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8 Apr
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Posted by martin
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It’s a time consuming process and it’s not for every owner or every cat, but it can be accomplished and it does make the cat and owner feel as if they have achieved something good. Potty training your cat, meaning having you cat use the toilet instead of a litter box is one of the greatest achievements you and your cat can do. You just need to know how and a cat that is willing to please you, which most cats or kittens are.
There are special ‘toilet seats’ for cats like there are for training toddlers to go on the potty. These are metal pans that sit under the rim of the toilet seat so you can collect the waste. You can purchase these expensive devices or just allow the cat to go in the toilet by itself. Either way is effective.
You first need to start when the kitten is about eight weeks old and they must know their name when you call for them. The indoor kittens who are spoiled and pampered and showered with love are the best candidates for potty training. Once you and the kitten have completed the training and the cat goes to the toilet to do his business, you will be living in a home that does not smell like there is a cat living in it and that will be worth all the time spent training.
Once you know your kitten is ready, they know their name and can go in the litter box without accidents, then you move the litter box into the bathroom, next to the toilet, leaving it there for a few days so he gets used to the new position of the litter box. You can use anything from bricks to stacks of old newspapers as long as they are sturdy enough to hold the box and the cat. Then, after a few days, you raise the box up a couple of inches. The cat won’t mind, they like to jump.
He or she might be shy about it or intimidated with it’s highest at first, but it will quickly get over that. Then after a few days, you raise the cat box again, only a couple of inches. You do this every few days until the cat box is level with the toilet.
For the next few days, you leave the litter box at the highest of the toilet but you leave the toilet lid open, if you purchased a trainer potty insert, you would place that into the toilet with a few pieces of cat litter so the cat will recognize it. if you are training your cat yourself, you can use plastic kitchen wrap spread over the toilet, poke some holes in it and sprinkle some cat litter on top of it.
Then you wait to see if the cat will move from the box to the toilet. Some cats willingly go to the toilet, balancing on the edge and doing their business, others need more time and coaxing. If you cat or kitten is not willing you may have to put more cat litter on top of the pan or plastic wrap and take away the litter box. If this doesn’t work, you might have to go back to step one and start again. If after several tries, your cat just does not want to go potty in the toilet, you may have a cat that prefers the old fashioned way, the litter box.
About the author: Tristan Andrews is a freelance author who writes articles about Cats and Cat News.
Source: http://www.articlesbase.com
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4 Apr
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Posted by martin
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Many of us, getting a cat for the first time, assume that cat house training will somehow happen by itself, with the minimal input or effort from ourselves. Perhaps we credit the cat with more intelligence than it possesses, but many will underestimate how much time and patience is required before the cat learns to follow the basic house rules. In these early days, the new owner should refrain from smacking or slapping or even shaking the cat.
You cannot beat a cat or kitten into obedience, so that they become the perfect home cat – you will only provoke hatred and fear, which will further reduce the chances of training her properly. Here’s a great and very effective tip – always keep a spray bottle of water at hand, and if she misbehaves badly, just gently spray her.
If you gain an understanding of how and why your cat does what she does, what cat instinct she is following, then you are heading for success in your cat house training. If you expect her to do something that goes against her nature, then you better be prepared to make it worth her while. If you want to make the most rapid progress, a modest investment in a decent cat manual or guide will be richly rewarded, and you will at a stroke begin to understand “cat think” and cat care in general, and also avoid the most common mistakes.
In practical terms, this most commonly means rewarding correct behavior either with a physical treat – a favorite food, biscuit, for example – or with words of praise and congratulation. She will quickly learn to associate particular actions with positive responses, and, conversely, if these rewards are withheld, she will know that she has transgressed in some way.
Cats are known for their short attention span, so your training sessions should be fairly brief, ideally around 10 minutes. And because their attention does tend to wander, make sure your sessions are held somewhere where there are as few distractions as possible. So make it indoors, with no view of the outdoor world, and no visitors, human or animal.
The essential training exercises that concern most new cat owners are to do with urination, scratching, jumping and biting.
Most cat owners face problems with their cat not using the litter box – obviously, a new kitten has to be taught toilet training cat style, but even mature well-behaved cats can suddenly “forget” to use the litter box, and, when this occurs, the wise owner will know to look for some change in the cat’s environment that will have triggered this behavior.
The second biggest concern is with cat scratching, a behavior that is an essential part of the animal’s nature. The provision of good scratching posts in strategic places will alleviate the problem, and spare your furniture and curtains. The surgical removal of the cat’s claws was until recently seen as an easy and permanent solution to the problem, but in a more humane age this is seen as quite a barbaric act to perform on a Cat, and one that upsets the whole balance mechanism of the cat, and is really traumatic.
A cat will not expend unnecessary energy, so if she jumps there is a reason for it. Most often, she will jump onto the window sill to view the outside world – if you want her not to jump on a particular sill, block off the view for the first 15 inches, perhaps with a piece of fabric. If there is no view, she will soon go elsewhere. Jumping onto counters or worktops or tables in the kitchen should be completely discouraged from the beginning – it might simply signal that she wants feeding.
Biting is unfortunately often encouraged in a kitchen – children in particular enjoy being bitten by young kitten teeth, and will often playfully provoke it until it bites. Cats have pretty sharp teeth, so you have to let your cat know that biting will not be tolerated. If the behavior persists, you might discourage it with a spray from your water bottle.
About the author: For more tips on how to become the perfect cat owner, check out cat house training for more tips. Progress from a novice to a cat expert in no time! Or grab my free Cat Care reports.
Source: http://www.articlesbase.com
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