How to train an adult cat to the tray?

The appearance in the house of an adult pet can be associated with a variety of situations - from the desire to make the animal from the shelter happy to get an unexpected gift. In any case, a cat or a cat will require attention, care, and a certain dressage, because not all tailed pets are ready to immediately learn the rules of behavior in a dwelling. How to make it clear to an animal that it is necessary to cope with natural needs in a strictly defined place? Is it possible to determine this moment once and for all in relations with an animal and how to accustom an adult cat to a tray if he lived on the street before?

The first and most important thing that a person who has received an adult pet faces is the need to satisfy the basic needs of the animal. A cat or a cat that is under stress needs its own place to rest, eat, go out of need. Moreover, the process of training an adult animal to the tray, even if it was previously familiar with this subject of hygiene, may be delayed due to various reasons. For example, a pet may not like:

• filler, as well as its presence or absence in the tray;
• the smell of new plastic from the tank;
• the place chosen for the toilet;
• size or shape of the prepared cuvette.

In spite of everything, cats are very clean animals, and they try to handle the physiological need in one particular place. Well, if a new pet moves with its tray, it will be easier for him to orient to a new place. But most often, schooling starts from scratch, and here it is better to be patient, because the cat is guaranteed to have its own view on the choice of place for the toilet. These furry animals are predators and prefer to relieve themselves of places hidden from prying eyes. The areas under the bathroom, behind the cabinets, under the sofas and beds, as well as any other dark corners of the new dwelling are at risk.

A cat living on the street usually has established sanitary and hygienic habits and devoid of the natural environment for itself, begins to use for these purposes completely not the items that the owner plans to offer him. In addition, an ungraded animal may additionally leave odorous marks trying to assert its rights to the territory.

To make it easier for a new pet to get used to the tray, you need to take care of the availability of hygiene items.

This restriction does not apply to closed toilets in the form of houses - with proper care they can be located anywhere.

Before you begin to train an adult cat or a cat to the tray, you should purchase all the necessary materials to build a comfortable and safe space for the toilet of the animal. This point is especially important in cases where the pet for the first time will have to master this skill. It is important that the tray was in size and with high enough sides.

Allocate trays closed and open design. In the first case, the product is produced in the form of a full-fledged house with a door and an odor filtering system; in the second case, usual open cells of rectangular, oval or square shape are used. It seems that the purchase of a closed tray is the best solution for any pet owner.But in practice, for cats and cats that previously lived on the street, such an encroachment on their freedom is a serious stress.

In addition, cleaning the tray with the box on top is significantly hampered by the features of its design. If the pet has health problems, it will be necessary to perform the operation of assembling and disassembling the entire structure several times during the day.

The simple open tray with sides is considered to be a much simpler solution.. The best choice for cats are designs with fairly high sides, wide, where you can fit and even hide from prying eyes. Compact animals are recommended to install trays with low sides. The presence of the lattice is a plus if the animal agrees to dispense with a filler or has previously been familiar with such a construction of the toilet.

Special cat litter is a real salvation for pet owners who don’t practice free range of their pets.

But it is better to accustom the animal to the purchased filler, with the preparation of which at any time of the year there will be no serious problems. As a material for filling in the tray, it is proposed to use granules that absorb unpleasant odors, moisture and facilitate subsequent cleaning.

Among the most popular options for fillers available on the market are the following:

• woodymade of extruded sawdust;
• silica gelconsisting of transparent granules, similar to those put in shoes to protect against moisture;
• mineralmade from crushed raw materials;
• based on industrial waste.

The initial stage of training the animal to the toilet is best done using wood fillers that have a habitual structure for the animal. But do not forget about the regular cleaning of used sawdust. As you get used to it, a more hygienic option would be to switch to silica gel as a filler. It is much safer, hygienic, easy to clean.

