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Kitten discovers a mirror:

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This conversation recently came up about a young woman, we’ll call her B, whose cats loved destroying paper. They even ate her homework, literally. Chunks were missing. No paper was safe in the house. B asked what she could do to stop her cats from getting into trouble with paper, lamenting that they had tons of toys, so couldn’t possibly be bored, and claiming they got loads of attention.

My response to her was, if they have tons of toys, how do they know the difference between THEIR toys and YOUR toys? If they are always getting attention, what possibly makes them want to earn your approval?

Cats, just like dogs, need training and guidance to teach them what is, and is not, appropriate to play with.

Having toys all over the house makes it difficult for the cat to distinguish between “mine” and “yours”. After all, everywhere they turn, there’s something to play with. If you’re starting out with a new kitten, you put your stuff away and always direct them to their toys when they get into your things. Praise them and give them attention when they play with their toys. Bitter Apple is your friend to help them make their choice when you aren’t there.

Once the cat already views paper as a toy, you’ll need to break that habit, then get him to choose his toys over paper. To do this, we structure the training similar to any other behavior modification. We teach the new habit, we don’t let them fall into the old habit, then we set them up to make the choice we want them to make.

Breaking the paper habit

1. Hide all paper - As long as they get in the habit of playing with paper, it’s a toy, and they won’t distinguish between paper you allow them to play with and paper you don’t. Just put away all paper until you’ve gotten them in a better habit of playing with their toys.
2. Wait at least 3 weeks - New habits take time to form. Encourage your cat to play with his toys, and never tease him with anything that even resembles paper. Praise him for playing with his toys.
3. Bait the choice - Grab a piece of paper and spray it with Bitter Apple (or similar deterrent), and leave it out where he can get it. Hopefully, he’ll go for it and get a not-so-tasty surprise. Take the paper up the next day, and wait a couple more days. If you’re lucky and you caught him in the act, grab one of his toys and call him over, and praise him when he comes to play. You get a double bonus of the paper tasting bad and you praising him for playing with the correct toy.
4. Repeat bait every few days for several weeks - Every 2 or 3 days, you’ll repeat the bait. Put fresh, sprayed paper in different spots so he doesn’t think only the paper on the table tastes nasty. You are setting him up to CHOOSE not to play with paper. Paper is something that tastes nasty, not a toy to be chewed. That way, he’ll make the choice whether you are home or not.

If you haven’t let him slide by leaving untreated paper where he can get to it, after the end of this time, you should be safe to start leaving paper out. You may want to refresh his memory on occasion by randomly spraying papers instead of tossing them right in the trash, just in case he forgets that paper isn’t very fun.

If all that isn’t worth it, you could just put your stuff away.  =)

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Small video showcasing the non-profit Cat House on the Kings cat sanctuary. This woman has rescued 16 thousand cats.

To learn more, or to donate, go to http://www.cathouseonthekings.com/.

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Most of the time, when cats don’t want to use the litterbox, it’s due to a physical problem. Either the cat is sick, or the condition of her litter is. More rarely, another cat may be bullying her and making her afraid to use the box. More rare still is the cat who expresses displeasure by making deposits in fun locations.

The rarest reason of all for a cat to not use her litterbox is because she was simply never trained to do so. Perhaps she was an outdoor cat, or she was neglected or abandoned as a kitten. Kittens are taught by their mothers where the appropriate potty location is.

So how DO you litter train a cat?

You do not teach a cat to use a litterbox. You condition it to. It’s all about the habit.

Kittens are brought to the box by their mothers, and it is merely conditioning and habit that keep them going there. It’s simply where that business is done. It never occurs to them to do it elsewhere. If you neuter them prior to puberty, they never get the urge to spray and all is well.

If a cat was raised outside, to them, the appropriate location is soil or grass. This is actually the easiest issue to address. Simply go outside and get some soil, and place it in a litterbox in the home. Habit will have her potty where the soil is. Gradually, over the course of the next few months, you mix in standard litter. Eventually, the box is all litter and no soil, and her habit is to go in the box (with litter).

The more difficult issue to fix is a cat who has, for whatever reason, developed the habit of going potty anywhere except her litterbox. This cat needs complete re-conditioning. She needs a new habit — relieving herself in the box. In order to accomplish this, you need to make it impossible for her to NOT do that. You need to confine her in a way that makes her choose to use the box. Over time, using the box becomes habit.

The easiest way to condition the new habit is to start small. Literally. Buy or borrow a large dog crate or cat enclosure, and keep her in it (an alternative is a very small room, such as the spare bathroom). The floor area should be just big enough for a small cat bed, food and water bowls, and a small litterbox. The cat will relieve herself in the litterbox simply because she doesn’t have much choice.

While she’s learning her new habit, she should not be outside her crate or pen unless she is being directly supervised and played with. This is just like crate training a puppy. You don’t want to give her a chance to sneak off and pee in the corner, or all your efforts are worthless. You do want to take her out and play with her often; just don’t let her wander away from you.

After a month or so, you can graduate her to a larger room. Don’t give her the whole house right away or she may fall back into her old habit. Make sure she is still using her litterbox, and only her box, for another month before trying to let her have her freedom back. You can check the room using a blacklight (fluorescent, not incandescent) that will make urine glow yellow/green if you have trouble noticing accidents. If she relapses even once, you have to back to caging her for awhile. Some cats take much longer to re-condition than others, so be patient.

Only once she’s left her room clean for at least a month with no accidents should you consider letting her roam the whole home unsupervised.

You’re likely saving her life by training her to use a litterbox. Don’t think that’s it cruel to confine her when the alternative is death. Few people want a cat that won’t use a box. Unwanted cats end up dead cats at most shelters.

Remember — take it slow! Think about how long it takes you to form a habit, or break an existing one. Be patient, and don’t give her a chance to screw up. Each time she goes somewhere besides her box, her newly forming habit is broken. A few months of training is well-worth the lifetime of love you get back.

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