Introduction
You’ve just brought your new little kitty home, and these first few weeks are very important when it comes to training. Kittens are a lot like small children; they play with out of control abandonment, and they like to test and explore everything around them. To help your kitty learn appropriate behavior around the house, here are some useful training tips for the first few weeks with your new kitty.
Kitten Training for the First Few Weeks
Your kitten should have plenty of toys, including scratching posts and if possible a climbing post. Whenever the kitten is feeling playful, encourage the kitten to play with these items. If the kitten starts to attack furniture, or people’s hands and feet, redirect the kitten’s attention to the appropriate toys. If the kitten jumps up on a table, or other areas it is not suppose to be, clap your hands loudly; when the kitten jumps down pet the kitten and give the kitten a toy.
If you have an especially stubborn or persistent kitten, then a light water spray may be a useful training tool. Always keep the water spray bottle out of sight, and try not to let the kitten see you using it. When the kitten jumps on tables, scratches furniture, or engages in other types of inappropriate behaviors, a light spray of water will encourage the kitten to stop its behavior; once the kitten stops the unwanted behavior, pet and praise the kitten or give the kitten some playtime attention.
Fortunately kittens will instinctively use the litter box, so toilet training is not necessary. Once the kitten arrives at your home, show the kitten the litter box, place the kitten in the litter, and keep the litter box in an area that is easily accessible to the kitten. If any children are in the household, talk with the children about how to properly handle and play with the kitten. Rough play with a kitten can cause dominate and aggressive cats, and encouraging the kitten to play with hands or feet can cause bite wounds and scratches.