How to Litter Train a Kitten
Kittens are nice, soft, cuddly things, but it’s not so cute when they poop just about everywhere but their litter box. Get started litter training your kitten early on with these steps.
Materials
Litter box
Litter
Scooper
Procedure
If your household already has cats, buy a separate litter box for your kitten, appropriate for its size. The rule of thumb in the number of litters you have is one litter box per kitten plus extra. Hence, you have two litter boxes for one kitten.
Unscented clay type litter works best, unless your kitten makes it clear that he or she dislikes the material. If your kitten is also prone to eating the litter, you can try using oatmeal, paper or wood litter instead.
Put an inch of litter to line the bottom of the litter box.
Remove potted plants in your house, or any container that contains soil or litter-like material. Your kitten may instinctively run towards those instead of going straight to the litter box.
Familiarize your kitten to the litter box by taking your kitten and putting it inside the litter box. Let your kitten sniff around the litter and start digging in on it on its own. If not, gently encourage the kitten to dig its paws into the litter using your fingers.
Put the litter box somewhere near that can be easily located and relatively near furniture, as kittens instinctively go nearer to furniture when they need to poop. Sometimes kittens will automatically correlate pooping with the litter box, but other times, kittens have to be reintroduced to the litter box several times.
Sometimes your kittens would prefer the litter box to be somewhere where they usually are. You can slowly move the litter box to your preferred location once they are fully trained to use it.
You need to observe your kitten’s behavior when it comes to pooping. Again, some kittens may not automatically correlate the litter box to their poop, but you just have to be patient. If you see your kitten running to a location where it usually poops but shouldn’t, go after it and put the litter box there.
If your cat poops on anywhere else but the litter box, take it back to where it pooped and let it sniff around. Don’t force it, just let it sniff. After that, bring it in the litter box and dig its paws in the litter or the clay.
Make sure your litter box is cleaned thoroughly, daily.
As your kitten grows, add more litter in the litter box.