I have recently acquired a new family member. He’s about ten weeks old and picked up on litter training extremely fast. DH is not a cat fan, and I’m not a cat box fan (really, nobody is). I know that cats CAN be potty trained, but has anyone successfully done it? Any tips would be appreciated!!
[QUOTE=runNjump86;6613154]
I have recently acquired a new family member. He’s about ten weeks old and picked up on litter training extremely fast. DH is not a cat fan, and I’m not a cat box fan (really, nobody is). I know that cats CAN be potty trained, but has anyone successfully done it? Any tips would be appreciated!![/QUOTE]
Sorry, I can’t understand your question.
Cats come with inherited litter training.
Not using the litter box can happen if a cat is sick, dislikes something about it, or is marking or afraid of where others mark.
What do you mean by “potty” training?
Teaching it to use a toilet, to go out in the yard, or … ?
My guess is that she means in the toilet?
I’ve known a few people have done it, although I never have. I thought about it for our Orange one, but I’ve heard that you shouldn’t teach them to flush, since that’s what they’ll do all day.
I taught our cat to use the toilet years ago, with a light plastic liner you buy at the pet store, that you put a bit of litter in there, then cut the middle out once your kitten knows to use that space and eventually take the liner out and the kitten keeps using the toilet:
http://i13.photobucket.com/albums/a298/Robintoo/Missy2-1.jpg
Just don’t teach it to flush, because then that becomes a great game and your kitten will flush all day long to watch the water go down the toilet.:eek:
The problem with your cat using a toilet is that you have to be sure the lid is always up and keep cleaning good before humans use it.
Also, if your kitten has a bad day it is sore, it takes an effort to get up there and a sick or sore cat may not be able do to that and start a bad habit of using some other place.
We didn’t have any problems, but have heard of people that did, especially as their cats got older.
Are you really sure that you want a cat’s dirty feet, which have been just about everywhere and which have been washed by a cat’s dirty tongue, maybe right after they have licked their hind end, planted firmly on the seat of your toilet every time they go? The times when I have thought about training a cat to use the toilet, that’s the thing that has always stopped me. If DH isn’t a cat person, that ought to really disgust him.
After all, you think nothing about cleaning your horse’s stall, so, for a horse person, cleaning a litter box should be a piece of cake.
[QUOTE=Louise;6613213]
Are you really sure that you want a cat’s dirty feet, which have been just about everywhere and which have been washed by a cat’s dirty tongue, maybe right after they have licked their hind end, planted firmly on the seat of your toilet every time they go? The times when I have thought about training a cat to use the toilet, that’s the thing that has always stopped me. If DH isn’t a cat person, that ought to really disgust him.
After all, you think nothing about cleaning your horse’s stall, so, for a horse person, cleaning a litter box should be a piece of cake.[/QUOTE]
Most cat people I know have no problem with their cats walking all over their countertops, beds, couches, coffee tables, and other personal spaces after burying their excrement in litter boxes, so I would say this alternative is certainly preferable to that one.
We kept a spray can of Lysol right there and used it all the time.
You only have to train the humans to keep things clean.
Our cat did her part being very clean herself.
She seemed to like the toilet better than the litter box by it, once she caught to using it, so we finally took the litter box away and never missed it.
Then, she was a specially smart kitten.
Yeh, me either, but, I’m not sitting on any of them with my naked butt, or running the risk of the water splashing up onto me by accident.
[QUOTE=Louise;6613297]
Yeh, me either, but, I’m not sitting on any of them with my naked butt, or running the risk of the water splashing up onto me by accident.[/QUOTE]
But you’re preparing your food on those countertops…
I imagine anyone that takes the time to toilet train a cat would likely have very, very OCD toilet cleaning habits, or an otherwise dedicated cat bathroom.
Not without them being thoroughly sanitized, I’m not. That’s what all those cleaning products are for. And, I certainly don’t prepare my food on a bare countertop.
Look, cats and dogs are filthy creatures. That doesn’t stop me from loving my four cats to death, and I’m certainly not a Susie Creamcheese when it comes to keeping a clean house. I’m not going to teach my cats to go in the toilet, because I think it’s far too dirty a habit to encourage. What if they miss a little when they pee? But, if you want to teach your cats to do it, be my guest. It’s your house, and your life. Just tell me about it when I come to your house, and I’ll bring my disinfecting wipes to use on your toilet seat before I go.
How is a kitty miss any worse than a hubby who can’t hit the target consistently? Just sayin.
[QUOTE=arabiansrock;6613801]
How is a kitty miss any worse than a hubby who can’t hit the target consistently? Just sayin.[/QUOTE]
:lol: This.
While urine might be sterile when its still in the bladder, it does pickup bacteria and such on the way out. We all have personal flora and fauna hitchhikers.
