Thursday, February 18, 2010

Cat Toilet Training

Cat toilet training in easy steps:

Toilet training your cat is possible and can actually be an easier task than you might think. Several techniques can be used for training your cat to use the toilet, and you can even buy products that will assist you in toilet training a cat. In this article, I'm going to share with your briefly about one technique for cat toilet training.  If you want more information on this process, be sure to check out my suggestion at the end of this post.

The advantages of cat toilet training:
Teaching your cat to use the toilet can have many advantages for most cat owners. The biggest advantage of having your cat use a toilet is that eliminates many of the disadvantages of cat litter. For starters, cat litter is expensive to continually buy and use. After toilet training your cat, you won't ever need to buy cat litter again so you'll be saving money. Cat litter boxes need to be cleaned regularly or they will become smelly and can carry disease. With cat toilet training, however, the water in the toilet will mask most of the offending smell and all you need to do is flush regularly which is of course much simpler and easier than constantly cleaning a litter box. When you are away on vacation, instead of asking someone to clean out the litter box, all they will need to do is flush your toilet once in a while (when they come around to water your plants and feed your cat), which makes this job much simpler and faster to do.

How to toilet train a cat (do it yourself):
Toilet training your cat really depends on your cat's personality. Toilet training sociable cats that love being praised make the training task much easier for them. You might want to adapt the toilet training technique described below to fit your cat's personality. Training your cat to use the toilet can take anything between 2 weeks up to 3 months, depending on the individual cat's personality, so be sure to have patience and keep working at it.

Cat toilet training basically consists of a simple procedure: gradually moving your cat's litter box closer and closer to the toilet, finally placing a bowl with cat litter inside the toilet, and removing it altogether when your cat is comfortable and used to it. Toilet training a cat is a gradual, step-by-step process, consisting of making small changes to the location of the litter box and only continuing to the next step when your cat is entirely comfortable with its current step you are working on. You might have to wait anything between 2 days or 3 weeks before moving on a next step in cat toilet training. You might even have to go back a step once or twice when it turns out that your cat wasn't ready to move on to the next toilet training step. Remember - cat toilet training takes a lot of patience! (But you'll find out it is well worth the effort!

Basic cat toilet training steps:

1. Start gradually moving your cat's litter box nearer to the toilet until finally it should be just next to the toilet. Ensure that your cat is always comfortable and knows where it's litter box is.
2. Now start elevating the cat's litter box. Put something non-slippery like newspapers or cardboard underneath the litter box. A normal rate to increase the height of the litter box would be about 5cm a day, but be very attentive to signs that your cat is not comfortable with the current height, and adjust the pace of raising the litter box accordingly. The cat litter box should be raised until it is at a level as high as your toilet bowl. Throughout this process it is very important that you remember to keep the toilet lid open and the seat down, because your cat will get used to it and might even start climbing on the toilet seat in order to reach its litter box.

3. Move the litter box to rest on the open toilet seat. Keep it there until your cat seems comfortable with this arrangement and can use it easily.

4. Buy a metal bowl or tray that will fit tightly and easily inside the toilet bowl. Also, it is best for this bowl to have small draining holes, if possible. Fill the bowl with cat litter (preferably the flushable type so you don't back up your septic system). Now you can remove your cat's litter box entirely from the toilet and any other location in your house. If you have reached this step successfully you are very close to having a toilet trained cat!

5. While your cat is using the metal bowl inside the toilet, be attentive to where its paws are. The goal is teaching him to squat with all four paws on the toilet seat rim. You can move the cat while it is using the toilet and praise it (or reward it) when it is sitting in the correct position. Normally the cat will first sit entirely inside the metal bowl, then with front paws on the toilet seat, and finally it should sit with all four paws on the toilet.

6. Start using less and less cat litter. This can get smelly, so be sure to clean the bowl after every time your cat uses it. Cats scratch in sand or cat litter to cover up the smell (this is out of instinct), so if the bowl becomes too smelly your cat won't be comfortable using it (and you probably wouldn't be comfortable with using your toilet either). Using flushable cat litter makes cleaning the bowl very easy - just throw out the contents in the toilet and flush down, rinse out the bowl, refill with correct amount of cat litter and replace. A handy tip is to place newspaper on your bathroom floor around the toilet to help keep the room clean should your cat scratch in the cat litter. Decrease the amount of cat litter at a pace that your cat feels comfortable with.

7. When you are no longer using any cat litter inside the bowl, begin to gradually fill the bowl with water. The water will also help mask the smell so your cat will be more comfortable using the toilet. Be attentive to your cat's behavior through this whole process - if your cat stops using the bowl inside the toilet, you may be moving on too fast and might need to go back a couple of steps in this process so your cat doesn't find other places in the house to go to the bathroom!

8. When the water level in the bowl has reached about 4cm and your cat has no problem using it, it is time to remove the bowl entirely and allow your cat to go in the toilet. Your cat should now be toilet trained. Remember to always leave the toilet seat up and flush regularly!

Products to assist you in toilet training your cat:
There are several cat toilet training kits available on the market, if you need additional assistance. They basically consist of a tray that fits inside the toilet, and with a hole in the middle that you can gradually make bigger. When choosing a cat toilet training kit, ensure that you buy quality. The cat training kit should not be flimsy and should be able to support your cat's weight even when the hole becomes larger so the cat does not fall through. Be aware of cheap, flimsy imitation products you buy at toy stores or pet stores, because if your cat falls in, it might loose interest in toilet training completely and you will need to stop training.

The disadvantages in toilet training your cat:
Not everyone agrees that cat toilet training is such a great idea. They argue that it is unnatural for a cat to use a toilet, as it goes against their natural instincts to cover up their smell. Toilet seats can also be slippery and there might be the risk of your cat injuring itself. Even if your cat doesn't fall in at all, he may become anxious whenever he uses the toilet and going to the toilet can become an unpleasant task.

A litter box also has the health benefit in that it's easier to monitor your cat's urine for signs of infections or sickness, which is harder to do with toilet trained cats.

Moving locations will also be harder for the cat, because a litter box can be moved easily but the cat will first need to get used to using the new toilet. With some cats this is no problem and they can become comfortable with the new toilet very fast, while other cats might be less adaptable so go with the speed of your cat.

Things to remember when toilet training a cat:
The most important thing to remember is that the toilet training should be done gradually and you must have patience.  Never rush to the next step in the cat toilet training process until you are sure that you cat is completely comfortable with the current setup.
Make using the toilet as easy as you can for the cat and you'll find it much easier to train them to use it. Always remember to keep the toilet seat up and the bathroom door open. When you have guests, ensure that they also know about considering your cat. Also, remember to flush the toilet regularly as cats do not like using smelly toilets and you want them to be able to go to the bathroom when they need to.  Toilet training a cat is much easier when you have multiple bathrooms in the house and can use one specific toilet for the cat.

For more information about toilet training your cat - all of the tips, tricks, and secret tactics that work best when toilet training your cat!

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