Answer: Cats are naturally clean animals. The toilet training of cats is made relatively easy because, after the first two to three weeks of life, it is a natural instinct for kittens to urine and defecates in loose, sandy soil. Before this age the mother cat keeps the nest cleans by consuming these waste materials when she licks each kitten. Indeed, it is the stimulation of the mother licking the anal region which causes urine and motions to be passed.
This maternal behavior causes when the kittens are around three weeks of age and they begin to struggle out of the nest. If a litter tray is provide nearby, many will find out it instinctively. Often the mother cat will pick up each kitten in true and carry it to the tray; alternatively, you can place them there yourself. The arrival of fresh food in the stomach stimulates a reflex movement of material though the bowel (the gastro-colic reflex) so that the best time to do this is immediately after each meal.
The cat’s natural is also to dig a shallow hole in which to defecate, and to cover the excrement by scratching the litter backwards with its paws. In the wild this behavior serves to conceal the animal’s presence.
The scent of previous eliminations encourages the kitten to return to the same spot. It is advisable to confine a kitten to the room containing the litter the tray until he has become accustomed to using it, and not to change they tray’s position within the room. Cats like privacy when using the tray and therefore a dimly lit secluded area, out of the reach of the young children, is preferable.
If a kitten uses the wrong spot, immediately place it gently but firmly into the litter box and clean the solid area, ideally with white vinegar or with dilute bleach if the floor covering will withstand it. Don’t use ammonia, which often encourages further urination there. By eight weeks old kitten should be almost completely house trained.
It is advisable to provide a litter try at night even when a cat is adult, and cats without access to garden will require one permanently. Cats they are ill may be also need to use a litter try, and this arrangement allows the motion to be inspected and, if require, collected for examination.
Once a kitten a accustomed to using a litter tray it can, if necessary, be trained to urine and defecate outdoor This is best done during dry weather. On successive days the litter tray is moved progressively nearer to external door and eventually just outside it. Some already soiled litter should then be placed in the garden and the kitten carried to it after feeding. A day or so should produce the desire result.(Using this type of ‘successive approximation’ training it is even possible to train a cat to defecate and urinate in the household toilet. Whether this is desirable remains a debatable point.)
If a cat accidentally passes a motion on to the edge of its litter tray, it will attempt to cover it by pawing and scratching at the area around the tray, even though there is obviously no litter there. This is an example of the deeply-rooted type of instinctive behavior referred to as ‘displacement activity’.
