Did you
know that you can control when a cat has to go to the bathroom and when they
don't have to go? It is called feeding time. One of the first things in
training a cat is do not feed the cat anything unless you are going to be home
for a time after they have eaten. This is a good example of feeding the cat
after you get home from work and preparing dinner for the family. By the time
you and your family have sat down and enjoyed your dinner, the cat should be
ready to go out or go to the litter box to go potty.
Making sure
the litter box is clean at all times so that the cat can have a nice smelling
comfortable place to go potty at. There are plenty of different types of litter
to get for the litter box. From plain to good smelling when they scratch at it
or dig to sand to soft pellets. There is not a particular type that will help
with the training of the cat. It is totally up to you and your cat. Some cats
do not like smells and so this would be a consideration that you might want to
find out if your cat will use the box with these types of litter. They have
scoopers out that you can purchase to help clean up the litter box when the cat
uses it so that they have a clean environment to go to when they need to.
Another thing is that you would want to have a clean environment for this for
your family too. Family member can get sick off of cat litter, clean and dirty.
You should
wash out the litter box everyday and replace the litter with 1 ½ of new litter.
Wash out the litter box with hot soapy water, rinse thoroughly with water. By
adding lemon juice or vinegar to the water will help take the smell out of the
box. Ammonia is not a good cleaning agent to use as it will increase the smell
of the litter box. If you have more than one cat a good thing is to have a
couple of litter boxes in different locations so that each one has their own.
The litter
box should not be near the place where the cat is sleeping, eating or playing
area. If you going to but the litter box in the bathroom make sure that the
door is open for the cat to be able to get in when it has to use it.
What are
some of the causes that a cat would not use a little box? They use a favorite
chair of a family member, quilt, blanket or carpet to go on. One the litter box
could be dirty, which will lead a cat to bad behaviors for potty training.
Other reasons could be too many people in the house, new pet that you have
gotten lately, especially another cat. Children home on vacation for the summer
or holidays, or maybe they sense you will be gone on a vacation or a period of
time that they will be left at home and neighbors will stop in and check on it
and feed them.
Urinary
tract problems are another reason. This is why it is important when getting a
cat or trying to train your cat to make sure they get to vet when they need to.
Infections can cause a cat to have bad behaviors. With this if you are able to
find out from a vet that your cat has an infection or is sick you will be able
to treat the cat. And they will not learn all the good behaviors that you have
taught them.
Rewarding
the cat when it has gone potty in the proper place is very important in part of
a cat training good behaviors. This is a time that you will want to search out
for a good small healthy snack for your cat. Your cat will know that this is
good, when you reward them for a job well done.
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