How To Toilet Train a Cat

You've probably heard of cats that use the toilet just like their
people do. How is this accomplished?

Step 1: Move the litter pan into the bathroom.

Step 2: Move the litter pan closer and closer to the toilet, until it
is right next to it.

Step 3: Raise the litter pan higher and higher on books or bricks until
it is level with the toilet seat.

Step 4: Move the litter pan on top of the toilet seat.

Step 5: Replace the litter pan with a sheet of plastic taped to the
toilet seat. Cover the middle of the plastic with kitty litter.

Step 6: Retape plastic onto the seat such that it sags lower and lower
into the bowl.

Step 7: Remove the plastic. Of course, all these steps should be done
gradually, getting the kitty cat completely comfortable with each new
situation before going to the next. It helps if you have two or more
bathrooms in your house!

- from www.intellectual-playground.com

on Wed, 10 Jan 2007 22:13:45 GMT, "jstfrths" wrote:

Step 4: Move the litter pan on top of the toilet seat.

I would add to this: Duct tape the litter pan to the toilet. Trust me on
this.

I had Rudy very nearly toilet trained, but had to stop the process when I
temporarily lost my second toilet due to remodeling. Once the third
bathroom is in, I'm going to start again.

Some cats are very upset by having their litter pans moved, though, and for
those cats, I recommend a very, very, VERY slow transition. My Rudy has
always been super flexible about his litter box, so it was easy.

--
Lynne

on Wed, 10 Jan 2007 22:13:45 GMT, "jstfrths" wrote:

Step 5: Replace the litter pan with a sheet of plastic taped to the
toilet seat. Cover the middle of the plastic with kitty litter.

I should have read ahead. I used a disposable roasting pan for these
steps, gradually cutting a larger and larger hole in the center. I
wouldn't trust a sheet of plastic to hold up my fat cat. Even the roasting
pan wasn't great for support, so some might want to use something sturdier.
There is a product made just for toilet training cats that you can buy on-
line. Do a Google search. It is made of sturdy plastic and has different
inserts to be used as the process goes forward.

I also used a flushable litter in the bottom of the roasting pan so it was
safe once I started. Just a teeny bit for a while, and then none.

--
Lynne

jstfrths wrote:
You've probably heard of cats that use the toilet just like their
people do. How is this accomplished?

Step 1: Move the litter pan into the bathroom.

Step 2: Move the litter pan closer and closer to the toilet, until it
is right next to it.

Step 3: Raise the litter pan higher and higher on books or bricks until
it is level with the toilet seat.

Step 4: Move the litter pan on top of the toilet seat.

Step 5: Replace the litter pan with a sheet of plastic taped to the
toilet seat. Cover the middle of the plastic with kitty litter.

Step 6: Retape plastic onto the seat such that it sags lower and lower
into the bowl.

Step 7: Remove the plastic. Of course, all these steps should be done
gradually, getting the kitty cat completely comfortable with each new
situation before going to the next. It helps if you have two or more
bathrooms in your house!

- from www.intellectual-playground.com

there si something on the market from an australian company (I believe)
called "doogie's litter kwitter" which has these inserts which fit into
the loo seat or something. anyway you can get them from
www.petplanet.co.uk and it comes with a training DVD and instruction
booklet.

are you inthe states? not sure if this company will post it out to you
but you could try them, personally I find the whole thing a bit odd
especially as kittens will poo and bury things in dirt instinctually,
kind of goes against the grain for me

http://www.mingusmingusmingus.com/Mi..._training.html

bookie wrote:
jstfrths wrote:
You've probably heard of cats that use the toilet just like their
people do. How is this accomplished?

Step 1: Move the litter pan into the bathroom.

Step 2: Move the litter pan closer and closer to the toilet, until it
is right next to it.

Step 3: Raise the litter pan higher and higher on books or bricks until
it is level with the toilet seat.

Step 4: Move the litter pan on top of the toilet seat.

Step 5: Replace the litter pan with a sheet of plastic taped to the
toilet seat. Cover the middle of the plastic with kitty litter.

Step 6: Retape plastic onto the seat such that it sags lower and lower
into the bowl.

