House Train a Cat

Video Transcript

"So today we're talking about house training a cat. So this includes everything of getting a cat use to living in your home from litter box training to scratching in appropriate places as oppose to on your furniture and just teaching them how to be a well-behave part of your family. So first we'll talk about the litter box. Most people are just interested in making sure that the cat doesn't have any accidents that don't occur in the litter box. So you want to set the litter box up in an area that's really easy for your cat to access, feel safe to them; so nothing really noisy or overexpose and has a nice, easy entry and exit for your cat. So then if there's other cat living in the house, there's no problem or conflict with your cat trying to, to get to the litter box and use it. Make sure it's not in an area like the basement where it might closed off, someone might close the door and your cat can't access it. So all these things will help to set your cat up for success in learning how to use the facilities appropriately when you're house training your cat. Some of the things to consider are teaching your cat how to scratch in the appropriate places. So cats are great at using scratching post if you give them the opportunity. One thing you want to consider is that you find something very sturdy for your cat. So cats are usually scratching furniture because they're interested in finding a sturdy surface and that means either a very big bulky type of cardboard structure or some type of post or tree that's really sturdy for your cat. These can be made out of carpeted materials, sisal rope, cardboard or even wood and you want to position that in a place that your cat is interested in sleeping and stretching and marking, all the things that they do when they're scratching. And then you want to praise your cat and tell them what a great cat they are; how smart they are when they're doing the right thing by scratching the post and not your furniture. Some of the other things that you want to consider just again having a well-behaved cat; so a cat who comes when called. You can pair coming when called with giving them their dinner or providing them with some treats. If you have guests over and your cat's not so confident in being part of the, the company, then you can also use some treats to encourage your cat to come out and be a little bit more social and then providing them with petting or playing with them, taking a little bit of time out to play with your cat is another important part of building that trust and that relationship and house training your cat so that they're a member of the family. So keep all these things in mind and you'll have a nice well-adjusted happy member of the family."