eat or after they exercise. They usually go to some corner or behind a piece of furniture and sniff the floor there just before elimination.
Next, you need to prepare a litter box in a quiet, out of the way location. Just like you, your cat prefers to have privacy during the process of elimination. The litter box should have high sides to keep the litter in when your cat scratches in it. The litter itself should be clumpable and scoopable. You have to remember to clean the litter box everyday, and replace the litter every week. Cats are clean and fastidious creatures, so if you fail to keep their litter box clean, they will soon start doing their business elsewhere. There is one additional point regarding the litter - do not change brands. Once your cat gets used to a particular brand of kitty litter, it will refuse to use another brand. If you are forced to change to another litter, you will need to retrain your cat.
As the final step, of course, you need to train your cat to use the litter box. Every time you see your cat giving its signal, you need to carry it to the litter box. This action does two things. It breaks your cat's habit of eliminating in its old spot, and it conditions your cat to eliminate in the litter box. Immediately after it uses the litter box, you should also give it a treat or reward. This further reinforces the new habit of eliminating in the litter box. Obviously, your cat will refuse to use the litter box in the beginning. Do not scold or beat him. You do not want kitty to associate the litter box with punishment. Otherwise it will learn to deliberately avoid the litter box, which is not what you want. Just be patient and consistent and your cat will eventually learn to do its business in the right place - the litter box.
Follow these steps and your cat will stop making a mess all over your house. You will only need to clean the litter box, instead of having to track down every spot kitty makes a mess.
If you want to learn more about how to train your cat and stop its bad behavior in 13 days, click here: cat training.
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