Potty Learning | Cat Training

How To Start Your Cat Toilet Training

Cat owners know, scooping a smelly cat box and lugging large sacks of kitty litter home is nobody’s idea of a good time. You may have seen pictures of cats using a toilet and wondered how that pet owner got so lucky. Cat toilet training can be conducted in as little as 3 or 4 weeks, or for harder to teach kitties, up to 3 or 4 months. Learn how to potty train your kitty and the reward for your effort will be the end of scooping a stinky litter box.

To start potty training your kitty, go slowly. The transition from litter box to toilet should be accomplished in a series of stages. If at any time he has a setback and uses a rug instead of the potty, then you may be going too quickly. Just back up a stage or two and try again.

The first step in cat toilet training is to place your cat’s usual litter box next to the toilet. Give him several days or even a week to get used to the new location. Over, say a week or two, elevate the litter box a few inches at a time until it is the height of the toilet seat. You can use telephone books, a stool and stacks of magazines or newspapers; just about anything that will add height but is stable while your cat is using the box.

Now, move the litter box over so that it is sitting directly over the toilet seat. Let your cat adjust to this for a few days. The next step in potty learning is a big one. Take away the box entirely.

Toilet training for cats is big business and many companies sell “kitty potty training” kits or a toilet training system online and at pet retailers, or you can purchase a metal mixing bowl or aluminum roasting pan for this next step. Place either container (measure the inside of the rim to make sure your bowl or pan is big enough) inside the toilet bowl and lower the seat. Fill it with a few inches of scoop-able litter. You may need to tape it in place to prevent it from sliding around.

Begin reducing the litter in the container every few days. Go as fast as your cat will feel comfortable with. Make sure to flush the waste immediately to minimize both the smell and the possibility that your cat tries to cover it up and ends up tracking unpleasantness into the rest of the house.

By now, you should be down to a teaspoonful of litter in the bottom of the container. Start adding a little bit of water to the container. Increase the water level every few days. Remember that if your kitty isn’t adjusting well, back up a step and try again more slowly.

Once the water in the bowl or pan is a couple of inches deep and your cat is comfortable with everything, take the container away, leaving the bare toilet. The task of potty training is now complete.

Cat toilet training timeframes are different for each cat. If your kitty is reluctant at any stage of training, then go back a step or two. Don’t sweat it. Just slow down and just follow these potty training tips. You have to be patient.