House-Training kittens: What Is the Best Approach?
When a kitten moves in with you, it is a big change for both you and your little four-legged friend. The tasks that now lie ahead include getting the kitten house-trained. In the following, we will explain how you can best do this.
House-training kittens – the main points at a glance
- During the acclimatisation period, kittens should be kept in just one room that also includes their litter tray.
- Having a dedicated and regularly cleaned litter tray for each animal is essential to house-training cats.
- To get kittens used to going to the litter tray, it helps to put the four-legged friends in the tray after meals and after waking up.
- Scolding and punishment for mishaps are not a good way to house-train kittens.
Cats are clean animals
In principle cats are extremely clean animals. After all, the four-legged friends invest a lot of time every day in grooming their fur and usually do not tend to soil their home with their excrement.
Kittens already learn to be house-trained from their mother cat. However, what they have learned can quickly be forgotten when the little kittens move in with their new owners. After all, moving is associated with some stress for the four-legged friends and it takes a while for them to get used to their new environment.
It is therefore your job to ensure that your kitten can settle in quickly and learns to use the litter tray in their new home. Experience has shown that with a little patience and a few simple tricks, this is not too much of a challenge.
Litter tray in plain sight
In the early stages, it helps to keep the kitten in just one room where they can find everything they need to settle in. In addition to a comfortable place to sleep and a food and water bowl, this also includes a litter tray.
This should not be right next to the sleeping place or the food. At the same time, however, it should be within sight of the four-legged friend. Otherwise, it can easily happen that the kitten can't find the litter box and their business ends up on the floor.
One litter tray for each animal
If you already have a cat in your household or if you have decided to get two kittens straight away, it is very important that each animal has its own litter tray, as cats usually don't like having to share their toilet with a fellow cat.
Which litter tray for the kitten?
As you probably know, litter trays come in all shapes and sizes. Experience has shown that the best way to house-train a kitten is to provide the four-legged friend with a model similar to that of the breeder. Irrespective of this, you should make sure that the litter tray is flat enough for the little four-legged friend to get in.
Also make sure that the cat litter you use is not excessively dusty and is as odourless as possible. Because just like the wrong litter box, the wrong litter can negatively affect the acceptance of the litter box.
Keep the litter tray clean
As already mentioned, cats are very clean. A dirty litter box is pretty much the last thing you'll be able to house-train a kitten with. Some cats only go to the litter box if it has been freshly cleaned beforehand.
Even if this is not the case with your four-legged friend, you should definitely remove the animal's excretions from the litter box several times a day and completely replace the litter on a regular basis. In this way, you not only contribute to your little cat becoming and staying house-trained. You also ensure that the odours associated with the excretions of the four-legged friend are reduced to a minimum.
House-training kittens: Practice makes perfect
In order to get the kitten house-trained as quickly as possible, you should support the four-legged friend in the beginning. It is therefore advisable to put the little kitten in the litter tray after meals and after waking up. In this way, the kitten usually learns very quickly where the right place for relieving themselves is.
Although cleanliness is very important with regard to the litter tray it can make sense to clean the litter box a little less frequently in the first few days and weeks after moving in, as the smell helps the kitten to understand the purpose of the litter tray.
Mishaps are part of learning
No matter how hard you try, mishaps cannot always be avoided. On the path to house-training, you should therefore expect that sometimes it will go wrong. In this case, you should neither scold the kitten nor punish the little four-legged friend in any way. This only creates additional confusion and makes it even more difficult for yourself to house-train the kitten.
Instead, make sure to clean up the kitten's aftermath in a timely manner so their odour doesn't take hold. If you don't do this, there is a risk that the kitten will regularly use the corresponding spot to relieve itself in the future.
House-training kittens – our conclusion
As you can see, house-training a kitten is not that complicated. With a little patience and empathy, your new companion will usually learn fairly quickly to relieve themselves exclusively in their litter tray.