Unless you have open wounds on the skin that comes into contact with any contamination on the seat, your skin does a pretty darn excellent job of keeping that stuff out of your body. A quick spray of Lysol will take care of the seat; using something like a Chlorox tab in your toilet tank will kill bacteria in the bowl water between flushes.
If anything, toilet training might be safer since the handler doesn’t have to come in contact with the feces – no chance of direct contact with any of the bad bacteria that live in cat stools. Once you remove the litterbox from the equation entirely, and especially with an indoor-only cat, their paws won’t be coming in contact at all with any eliminations wastes. And if they’re anything like dogs, their mouths and therefore saliva, is a heck of a lot “cleaner” than ours.
Well, since I’m dealing right now with a cat whose pee and poop are radioactive, I might differ about hubby pee vs. kitty pee. :lol:
The OP is free to do what she wants, as are you all. I’m the type who puts paper down on the seat in public places, which I know makes a lot of you younger folks giggle. The ewww factor is just too high for me. I’m not going to sit in human pee or poop, and I’m not going to sit in kitty pee or poop. Therefore, since I don’t think that cleaning a litter box is that horrible a task, I’ll continue to use that method.
When I was young my parents did this with our first two cats. I don’t remember why they stopped doing it, but the cats were trained, and if they had to go and couldn’t get out, they went int the potty. Even 10+ years later.
However, if the potty is objectionable, my family heard about these recently. My sister took the plunge and RAVES about it as the best thing ever. My mom is having one installed in her house and we’re probably going to do it, as we calculate it will pay for itself in about 6 months.
Personally I see a huge difference in cleaning a stall vs. a litter box. Plus I am NOT a fan of the “litter trail” near and around the actual box.
I too fail to see how disgusting it is to have a cat perch on the toilet seat. Do you wipe your personal toilet down before every use since I’m assuming other people use it as well? I do not allow cats on countertops, ever. I have a spray bottle of water handy in case he gets too curious.
Thanks for the link Bluey! Did you put a small box on top of the toilet to teach your cat to jump up there at first?
The kit was given to us by a friend, don’t know where she bought it.
It was a very light transparent plastic cover for the toilet seat, that you put some litter in there.
The kitten, about 6 months old then, curious, jumped there and found the litter and started using it.
After a week, we cut a hole in the plastic, no more litter and she kept jumping up there and using it as her litter box, ignoring the one on the floor right there she had been using then for 2 months already, a clear preference on her part.
After another week, we took the plastic clear out and she always used that toilet from then on.
We kept a can of Lysol to spray and clean after her, today probably those clorox wipes would do as well.
I found that kit on Amazon and guess what, even Walmart has them: :lol:
http://www.walmart.com/ip/CitiKitty-Cat-Toilet-Training-Kit/14997625
[QUOTE=littleum;6614221]
When I was young my parents did this with our first two cats. I don’t remember why they stopped doing it, but the cats were trained, and if they had to go and couldn’t get out, they went int the potty. Even 10+ years later.
However, if the potty is objectionable, my family heard about these recently. My sister took the plunge and RAVES about it as the best thing ever. My mom is having one installed in her house and we’re probably going to do it, as we calculate it will pay for itself in about 6 months.
http://www.catgenie.com/[/QUOTE]
Ok, this gives me the excuse to post one of the funniest Amazon reviews: http://www.amazon.com/review/R32RN0APNFZAUM
It’s an old review, so maybe all the bugs have been worked out of the Cat Genie.
I’m not going to teach my cats to go in the toilet, because I think it’s far too dirty a habit to encourage.
seriously? going in the toilet is SO MUCH CLEANER than going in the litterbox- the cats don’t ever touch the excrement, and it never touches the toilet, and you don’t ever need to touch the excrement yourself.
If you have no litterbox, they don’t get excrement on their paws to track around all over the house, and obviously they don’t track it onto the toilet seat. It never touches the toilet seat.
Most of the problems I’ve heard about with toilet-trained cats were caused by people error- someone forgot to leave the seat up, or closed the bathroom door.
I’d much rather sit where a cat has perched/walked/stood/sat than sit on/in Lysol/Clorox. I don’t like to use those products where my kitties will perch/walk/stand/sit/sleep/etc. Don’t want them licking harsh chemicals off their little toes. And as for breathing those fumes … ! And if you put a Clorox tab in the tank, how do you keep your kitties from drinking out of the toilet?
Or keep you cats off the kitchen counters when you’re not home? Shut the kitchen doors?
There are a lot more user-friendly cleaning products around, and those are the ones I use.
FrenchFry, I have missed you! Haven’t seen any posts by you in ages and ages! Hope all is well. Maybe I’ve just been visiting the wrong threads?
