Pets
Cat Litter Training - Teaching Your Kitten To Use His Box by Ned D'Agostino
[Apr 24, 2008]
If you have just gotten a new kitten, chances are it's already litter box trained. This is because cats who have been raised by mothers who use litter boxes themselves have already been taught to use a box by their mothers. If the mother is trained, then the kitty, too, is going to be trained to use a box. If not, though, the kitten will need to be taught cat litter training.
If your kitten was raised by a mother in the wild or is an orphan, chances are you're going to get a kitten that is not trained. Not to worry, however. By nature, cats are very clean creatures, and would prefer to have one special place to go to the bathroom. Therefore, even though your little guy (or girl) may "do his business" in indiscriminate locations throughout your house when you first get him, it's very easy to train a kitten how to use a box if he does not know how to do so already.
Remember that if the kitten is very tiny (less than six weeks old) and/or has been orphaned, then it may not have had a mother to show it how to use litter properly. It's very easy to show him how, though. First, get a box or container with low enough sides that even a very tiny kitten can climb in. One of the best containers to use is an old dishpan with one side cut out so that it's only a couple of inches high. This is low enough that even the tiniest of kittens can climb in easily. The box must be easy to get into for your kitten to be able to use it. Immediately after you've set up the pan, put just a small amount of litter (no more than half an inch or so) on the bottom and put your cat in. Instinctively, even tiny kittens will usually like to scratch around even if they don't exactly know what it's used for.