Automatic Litterbox Central

Hi everyone,

I am new to the forum and will be bringing home a 14 wk female Maine Coon next week. I have spent the last few weeks researching litter/toilet training options. My first two choices are toilet training or cat genie. This forum has been especially helpful in educating me on both methods. I have read all the posts and consulted other forums too. So here's my question:

For those of you who have attempted or succeeded in toilet training a cat - would you do it again? I get the feeling that everyone is enchanted by the concept of a toilet trained cat, but how great is the reality? I know the training process takes tons of patience and I have the time and ability to put in the effort. I work from home, my husband and I have a spare bedroom with bathroom that no one else uses, so my setup is ready to go. I'm just wondering if cats who make it to the end of training remain consistent in their use of the toilet. How likely are they to view toilets (and no other surfaces) as their personal lavatory?

I would love your thoughts and advice! Thank you!!

P.S. - I will post a modified version of this email in the Cat Genie forum too.

It all depends on the cat. You can invest all the time and patience in the world (and you will, believe me!) but if the cat doesn;t want to, he won't. Being that yours is a kitten, if you start right away having his bathroom in the bathroom, it might be easier. Start with his litter box next to the toilet. Flush the toilet so he gets used to it and will eventually develope a curiosity for it. Soon he will be watching it flush all the time. Gradually, (read: very slowly) raise the height of his litterbox, keeping it next to the toilet. What ever you put under the litterbox to raise it, make sure the box is 100% stable-no wobbles from unevenness.Dont use newspaper, if the cat comes in running and jumps into the box, it will slide. Don't want that! Just keep raising the litter box , gradually, until its the height of the toilet seat. When you get there, come back. Well, report your progress for everyone to see, if you can. Good luck. sucess depends on kittys attitude about the whole thing. DO NOT teach him to flush! lol And put the toilet paper on the roll backwards.

abbey, thanks for the detailed training info, especially the bit about the toilet paper! It's so obvious when heard, but wouldn't have thought about that until there was a problem.

Course, I've got two cats and am not at all planning on toilet training.

But I think K Kat asked excellent questions and would love to hear the answers to them as well!

need tips on cat's toilet training
cake boards

Buy a litter kwitter (you can get new ones on ebay). Started my cat at about 4 months of age and had to give him a step stool to get him started getting up on the toilet to use it. Within a month, we are up to stage three which has him get up on the toilet and use the box with the big hole in it with a little litter. (and he has actually pooped entirely in the toilet once!) He loves to watch me clean it and flush the toilet, so I hope to eventually have him flush it too. We just started this third stage today (just means larger hole in the middle of the litter pan) so I'm hoping he doesn't reject it and go back a stage. I'm soooooo excited to have him come this far.

turtlebb wrote:Buy a litter kwitter (you can get new ones on ebay). Started my cat at about 4 months of age and had to give him a step stool to get him started getting up on the toilet to use it. Within a month, we are up to stage three which has him get up on the toilet and use the box with the big hole in it with a little litter. (and he has actually pooped entirely in the toilet once!) He loves to watch me clean it and flush the toilet, so I hope to eventually have him flush it too. We just started this third stage today (just means larger hole in the middle of the litter pan) so I'm hoping he doesn't reject it and go back a stage. I'm soooooo excited to have him come this far.

You are at a critical stage. Proceed v-e-r-y slowly. And expect accidents. Frequently, at this stage or the next, the cat will rebel and you will have to go back a stage. Praise him a lot when he does use the toilet. If he is treat motivated, by all means, reward him with a treat when he uses it, but it has to be immediately after he goes, any later, he wont associate the treat with using the toilet.Be patient, it takes time. Reinforce the good behavior, redirect the bad. If you find a poop on the floor, put it in the toilet, preferably while he is watching. Congrats for getting this far! Keep us updated on your progress.

You Know I bet Dr. Yin has talked about doing that potty training, it's on her page http://www.askdryin.com/cat_tricks.php.