How to Train Your Cat to Use the Toilet

You have probably heard or read that cats can be trained to use the toilet. Can I train my kitty to use the toilet you ask yourself? If you could do that, instead of dealing with messy, smelly litter, you could get rid of your cat's elimination with just one flush! That would be nice.

Your cat needs to be old enough to balance herself on the toilet seat, so you can't start this too early in his or her life. You should have at least a 6 to 9 month year old cat for this to be successful.

If you have two toilets in the house, the job would be easier for you. You would use one just for the cat and one for yourself during the training period. You can still do it if you only have one toilet. It's just more convenient to have a toilet for the cat.

You start out by getting ready an aluminum tray for the toilet bowl. You can use a cooking tray that is wide enough to fit the toilet. Since aluminum is easy to shape, it will be easy to make it fit. Don't put the tray in the toilet bowl now. You are just getting it ready. You also need to replace whatever you are now using for a litter pan with an aluminum one. The idea is to get your cat use to the aluminum tray as his litter box. Make sure you put the new pan with the same litter in the same spot. (Get flushable litter if you are not now using it. You'll need it later in the process.) The only thing different is the pan. The aluminum pan in the toilet won't seem so foreign to your cat when you have aluminum at both places.

What you do is gradually move the litter box closer to the toilet. Be careful not to move it too far each time. Also, make sure your cat knows where it is by taking her over to it and scratching her paws in it. If you see that your cat stops using the box, you are probably going too fast for her so back up and move it more slowly. Training a cat to use a litter box is a process that takes a long time so you need lots of patience.

When your cat is using the litter box that is next to the toilet, raise it an inch off the floor. By all means make sure you use something that will keep the box stable and will not slide off. As time progresses, raise the box an inch higher until it is level with the toilet. This may take weeks; don't rush this. As it gets higher the cat will have to jump up into it so it is critical that the box is stable, if it tips over this will scare your cat and she might not want to use it again.

You should have the tray ready in the toilet so put it between that seat ring and the toilet base. It's important that you have a good, snug fit. Put some of the flushable litter the cat is used to in the tray that's in the toilet.

Your cat will still be using the litter box that is next to the toilet. This will continue for several weeks. Slowly, reduce the amount of litter in the box that's next to the toilet. When the amount of litter is really small, your cat will start using the box in the toilet since that has plenty of litter. Once this is happening regularly, take the litter box next to the toilet away.

The final step is to reduce the amount of litter in the toilet box. You also need to make a small hole in the pan. As time passes, continue to reduce the litter and make the hole larger. Remember to go slowly with this. You want your cat to feel very much at ease with this. Eventually, you can remove the tray all together and your cat will be toilet trained!

Be patient as this process may take several months. You now have a new problem. You'll have to knock next time you want to use the bathroom as your cat may be using the toilet!