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Wednesday, November 19, 2014

Cat Toilet Training

If I were starting today - this is how I'd do it!

If I were starting from scratch today, here's how I'd do it, step by step. (It's important that your cat be comfortable with each step so don't move on until each step has been accepted first! You may have to backtrack a step or two if you run into trouble.

First, move the litter box as close to the toilet as possible.

Raise the litter box a little each day. You can do this by putting newspapers or telephone books or whatever under the box. Just make sure it's stable. Your goal here is to get the cat used to hopping up and then doing his 'stuff'.

When ready, put the litter box right on top of the toilet seat. You might want to even skip this step and go to the next one. If you do put the box up there, raise the lid and the seat and just duck tape that sucker right onto the toilet bowl.

Now get yourself an aluminum roasting pan that fits into the toilet. My toilet accommodates the medium sized variety quite nicely. (Kmart - less than $2 - 14 1/16 x 9 11/16 x 2 3/4 ) Here's a photo of one. It's sitting on top of the toilet lid so you can see it... you don't use it that way

Put this in the toilet, put the seat down and put some litter in it - as if it were the litter box.

At this point it's a good idea, if you haven't already, to switch to flushable litter. I used Cat's Pride (Target but I think Kmart carries it, too) and it worked fine.

Every day reduce the amount of litter in the pan until you have just the barest layer.

Now, poke holes in the pan with an ice pick or screw driver. Most of the litter will fall through (which is why you want the flushable). But so will the pee and your cat will get used to the sound.

Now cut a small hole (about the size of a quarter) in the middle of the pan.

Increase the hole every day until you no longer need the pan or are happy with what you've got. Here's what ours looks like now...


Seat up	Seat down

Recently, BJ Jones, one of the pillars of our mailing lists, posted a great round-up of the most popular methods used by folks on the list. She said it was ok for me to post it here.

There are a number of options to use in toilet training.1. The Kitty Whiz. Buy it in pet stores or via catalogs. 2 plastic pieces shaped like toilet seats fit on your toilet seat or just under it. Holes are perforated and marked and torn/cut out gradually. Generally, not a good idea for beginning toilet training of kittens over 6 months, but a great way to start a tiny kitten due to it's being very shallow.
2. The roasting pan. This one is very popular. Roasting pans come in all shapes and sizes and can be conformed to fit a toilet. Caution needs to be used in cutting the hole and enlarging it as cats like to paw at the hole. The cut hole should be folded under where the cat won't get cut on sharp edges. If a roasting pan is used for a tiny kitten, be sure it's shallow and not very deep.
3. The sitz bath. Sitz Baths are usually used by people for relief of hemorrhoids. Who knew some bright person would come up with the idea of toilet training a cat on them! These are usually found in health stores and are made of plastic. You'll need a very sharp knife or dremel tool to make holes in them. Sitz baths are a hard plastic and may be more durable than the roasting pan or kitty whiz. One drawback is getting the sitz to fit on your toilet as sitz's don't come in all shapes and sizes and don't necessarily bend as easily as roasting pans.
5. Colander. Some people use plastic colanders and plastic. Litter is placed in plastic in the colander and gradually removed. Eventually, the cat has nothing but a colander of tiny holes to potty in, and holes are made in the colander and enlarged or the colander is removed all together without any cuttings.
6. Plastic Wrap. Once again--this is one method that should only be used on very tiny kittens and preferably after they've had their claws trimmed! This is probably the least favorable method.
7. Water in bowl. In this, a bowl that fits into the toilet is used. Litter is added and removed slowly. Then, the cat is given a bowl with a small amount of water to do his business in. There are some who've used this very effectively, but it seems a lot of cats must fight litter addiction, so the roasting pan, sitz, or kitty whiz are your better options.