Clumping mineral fillers is a good solution for owners who can't be home for a long time. At the stage of habituation, they can be mixed with sand - this option is suitable for cats and cats that previously lived on the street. But even the highest quality and expensive composition does not guarantee that the pet will be easy to get used to the new rules for him.. Moreover, cleaning the tray, whichever material is selected for backfilling, will have to be carried out regularly.

How to determine the best place for cat litter in the house? First of all, you should pay attention to the behavior of the animal. If it seeks to turn a dark closet or balcony space into a toilet room, it will be enough just to provide unhindered access to the installation location of the tray, and a compromise will be found. But not everything is so simple. Constantly open the door to the toilet or bathroom can create discomfort for people living in the house.

A hallway is a poor choice for installing a tray. It is too noisy and lively, the pet will not be able to relax, to feel quite free. In addition, the animal may simply prefer shoe shelves or shoes to regular cat litter.

Another bad option is the kitchen. Here, the disposal of natural feline needs will violate the rules of sanitation and hygiene. In addition, animals generally prefer to share places for eating and using the toilet. Yes, and watching while eating a pet who wants to get rid of excess “ballast” is still a pleasure.

In the living rooms in Russia, the toilet for the cat is not often encountered. But in Europe and the United States most often used trays of the closed type, original houses with a removable top, which greatly facilitate hygienic care. With proper selection of the filler and careful cleaning of the toilet for the pet, no foreign smells will threaten the comfortable joint living of the person and the cat.

Even an animal familiar with the rules of hygiene in a new place of residence may become confused and begin to use any suitable angles in the apartment as a toilet. It is very difficult to quickly get used to walking in a tray of cats or cats that previously used free-range. Teaching them new skills will be quite difficult. But it is even harder to get a street cat to observe hygienic habits, if earlier he was simply not familiar with them. Yet these problems have a solution.

• Compromise approach. If the place is chosen correctly, but with some accuracy there are some problems, sometimes it’s worth a compromise to go to the owner himself. In general, cats do not mind using toilet space in the bathroom or toilet. But the animal can cope with its needs in a completely opposite direction from the tray. And here it is better to simply move the cat's toilet and give your pet the opportunity to quickly adapt to new conditions for him.
• Difficult access. If the acquaintance with the tray took place, but the cat or cat persistently chooses completely different, not very suitable places for the toilet, it is necessary to obstruct the animal's access to dark corners and secluded parts of the floor. With no choice, even the most capricious pets are usually sent to the tray. But you should not relax. Once having chosen a convenient place for himself, at the slightest opportunity the cat will again use it as a toilet.
• Full control. In the absence of fully formed hygienic skills, teaching a cat to go to the tray will have to literally be like a kitten. That is, to carry the animal to the place of natural need at the slightest signs of anxiety, after a long sleep or after about half an hour from eating. It will be useful to scrape the pet's foot on the filler - the usual action will calm him.

For tags left in the wrong place, thorough cleaning is required, as well as the use of sprays that scare the animal.

It can be difficult to accustom an animal to a tray, which from an early age lived on the street, and has no idea about the basic observance of basic hygienic rules. However, incidents happen when changing places of residence and with domestic cats. Among the most frequent reasons for completely refusing to visit the tray selected by the host, the following can be noted.

• The need to share a toilet with several animals. Many cats are simply not ready to use the same cuvette as their relatives, preferring an individual latrine. The problem is solved simply by buying an additional tray.
• Having health problems. If a cat regularly leaves the tags in the wrong place, you may need to consult with a veterinarian about the presence of her illness, chronic stool disorder, urinary incontinence.
• Poor quality or too large filler granules. Here the problem is solved solely by experiment.
• Incorrect site selection, inconvenient or too cramped tray design. It is also worthwhile to offer the new family member various options for the construction of the toilet, experimenting with the dimensions and installation site.

Eliminating all causes of discomfort, you can easily find a compromise even with a cat that grew up on the street, and resolve the issue with her toilet once and for all.

Other tips that will help teach the cat to the tray can be found in the video below.