off the wall ? (cat training)

[BengalsFan24]

adopted kitten that was 8 weeks old. she is non stop meowing and cannot use litter box. :rant: she came from group of four siblings. how can i train her and get her to be quiet at night?

 

[fhsucade07]

adopted kitten that was 8 weeks old. she is non stop meowing and cannot use litter box. :rant: she came from group of four siblings. how can i train her and get her to be quiet at night?

Isolate her. It's probably terrible to say but it works. Our cat (Boomer) was a handful when we got him a year ago. We'd come home to some kind of mess (thinking he had the litter box training learned) or some kind of broken furniture. Sleeping would have been a miracle because he cried often and LOUDLY. Around that same time, we were closing in our garage (which had been open with only a roof) which may have contributed to the behavior somewhat. We finally decided to buy a playpen for animals and just put him in there with the litter box through the day while at work (which was in the garage) and would let him in the home when we could observe him at night but would put him back in at bedtime. He really had no choice (being in there for close to nine hours during the day and another eight or nine at night) than to use the litter box. My wife and I would discuss on the way to work what awful parents we were for leaving him in there during the morning commute and even considered just making him an outdoor cat. The stories we would hear on the news of animal abuse or just seeing an animal on the side of the road that had been run over changed that notion. After about six - eight weeks, we became pretty comfortable with his litter box training and would leave him in the house until the point that he went to the kitchen door - to use the litter box still in the playpen. It's funny now but if we have company, he'll run straight for the kitchen door and huddle inside the pen. And the one thing that really helped with was leaving the mess (any litter that comes out of the box) in the garage - I blow the garage out every day. Right now, he takes advantage of all the time he can in the house (even sleeping inside through the night until waking us up - usually around 5:00 to go out to the litter box, food, and water). Last winter, we barely ever seen him. The garage was pretty comfortable (it was really kind of cool but not cold) through the fall and winter and he'd usually be wanting in the garage at about 9 or 10 o'clock and we'd go out the next morning and close the top.

As for the meowing - he was really kind of needy as well. It seemed to be constant at times. We finally wound up adopting another one (the advice of the vet on the playpen worked wonders so we figured we'd try the advice of a new friend) and they are pretty close and neither are needy. We didn't even realize how much room they had in the playpen until we adopted Sam and saw what a small cage he had lived in. He too has wound up treating the pen as some type of base. The playpen costed us about $100 but it did the job of containing him until he got the litter box training down. For the most part, we still leave them in there through the day. As I already said, it's also nice having him used to going in the pen for and it keeps the litter out of the house. Good luck! Regardless of what you do, just remember to keep a routine (don't change training ideas after only a day or two) and have patience. The only thing that might help all the meowing is another cat. I'll always believe it's easier to have two cats than one.

Cade

 

[fhsucade07]

By playpen, this is what I'm referring to:

[ame="http://www.amazon.com/Precision-Pet-Soft-Side-Large/dp/B001GS71KW/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=home-garden&qid=1246281308&sr=8-1"]Amazon.com: Precision Pet Soft Side Play Pen, Navy/Tan: Home & Garden@@AMEPARAM@@http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/41DgV7COm2L.@@AMEPARAM@@41DgV7COm2L[/ame]

They also have the wire pens, though:

[ame="http://www.amazon.com/Midwest-130-00-Cat-Playpen/dp/B000I1M76Q/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=home-garden&qid=1246281382&sr=1-1"]Amazon.com: Midwest Homes for Pets 35.75 inches long by 23.5 inches wide by 51?@@AMEPARAM@@http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/61Xnf9kCf1L.@@AMEPARAM@@61Xnf9kCf1L[/ame]

If you aren't home with her all day, this might be your best bet for litter box training. Good luck!

 

[Van]

Get a tall cardboard box and place the cat pan and him/her inside. When the kitten starts to go ( you'll need to have the box close to you so you can listen and keep an eye on it or have your wife/gf/bff/kid help you out ) pick the kitten up and put it in the litter box and let it finish, when its done turn it around so it see's what it did then cover its little gift to you and give it a treat. Repeat this a couple times and then watch to see if he goes and does it on his own and continue to reward with a treat if you like or a congratulatory head scratch and back rub.

For litter choice theres two I can recommend, one is call Fresh Results and so far I have only found it at Walmart. The other is Armen Hammer pine litter, both are actually the same thing but the former is cheaper but whats nice about this litter is that its pine granules that helps with better odor control than clay litter plus its dust free and when it gets wet it doesn't turn into mud and its easy on their paws. For a single cat the bag will last you a month easily or possibly even 6 weeks as long as you follow recommended feeding.

 

[ClaireCubsFan]

Those soft play pens are great. I did part of my internship at a shelter and they kept the kittens and full grown cats in those for exercise. They would often grow attached to them. It's actually an excellent idea to keep one in their for training plus with the right amount of patience it keeps the litter in the garage. Good call!