Help with Cat Litter Training, Please

patchwork_cat

No not Lavender oil - highly toxic to cats. Do not use disinfectant either.

There are special prodcuts that you can get http://www.petplanet.co.uk/product_group.asp?dept_id=443&pg_id=118

ithinkyourcrazy

those are to clean the carpet so they can't smell when there have had an accident, all were recomended by my vet, and all work and never had a cat ill in 22 years, try it.

patchwork_cat

Not suggesting ithink that you are using a product that is not suitable, but the OP said I have some Lavender essential oil - that is toxic.

Any disinfectant that goes cloudy in water and many essential oils are highly toxic. I was a cat breeder and we are very aware of toxicity problems.

ithinkyourcrazy

ok, how would you thoroughly clean soiled carpet ? i am intrested to know as nothing else gets rid of the smell or the stain, thanks!
edit- sorry, just seen u had put a link up!! have tried many of these and never worked, luckly all of my cats have grown out of using the carpet as a litter tray now!

patchwork_cat

Umm, why so antagonistic, I was advising the OP that certain cleaning products and essential oils are highly toxic to cats. Surely even if you are cleaning up cat mess you wouldn't want to kill kitty?

I have found the product I highlighted very good, when I was driving for the Cats Protection league a cat weed whilst on a vet trip and it went all over the back seat, you can imagine how that smelt ina black car on a hot day! I used the product on the top of the link and it worked.

I have also recommended to a buyer who had probelms with an older cat who had had accidents and it worked for them too.

ithinkyourcrazy

i was not being antagonistic, just intrested to know. gave the op my opinions on how i got my kitten to stop using the carpet and they are the only things that have worked for me. every other cleaning products we have used didn't work, and ended up coming back from work and the smell would hit us first! i did not know that disinfectant and oils harmed cats, will try and be more careful now. what work did you do for the cats potection? have had many cats from there, my oldest was 18, she had to be put to sleep last week as she had gone of her legs, was blind and deaf, we got her from there when she was one and no on wanted her.

patchwork_cat

I was a volunteer driver for them. I am however a GCCF registered breeder although not breeding at the moment , but still registered.

You really do have to be careful about cleaning products with cats, essential oils and plants both indoor and out. Many things that we think are fine are highly toxic to cats - for example Lillies.

If your cat has an accident first thing is to try a biological detergent - you need an enzyme anything else is just covering up the smell. The Biological detergent may not be enough in which case I say the proprietory products are excellent. You ahve to clear the smell of the wee or the cat may well go back.

One of the things that I would advise new owners was if a kitten takes to weeing in a particular place sometimes the easiest thing is to give in and put the litter tray there if appropriate.

emlou2009

We discovered yesterday that our 9/10 month old kitten has been weeing round the back of one of the kitchen cupboards, right next to where his food is! No wonder the other cat has been off his food a bit. I've scrubbed it with carpet cleaner followed by bio washing stuff, and sprayed it with bio washing stuff and lemon juice, AND I've put down 3 cut lemons and pepper to try and keep the little monster out, but he is still going down there.
I cant put his litter tray down there as not only will it not fit (the gap is about half the width of their tray and not even a small kitten tray would fit there) but we keep the tray upstairs because they kick it absolutely everywhere and I cant have my son crawling around on it. I also cant bung the area up with anything to stop him getting to it, because there were things down there and he's gone all over them.
I also wont be taking him to the vet over this, he is the picture of health, and this is definitely a behavioural thing rather than a health thing. He was hand reared and we have had problems with him weeing on the doormat before, but we just chucked that out and he stopped.

Can anyone else recommend anything I havent thought of yet?

patchwork_cat

You no doubt know that hand reared kittens do have various problems.

One issue that you have although you seem to have done all that I would do is removing the smell enough to stop him going there again. Could you block off the access to this area? (sorry don't know the layout and as you seem quite knowledgeable no doubt you have thought of this.)

The other thing is have you got a hooded litter tray? Some cats like to 'go' in privacy. Also the recommmendation is 1 more litter tray than cats in the house. My advice would be block off the area if you can, get a couple of hooded litter trays (helps with the flinging, although you may need to take off the cat flap type door, to begin with) put some soiled litter in the new tray so he knows what it is for. Have a read of Cat Confidential by Vicky Halls, she deals with a few similar situations in her books if memory serves, she is a cat behaviourist.

Waterfalls

vicky halls is a fantastic cat behaviourist!

have a look at her website, she has loads of information on there that could help and regular free newsletters.