Step 7: Remove the plastic. Of course, all these steps should be done
gradually, getting the kitty cat completely comfortable with each new
situation before going to the next. It helps if you have two or more
bathrooms in your house!

- from www.intellectual-playground.com

there si something on the market from an australian company (I believe)
called "doogie's litter kwitter" which has these inserts which fit into
the loo seat or something. anyway you can get them from
www.petplanet.co.uk and it comes with a training DVD and instruction
booklet.

are you inthe states? not sure if this company will post it out to you
but you could try them, personally I find the whole thing a bit odd
especially as kittens will poo and bury things in dirt instinctually,
kind of goes against the grain for me

I know that it is possible, because a woman who lives next door to my
mother, has a cat that uses her loo too, but it is a bit odd,isn't it?
I can see why people would prefer they do...But I feel it must be a
little unatural for the cat?
I would hate it if someone stuck me on a cat litter & said,."Do It"!
Lol..
S)

on Thu, 11 Jan 2007 03:09:26 GMT, Cheryl
wrote:

Toilet training a cat is completely unnatural, and can cause
problems down the road. While you'd be able to see if there is
blood or clumps in the urine (unless your cat has mastered
flushing) you wouldn't be able to tell if you do see blood, if it
came from urine or feces if both are in the toilet when you flush
after him.

It would actually be easier to collect stool and/or urine with a toilet
trained cat. Simply put something under the lid for collection. You
could even get a sterile urine catch if you use a sterile container, so
I'd have to say that's not a compelling argument against toilet training.

Then there are problems that can arise when kitty gets
older and less agile. It will be that much harder for him to
transition to a litterbox in his senior years.

I'm against trying to toilet train a cat. Unnatural.

Going in a relatively teeny box indoors with clumping litter isn't
exactly natural, either--not compared to the great outdoors--but cats
have adapted just fine. I understand where you are coming from, but I
don't think it's a big deal at all. Certainly if a cat exhibited
behavioral problems related to elimination, well then that would be a
good indicator it's not an option for that particular cat. If he or she
doesn't, I'd say it is fine. A nice clean toilet that can be flushed has
to smell a heck of a lot better than even the most well kept litter box,
too. Not only that, it's much more environmentally friendly than
disposing of litter and/or feces in landfills, and that is _very_
important to me.

If I am able to successfully train both boys to use the toilet then of
course I will make accomodations when they are older, with either a ramp
or stairs to the commode, or a toddler potty. So I still don't see any
downsides. And before anyone argues that cats like to bury their waste,
I'd like to point out that not all of them do. We get a lot of posts
here complaining about that, in fact. My Rudy buries his, but only very
lightly. He also gets out of the pan and scratches all around it. He
can do the same with a toilet, and did when he was using it. I think
toilet training a cat is brilliant! I just hope Levi takes to it as well
as Rudy did.

--
Lynne

on Thu, 11 Jan 2007 03:58:25 GMT, Cheryl
wrote:

Hmm. You have a point there. Every time I see posts about how to
get a sterile catch, I wonder. One time I put gravel in a clean
litterbox at the request of a vet, but couldn't get kitty to go in
it. For that I would leave it up to the vet. If they have to cath
to get it, I guess it would be better than me trying to catch it
with a shy-bladder kitty. Could be less stressful to catch it in
saran wrap. But I just can't see my cats climbing up there to do
their business.

I always left my cat, Calvin at the vet for sterile urine catches. It
didn't phase him and I'm lazy that way. It sure would be easier to be
able to get it on the pot, though.

But what if your cat didn't display an aversion to using the toilet
until way after you trained him? They do this, you know. They do a
180 on us all the time.

Yep, it happens with litter boxes, too. I honestly think you have to
evaluate the temperament of the individual cat before even considering
trying something like this. Some cats can't handle any changes
whatsoever, other cats are very easy going. Most are in between.

If a toilet trained cat started showing an aversion to using the toilet,
I'd try a number of things, including putting a litter box right next to
the toilet at toilet level for starters, and additional litter boxes in
other locations. It would depend on what the cat was actually doing,
though. I'd want to rule out medical issues first, of course.

What if you have multiple cats, and some
won't use the toilet, and some do, and what if the one that does
decides to use the litterbox and never goes back to the toilet? Do
you try to re-train or do you decide it was an anomoly that he was
trained in the first place? My cats are extremely interested in
the toilet, and do believe they know what it's for, but I don't
think they'd use it consistently because they can't dig.

