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BEHAVIOR & TRAINING TOPICS

DOGS:
Bark Collars
shock collars
Coprophagia in the Canine
Parmacologic Treatment of Separation Anxiety
Behavior Modification: Departures
Behavior Modification: Relaxation
Behavior Modificaition: Uncouple Departures and Departure Cues
Leash training an adult dog

CATS:
Kitten behavior and training
Toilet Training your Cat
Feline Agression
Inappropriate Elimination

GENERAL:
Fears and Phobias
Destructive Behavior
Compulsive Behavior

OUTSIDE LINKS

www.greatpets.com
www.gentleleader.com
Pet Partners Program
Canines Unlimited
Capital Kennel Club

TOILET TRAINING FOR CATS MADE EASY

Do away with filthy cat litter. Civilize your pussy!

If you can teach your cats to sit on the edge of the toilet and do their thing, you can save lots of money.

Rule one: It is easy for you but difficult for the cat.

What you need:

1) Toilet
2) Aluminium cooking trays (pans).
3) Kitty Litter, (flushable litter strongly recommended)
4) At least one cat, preferably with a sense of humour.
5) Patience.

First decide which toilet in your house you intend to use. It is better if you can dedicate the toilet for the cats' use but it is not too inconvenient to share it. (Known as "training by example"!)

Begin by changing the old cats' litter tray to an aluminium foil cooking tray. The tray should be of a size suitable to fit into the toilet bowl in such a way that it sits on the rim but hangs inside. A little bending is allowed. It may be necessary to buy two or three different sizes of trays to ensure you find the ideal size. The tray should be two or three inches deep and should initially have 1/2 inch of litter. Move the cats' tray gradually closer to the toilet bowl that you intend to use. This should not be a difficult exercise as the cats will tend to use litter and will go where the litter is.

"Remove the rugs! Replace them with sand. Problem Solved!"

Next place the tray in the toilet bowl. The first time you place the litter tray on the toilet bowl ensure the cats know it is there by scrapping their paws in the litter whilst making encouraging sounds. The tray should be left there to get the cats used to mounting the toilet to find the litter. The tray should fit neatly on the bowl and the lowering of the seat should hold it in place. The toilet lid should not be closed for obvious reasons.

This stage should last about three weeks before you start reducing the litter and making a small hole (about 1"diameter) in the tray. As you reduce the litter in the tray ensure that it is cleaned more often. Cats will shy away from a dirty tray especially if there is inadequate litter to cover the previous messes.

After that, enlarge the hole gradually. Increasing the diameter of the hole 1/2" each time, maybe every week. If you see a cute little mess on the floor then it is a quiet hint from one of your cats that you are moving a little too fast for it.

The cats will begin with all paws in the bowl but will gradually start putting their paws on the seat when you enlarge the holes and they find inadequate room to put their paws into the tray. There should not be much need for you to move their paws into the correct position.

Because of the shape of the tray that I used, I began with two holes in the tray. Gradually widening them. I have one "big" cat, Carson, who is surprisingly heavy. They say that one feature of Burmese cats is that you are always surprised how heavy they are when you pick them up. As such I used two trays doubled up in my training program so as to support Carson's weight. If you have a heavy cat I would recommend that approach. In a previous life I had just bought a plastic commercial training tray for my cats, and one cat fell through into the toilet the first time that she tried to use it! Though it was one of the funniest things that I've seen, it did put the training program back about two weeks which was a shame, as it had only been going for one day. That incident alone made the whole training session worthwhile for me. If your cat has a sense of humour you might try booby-trapping the tray and filming the results.

Cats under six months old seem to be slower picking up the training. I suspect that is because they cannot balance so well at a young age and there is a certain amount of balancing required in this trick.

Remember, not having litter to scratch is initially distressing for the cats and it is hard to train them to overcome this basic instinct. It is also quite distressing for you to watch them struggle with the need to scratch at the litter but I assure you that in the long run it all becomes worthwhile. I also wrapped the seat in ordinary medical bandages to give the cats a firmer grip on the seat. You cannot really do this if any members of the household also use the toilet, (unless they also like to grip the seat).

Flushable litter makes the training easier for you as you can empty the tray straight into the toilet and flush it away. Also you will have no problems with litter that falls through the holes in the tray, into the toilet. You can just "flush" that away as well.

The cats begin by sitting completely in the tray. The second stage they begin to sit with their front paws on the seat but the hind legs in the tray. As the holes get larger they move three legs onto the seat and one leg in the tray, before finally they are sitting with four feet on the seat, which is when you can remove the tray. The whole process could take 2-3 months.