Expert: Dear Tabbi - 7/21/2008

Question
Hello I have a cat named boo i got her from an abuser she was bad with humans but know she is fine. I was wondering if it is possible to teach my cat to go to the restroom in my toilet. If possible tell me how.

Answer
Wes,

There is a toilet training kit you can get at PetSmart/Petco/etc.

And here are some articles I have. I have never tried it but one of them may work for you:

Ready? First start by training yourself ...

The very most important thing to remember is: Lid Up, Seat Down. Post a note on the back of the door or the lid of the toilet if you think you (or your housemates or guests) might forget.  And if you are accustomed to closing the bathroom door when it's empty, you'll have to break that habit too.

Begin by moving the cat's current litter box from wherever it is to one side of the toilet. Make sure he knows where it is and uses it. Rest. Next put something — a stack of newspapers, a phone book, a cardboard box — under the litter box to raise it, say, about an inch. (Magazines are too slick; you don't want the litter box sliding around and making Felix feel insecure. Tape the litter box down if you need to.) Rest. Get another box or phone book and raise it a little higher. Rest. Continue this process until the bottom of the litter box is level with the top of the toilet seat. (For Misha I raised it about two inches per day.)

At the beginning of this process, your cat could just step into the box; later he began jumping up into it, until at some point he probably started jumping up onto the toilet seat first and stepping into the box from there. You've been diligently keeping the lid up and the seat down, of course, so by now your cat is thoroughly familiar with tromping around on the open toilet.

Lift the seat on your toilet and measure the inside diameter of the top of the bowl at its widest point. Venture forth and buy a metal mixing bowl of that diameter. Do not (I discovered this the hard way) substitute a plastic bowl. A plastic bowl will not support the cat's weight and will bend, dropping into the toilet bowl and spilling litter everywhere, not to mention startling hell out of the cat.

Now you move the litter box over so that it's sitting directly over the toilet seat. (If your cat has shown reluctance over previous changes, you might want to split this into two stages, moving it halfway onto the seat and then fully over.) Take away the stack of phone books or whatever. Rest.

Here's the cool part. Take away the litter box entirely. (Ta da!) Nestle the metal mixing bowl inside the toilet bowl and lower the seat. Fill the bowl with about two inches of litter (all of this is much easier if you have the tiny granules of litter that can be scooped out and flushed).

Naturally, any humans using the toilet at this point will want to remove the metal bowl prior to their own use and replace it afterward. The next week or two the whole process is likely to be something of an annoyance; if you begin to think it's not worth it, just remember that you will never have to clean a litter box again.

Watch your cat using the bathroom in the metal bowl. Count the number of feet he gets up on the toilet seat (as opposed to down in the bowl of litter). The higher the number, the luckier you are and the easier your job is going to be ...

...because next you have to teach him proper squatting posture. Catch him beginning to use the toilet as much of the time as possible and show him where his feet are supposed to go. Just lift them right out of the bowl and place them on the seat (front legs in the middle, hind legs on the outside). If he starts out with three or, heaven forbid, all four feet in the bowl, just get the front two feet out first. Praise him all over the place every time he completes the activity in this position.

You can also reward him with small food treats and wean him from them later when the toilet behavior has 'set.' Just keep the treats as small and infrequent as possible — half a Pounce or similar treat per occasion should be plenty.)

When he is regularly using the toilet with his front feet out (and some cats naturally start from this position), begin lifting a hind foot out and placing it on the seat outside the front paws. Felix will probably find this awkward at first and try to replace the foot in the litter. Be persistent. Move that foot four times in a row if you have to, until it stays there. Praise and/or treat.


Repeat with the other hind foot, until your cat learns to balance in that squat. (There will actually be two different squats, a low one for urine elimination and a high one for bowel movements.) Once he's getting all four feet regularly on the seat, it's all downhill from here.

Which is fortunate, because the last bit is also the most unpleasant. I suggest that you postpone this stage until you have at least a weekend, and preferably several days, when you (or another responsible party) will be at home most of the time. I skipped through this part in about two days; I only hope that your cat allows you to move along that fast.

Begin reducing the litter in the bowl. Go as fast as he'll feel comfortable with, because as the litter decreases, the odor increases. You'll want to be home at this point so that you can praise him and dump out the contents of the bowl immediately after he's finished, to minimize both the smell and the possibility that your cat, in a confused attempt to minimize the smell on his own, tries to cover it up with litter that no longer exists and ends up tracking unpleasantness into the rest of the house.

By the time you're down to a token teaspoonful of litter in the bottom of the bowl, your next-door neighbors will probably be aware of the precise instant your cat has used the toilet. This is as bad as it gets. The next time you rinse out the metal bowl, put a little bit of water in the bottom. Increase the water level each time, just as you decreased the litter level. Remember — if at any point Felix looks nervous enough about the change to give the whole thing up and take his business to the corner behind the door, back up a step or two and try the thing again more slowly.

Once the water in the mixing bowl is a couple of inches deep and your cat is comfortable with the whole thing, you get to perform the last bit of magic. Take the mixing bowl away, leaving the bare toilet. (Lid Up, Seat Down.)

Voila! Your cat is now toilet-trained.

http://www.karawynn.net/mishacat/faq.html

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Feline Toilet Training

Buy a spare toilet seat and attach it to the top of the litter box with the seat down - cats are squatters. Let the cat get used to this arrangement.

Put some clear plastic wrap (eg saran wrap) under the seat, with a hole cut in the middle. This keeps the cat from climbing in, and forces them to squat on the seat. Sprinkle some cat litter around the hole and let the cat get used to this arrangement. This step generally takes the longest.

Raise the whole contraption up about half the height of your toilet. Make sure the contraption is securely in place, as falling at this point can ruin the whole deal. Let the cat get used to this arrangement.

Raise the whole contraption up to the height of your toilet. Again, make sure this contraption is securely in place as falling at this point can ruin the whole deal. Let the cat get used to this arrangement.

Transfer the plastic wrap and cat litter (flushable!) to under the seat of the real toilet. Let the cat get used to this arrangement.

Hide the real litter box.

Slowly make the hole in the plastic wrap bigger and bigger, until the plastic wrap is all gone.

You now have a cat that pees (and whatnot) in the toilet.

For the brighter cat, some of these steps can be skipped; feel free to adjust as needed. For detailed instructions, see the book How to Toilet Train Your Cat : 21 Days to a Litter-Free Home by Paul Kunkel.

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I have had a couple of cats that have used the toilet, but they just did it on their own, I never taught them.

I hope this helps.

Carol