Rudy was using it very consistently, but he's also incredibly laid back.
I can and have moved litter boxes all over the house. I just show him
where they are and he's fine with it all. He is also very nonchalant
about new pets and visiting dogs. In fact, he seems to enjoy change and
is all over new people and visiting dogs as if they were covered in
catnip. Now Levi, I don't know how he will be. He's still very young.
I think it will be pretty obvious early on if he doesn't take to toilet
training. If that is the case, he will continue to have a litter box to
use. Rudy may decide he prefers that, too and not use the toilet. I
have 2 boxes, one upstairs in the master bathroom and one in the
basement. They pee upstairs and poo downstairs, so I will use the one in
the master bath for toilet training and see how it goes.

I'll try to take photos (it's a gas to see!), but I probably won't keep
a journal. There is a blog somewhere on the interweb that some woman
kept of her toilet training adventures. Her cat took a lot longer than
Rudy for each stage... I'm not sure I would have continued. But it was
her blog that gave me the idea to use the disposeable turkey pan. If
it's still out there, I'm sure you can find it on Google.

So even if only one cat (Rudy) takes to the toilet, I figure that's a
huge savings on litter and the resulting impact on our environment. Once
my basement is finished later in the year and I can devote a toilet to
the training period, I'll let y'all know how it goes!

I've never seen a cat that just sits on the litter and does it's
business and hops out of the box. There's always digging, whether
it's before the business or after.

Rudy isn't a big digger, except on the tile around the box when he's
done. Levi on the other hand throws litter like confetti, so he may very
well not take to toilet training. I am not hell bent on toilet
training--if it works, then great! If not, oh well. That was my
attitude before. I think if a person is too determined and gets
frustrated with it the cat(s) will pick up on that and all bets are off.
Rudy was fine going right back to the litter box, too, but he may be
highly unusual as cats go. He's certainly the most adaptable cat I've
ever had. I've never seen him stress out about anything.

--
Lynne

"jstfrths" wrote in message
oups.com...
You've probably heard of cats that use the toilet just like their
people do. How is this accomplished?

It shouldn't be. The only thing you should accomplish is flushing the stupid
idea down the toilet. Digging and burying waste is instinctual for cats-
just like scratching. You can't suppress millions of years of instinct in
an animal without it affecting her.

We've taken too much away from cats already out of necessity for their
benefit. Toilet training is unnecessary and just a silly, human convenience
from which the cat derives no benefit.. Let the cat be a cat.

If your stomach is too sensitive- or you're too lazy to scoop a litter box a
couple of times a week- buy a goldfish.

Phil P. wrote:
"jstfrths" wrote in message
oups.com...
You've probably heard of cats that use the toilet just like their
people do. How is this accomplished?

It shouldn't be. The only thing you should accomplish is flushing the stupid
idea down the toilet. Digging and burying waste is instinctual for cats-
just like scratching. You can't suppress millions of years of instinct in
an animal without it affecting her.

We've taken too much away from cats already out of necessity for their
benefit. Toilet training is unnecessary and just a silly, human convenience
from which the cat derives no benefit.. Let the cat be a cat.

If your stomach is too sensitive- or you're too lazy to scoop a litter box a
couple of times a week- buy a goldfish.#

HOORAH!!! i totally agree, i knew i had read it somewhere that it is an
innate instinct for cats adn kittens to bury their waste, youhave just
confirmed it for me. I hate it when people who are too lazy or precious
try to find some way to get out of a simple if a bit distatseful job
liek dealgin with litter, what if you have a baby? are you going to try
to genetically engineer one who can automatically change it's own nappy
fromthe day it is born so you don't have to?

it is this kind of thinking that has lead to declawing of cats by
tragic selfish people who think more of their soft furnishing than they
do of the cats who who live them.

if you do not like dealing with litter why can't you let your cat goes
outside to do it's business?

Bookie (who is just about to enpty jessie's litter tray in fact, and is
very happy to do so instead of forcing her to learn bizarre and
unnatural behaviours) xx

ps i am so worked up now i just broke a fingernail whilst typing, humph