You love your cat, the way she sits in your lap and purrs, her silly little tricks, and the unconditional love that she has for you. Cleaning her litter, well, that’s something else again. No one likes cleaning a dirty smelly litter box. The litter box can present a health risk, especially to pregnant women, and it stinks. Litter is expensive and presents an environmental hazard. You don’t have to be a professional animal trainer to train your cat to use the toilet.! With the right techniques, anyone can do it. Potty training! your cat eliminates a dirty job, a health hazard, and banishes the smelly litter box forever. Professional trainers suggest the following method for training your cat.
The Litter Box
If your litter box is already in your bathroom, you’re halfway there. If your litter box isn’t in the bathroom, move it slowly, a few inches each day, until it is in the bathroom this is training your cat. Once you have the box in the bathroom, begin elevating it. You can use bricks , concrete blocks or telephone books. Make sure it’s secure so your cat can’t knock it over. Raise the box until it is level with the toilet. As you raise the litter box, slowing reduce the amount of litter in the box, so your cat becomes used to using less litter.
Once the litter box is at the same height as the toilet, you need to start moving the box closer to the toilet. Try to do this in half inch increments. You can train a cat to use the toilet by teaching the cat that the litter box is the same thing as the toilet. Physical proximity will help with this. Keep removing a bit of litter with each move so that the cat becomes used to their being less and less litter. Keep doing this until there is less than an inch of litter left.
Replace the Box
The final step in training your cat to use the toilet is to put a litter pan over the toilet , but under the seat. You can use any pan the will fit, or you can buy a special training pan at your local or online pet store. Put less than an inch of flushable litter in the pan. Make sure the pan is secure and won’t slide around and scare the cat. If you can’t find a training aid pan, or don’t want to spend the money on one, use duct tape to secure the pan in place.
For the final step in toilet training your cat, cut a small hole in the bottom of the pan. If you have a kitty training aid, it may have pieces that can be removed so you won’t have to cut a hole. Gradually enlarge the size of the hole a little at a time.. As you enlarge the hole, the cat will get used to not having litter in the pan. When the hole is nearly as large as the opening of the toilet, you can remove the pan. Toilet training your cat is mostly an investment of your time and patience. The investment is worth it and you don’t have to deal with litter boxes again. Now, if you could only potty train the dog.
