How to litter train a kitten

Litter training your kitten is going to be one of the most important early lessons that you teach your new bundle of joy. As a new parent of an adoring kitten, you may be worried about the task ahead. But fear not: it is generally a very straightforward process! Most kittens these days are litter trained when you buy them, but then even if this is not the case, there should be nothing to worry about. Litter training a kitten from scratch is really more a process of encouraging the kitten to move in the direction that they would naturally go anyway. Cats being very clean animals, kittens will have a natural inclination to bury the product of a toilet trip. So you are really just going to be showing them where they ought to go to do this!

What do you need to buy to litter train your kitten?

You will want to make sure that you have bought everything you need before you actually have the kitten in your home. In terms of litter training, the litter box and the kitten litter itself are really the main things to tick off. You will see from looking around that there are different kinds of boxes or trays which you can buy. The boxes with roofs and doors on the front have the benefit of blocking any of the litter smells from your home. But, to make things really easy to begin with, you can always go for an open litter tray first. These will clearly present the litter to your kitten, and so it will be visually obvious where they need to go.

When it comes to the litter itself, there are also a few different choices. It is recommended that for kittens you try to find some non-clumping litter clay or crystal litter. The thinking behind this is that the litter does not clump up into bigger balls. It will therefore be less likely to get stuck onto the fur as one of these bigger balls. In turn, this means that your kitten is less likely to accidentally eat a litter clump when grooming. It won't be the most appetising of things for your kitten, but at that age when exploring often involves chewing and biting, it would not be a surprise for a kitten to end up with some litter in their mouth if it is of the clumping kind. It is also very useful to get yourself a litter poop scoop. Although you will be changing the litter completely at least once a week, you should also be removing the results of individual visits with your scooper. Just scoop it, bag it, and then bin it.

Although these are the essentials, there may be some other things you can purchase to make the process that much smoother. When you are teaching your kitten anything, toys and treats can help a great deal. Cats react well to positive reinforcement, and so they are much more likely to return to the litter tray if they know that they will be rewarded with a fun new toy or a nibble of a dry treat. Do make sure with the treats that they are appropriate for kittens. They may not be ready for dry food straight away, but you can work towards dry treats once you have got them going on softer wet food for a few weeks. You might be thinking that having to get one new toy for every litter tray visit is a bit excessive! But there is a trick to help you get around this: simply swap certain toys out for a week or so and then reintroduce them again. They will seem more fresh and exciting that way, and you won't need to pick up a new toy every time!

Introduce the litter tray early

You don't need to wait for toilet time to get your kitten acquainted with the litter tray. Have the tray set up when you bring your kitten home for the first time. Once they are starting to settle in and explore the room you have them in, place your cat in the tray and let them have a sniff about. Once they have sniffed the litter and felt around in the tray, you should make sure not to move your box or tray, as this is now where the kitten will expect it to be.

Create a routine

You may not know exactly when your kitten will need to go, but you can make a sensible assumption that they will often need to go to the toilet after a meal time or after a nap. Because of this likelihood, these are ideal times to pick up your kitten and again place them in the box or tray. You should also get into the habit of moving them into the tray if they are exhibiting behaviour that normally comes before toilet time. This may include sniffing or crouching in a particular area. They might not always go to the toilet on these occasions, but you will be getting them comfortable with that routine of heading over to the tray, and so this will stand them in good stead when they do need the toilet.

Reward, don't punish

As we have mentioned above, toys and treats, as well as loving attention, can be a great positive reinforcement tool to help your kittens along in the right direction. So, when your kittens do go in the litter tray successfully in this learning period, make sure that you treat this as an event to celebrate! Give them verbal support, lots of love, a little treat and some playtime fun if they would like it. Equally, as with any learning process, there will be some mistakes along the way. The important thing to bear in mind is that these mistakes should not be punished. If you are severe with your kitten for making a mistake when they are trying their best to learn the ways of the litter tray, then this will only lead to increased stress and anxiety around going to the toilet. Instead, create a warm, supportive, friendly and fun environment and your kitten will feel more confident and relaxed. This mental state will be much more conducive to effective learning and successful litter tray usage!