How to
Toilet Train Your Cat
phase I

You will need:

  • Deep salad bowl or some other kind of bowl that fits inside the toilet (I bought a metal salad bowl at Walmart for $4.99)

First thing is first: TAPE THE TOILET LID OPEN. Even if you have the best memory on the planet when it comes to keeping the toilet lid up, your cat can still very easily close the lid accidentally by either being on top of the toilet and knocking it down, or by scratching at the lid as your cat tries to mark its territory. Sound unusual? My cat does! Cats actually have small scent glands in their paws, and my cat likes to leave his scent on the upright toilet seat lid before he goes. Not only would a closed toilet lid keep a cat from going in the toilet, disrupting training, its sudden closing may even scare the cat enough to sabatoge the training for a long time.

Assuming that you currently have your cat (or kitten) litter trained, you can begin by filling the salad bowl up with some litter, enough for the cat to be able to dig around in. Put the salad bowl inside the toilet bowl, then put the toilet seat down over the salad bowl. An example is shown to the left. Introduce the cat to the bowl of litter, and manually take one of its front paws and dig it several times into the litter (this is definitely the best way to litter train a cat). The cat will want to feel around and be able to stand in the litter when it's ready to go, and the size of the toilet seat should still allow the cat to do this. You should be able to remove the litter box from its location right away. If it looks like the cat is intimidated by the new litter location, there are two things you can do.

 

Strategies to help with training challenges

I think that most cats will have no problem with going in the litter bowl in the toilet, and hopefully none of the above measures will have to be taken at this stage.

Once the cat has gone successfully 2-3 days in a row in the toilet salad bowl (or the "toilad bowl" - just be sure not to confuse this with your real salad bowl), go on to Phase II.

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