Litterbox Boot Camp

[sherrylynne]

This was written up by one of our members here, and has been found to be quite useful with our more...willfull fuzzies

Re: Litter boxes
« Reply #10 Today at 2:21pm »

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i've gotten a few stubborn rescues in ... who never saw a litter box before me and i've had just about 100% success with the right training and enviroment!

need to go back to basics first... think litter box boot camp!!

take out all shelves, hammies and the like.

lay down a single layer of fleece or baby blankey of your choice. Make sure to cover the entire floor and up the sides slightly.

get a large litter box ... square.. NEVER try to train to those corner things lol... mine all use dish pans ( you know those things that fit into the sink) this gets fixed into the farthest corner away from the door or other activities of the cage ( 3ft squared) with the eyelet/ dowel method, string, or zipties

large ceramic bowls for food and water go into another corner.

a hanging toy gets tied into a third corner just to get in the way of backing up...

3-4 -5 what ever it takes fleece blankets are then dumped in and spread about to cover every single inch of floor space.. ( even better if they have slept in these blankets for a few days so they smell familiar)

fresh poo is put into the farthest corner of the litter box.

Next get a large cardboard box or something similar to drape the back quadrant of the cage.. making that area darker and away from you and possible distractions.

put ferret in box.. put nose to poo ( DONT RUB NOSE IN IT.. its useless) just make sure they get a good whiff...

let go... MANY times they'll immediately back up and go .... high praise time!

watch the ferret very carefully but from a distance... if you see them back up .. hollar to get his attention .. dash over.. pick him up .. put give him a whiff of the poo corner... dont let him out of the box till he goes

if there ARE messes clean them up completely!!! immediately.. dump them into the tray

when cleaning the tray for the first week only change the litter .. dont scrub the box and always put a fresh poo in the proper corner and give him a sniff when you put it back in place....

i've trained 3 week old kits, 12 week old hooligans, 2 yr old neglected adult, 8 yr old elderlies and everything in between with this method... keep with it.. it works

LORELEI

[Heather]

Thank you
ciao

[snowbunnie]

im on it. what about when they are out of the cage??? lol i guess start with baby steps.

[sherrylynne]

Pretty much, yeah For when they are out of cage, start with restricting how much area they can run in so you can watch them, and plunk their butts where they are supposed to go.

[candiceboggs]

Dec 12, 2010 1:06:05 GMT -5 sherrylynne said:

Next get a large cardboard box or something similar to drape the back quadrant of the cage.. making that area darker and away from you and possible distractions. LORELEI

This is the part I don't understand. I asked my husband and he didn't get it either. How would you apply whatever this means to a ferret nation 142?

Also, why do corner litter pans not work? Are they just best for free-roaming time around the house? The box square pans create another corner that make fuzzies think "oh! I'll just go there!" Saw it a LOT at a ferret shelter.

Last question in this post I promise LOL - how long in general did you have to keep doing this method or is it pretty much forever?

[Heather]

It should work whether your using the ferret nation or any cage. I would lock off the one level, so they only have one level and then drape a blanket over the top and back. It doesn't matter whether you're using the upper or lower level. All you're doing is darkening off the back of the cage so that it appears more private.
I find that my guys are not fond of the little corner boxes. I've got a couple of the really large corner boxes but they still prefer the box type litter boxes. My guys like to have all their feet in the box, even if it means standing on the back or the front of the box (my late alter actually props his hinny on the back of the litter box, sometimes he misses . A couple of my little girls on the other hand like to stand with their front paws on the front side of the litter box. Every one of my furkids want to plank all 4 paws in the litter box and won't use the smaller corner boxes if they can't fit.
How long....as long as it takes. Some learn within days, others....well... it takes longer .
ciao

[sherrylynne]

I've got some who will use the very large corner boxes. But not many. One of the problems I've found is the boys tend to pee to the middle of the boxes. After that, well, the girls don't want to get their feet wet, so they'll go elsewhere
Something else you can do is use a rubbermaid container(large enough), with a hole cut for them to get into easily enough, with the lid on it. That will give them the privacy the want, as well as the low cut entrance to make ingress/egress easy enough for them.

[sherik]

Thanks this was helpful.

[candiceboggs]

Dec 17, 2010 23:39:44 GMT -5 Heather said:

It should work whether your using the ferret nation or any cage. I would lock off the one level, so they only have one level and then drape a blanket over the top and back. It doesn't matter whether you're using the upper or lower level. All you're doing is darkening off the back of the cage so that it appears more private.
I find that my guys are not fond of the little corner boxes. I've got a couple of the really large corner boxes but they still prefer the box type litter boxes. My guys like to have all their feet in the box, even if it means standing on the back or the front of the box
How long....as long as it takes. Some learn within days, others....well... it takes longer .
ciao

Thanks, Heather. It's definitely more clear now.

[candiceboggs]

Dec 18, 2010 0:12:20 GMT -5 sherrylynne said:

You can also use a large rubber maid container, with a hole cut low in the one end, and the lid on it. That will give them the privacy they like, and an easy ingress/egress.

Thank you, Sherrylynne - I'm filing this away in my mental "ideas" box. Much appreciated.

[trippyferret]

This is very useful! I am going to give it a try. Bomber is about 95% accurate with the box, however my girls... they could use some work! lol.

[sherrylynne]

One thing Jennifer mentioned that also makes a lot of sense. Use more litter in the box in the winter especially. That way, all the urine goes to the bottom of the box, and no one gets cold, wet feet , which means a higher success rate at hitting the box!

[trippyferret]

So far it is working! 2 days with no poops outside the box in the cage. I'm used to finding at least one outside their box daily. Can't say the same for the outside of the cage though.

[sherrylynne]

Excellent! Just keep up with it, and you should have them doing well in the cage
Outside the cage is something else entirely, though

[trippyferret]

I have had absolutely no problem with poop outside the box since trying this method(a little over a week now). So now, I'm wondering, if I can add a level in there, or give them the rest of their cage back.