Training Kitten to go outside

Agricola

I recently took a 5 month old cat from my local ISPCA. Ive had him around a week and so far everything is working out great. He sleeps in a nest in the garage where he has a litter box. I was delighted to see he took to this like a duck to water and has so far never left any surprises for us in either the house or the rest of the garage.
Problem is, I want him eventually to use the flap in the garage door to go outside. At the moment, he often quits exploring, hunting etc, goes into the litterbox and then comes back out to resume what he was doing.

He is rarely left to his own devices in the house, but just today I found him wandering around the bedroom. I wasnt sure if he was just checking the place out or looking for a place to take a dump, so I left him outside the door and sure enough he ran to the garage and did the needful. I don't want to think about what I would have had under my bed, if I hadnt spotted him!

So is there a way to get him to know he HAS to go outside, is there a way to deter him from using unfamiliar parts of the house as a toilet!?

Themadhouse

Put a second tray somewhere else in the house in case he cant get back to the garage in time. I would prefer to have a second one rather than find a surprise.

Nody

Easiest way we trained our cats to use a flap was to get a nice treat (we used tuna) on one side of the door, put the cat on the other side of the flap. Our cats picked up what to do with in 5 min to get to the tuna.

Agricola

Themadhouse wrote: »

Put a second tray somewhere else in the house in case he cant get back to the garage in time. I would prefer to have a second one rather than find a surprise.

Yeah was thinking of that. Problem is Im fairly sure he would never venture outside if there was a tray in the house!

Nody - I didnt even get to the stage of having to teach him about the flap with food. I put a small stool in front of the flap last night to keep him in the garage and he managed to pull it out of the way and used the flap no problem. Now I notice him trying to open the kitchen press where his food is, while up on his back legs!

He likes the indoor comforts so much I just reckon if left to his own devices in the house, he would use the carpet instead of having to go outside.

Ever2010

We have 4 cats, at first when we let them outside they used to come in to use the litter tray! But after a week or two they realised that they could go outside! Now they very rarely use the litter trays - only when they're in all night. It just takes a little bit of time and patience!

boomerang

Please introduce him to the great outdoors gradually, and with your supervision. He'll be really vulnerable. Kittens that age have no sense. He could also easily get lost if he doesn't get his bearings.

Agricola

Thanks for replies. No accidents so far anyway. Keeping him confined to 2 rooms and will take it slow.

OldmanMondeo

What is wrong with the cat using the tray inside? Not having a go, but nothing worse that cat crap all over the garden, especially if you don't have a cat. The estate where I live is destroyed with crap every where, while I know there are 1 or 2 dog owners who do not clean up after their dog, I have never seen a cat owner clean up either.

Agricola

OldmanMondeo wrote: »

What is wrong with the cat using the tray inside? Not having a go, but nothing worse that cat crap all over the garden, especially if you don't have a cat. The estate where I live is destroyed with crap every where, while I know there are 1 or 2 dog owners who do not clean up after their dog, I have never seen a cat owner clean up either.

Not a problem here, country bungalow on a couple of acres. Hence I want him to use all the space instead of cleaning up after him all the time!

Mountainsandh

I never had to train my cat to do it, but he gradually switched to outside toilet all by himself. He only uses the inside one when it's raining all day, or at night mostly.

But I think what encouraged that was the pile of sand we had left over from a building venture in a corner of our land. He loved that sand ! If you have a spot available, and some sandy/composty soil to leave for him there, I bet you he'll use it. Maybe buy a bag of sand or two, just to start him off going outside, and show it to him, or mix a little bit of the soiled cat litter in it, after that he will have got the drift of it. I personally don't think there is a single cat on this planet who could resist the sandy goodness .

You can always shovel it away when you think he has made the switch.