My
two-month-old kitten refuses to use
the litter box. However, she knows
which room to use. Her sister has no
problems and I have two litter boxes.
How can I get her litter trained? (Deb
Morning Star, Massachusetts)
Cats
are naturally a remarkably clean and
fastidious animal and will usually
learn quite quickly how to use a
litter tray. Some kittens can be put
in the litter tray and they
instinctively go back there but others
simply refuse to use the litter tray
and will always find a nice corner of
the room. The other problem here is
that once one of the kittens starts
using a corner of the room, the other
may think that they should be using it
too.
You
really need to spend a fair amount of
time with the kittens continually
picking them up after eating or
drinking and putting them in the
litter tray. You can also buy a spray
that attracts them to the litter tray.
Cat urine
does not do the carpets any good and
if you allow the cat to continually
use the corner of a room, you will
soon find that the carpet discolors
and you can never really get rid of
that awful smell.
You
could use a "pet behave
spray" which is basically a spray
that can be applied to any soft
furnishing - carpets, stairs, settees
etc and will deter the cat from going
near as they hate the smell. You will
also need to clean the litter tray
daily if you have more than one cat.
The only solution is perseverance and
a willingness to clean up a lot of cat
waste before they finally learn where
they are supposed to go! You should
never scold a young cat for fouling in
the wrong place and certainly never
rub its nose in it.
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Good
Litter Box Manners
Cats are extraordinarily fastidious creatures. Outdoors they tend to
urinate and defecate in relatively open and previously unused areas. More...
My
two-month-old kitten refuses to use
the litter box. However, she knows
which room to use. Her sister has no
problems and I have two litter boxes.
How can I get her litter trained? (Deb
Morning Star, Massachusetts)
