"Toilet Training" the cat?

Has anyone had any success getting their cat human-toilet trained with products such as "Litterkwitter" or similar? I've seen the youtube videos with cats going to the bathroom in toilets and I'm quite amazed, is this something that must be taught at a very young age? Some advice on this topic would be awesome, it seems unbelievable!

-Steve

No personal experience on this topic, but a few thoughts that might help you...

1. Do a search on the forums here for toilet training and see what comes up.

2. Go on amazon.com and read all of the "customer reviews" on similar products to those you mentioned... This seems to be one of those "if you're cat will do it great, but most won't" products. Also, there is a wide range in quality and safety in the products themselves.

3. Be prepared for the long-haul.... All of the threads and reviews I've read lead me to not go this route, because it can take a very long time, you generally do better if you have a spare bathroom (imagine having to move the tray w/ litter on/off the toilet everytime you go).

4. Be prepared to provide a regular box until your cat "gets it" otherwise he/she may resort to your rugs, carpet, bed, etc (and once those sorts of habits form, it can be very hard to break them).

I'd think that starting the cats on this early would be your best bet, maybe starting by training them to a very small round / oval shaped litter pan, decreasing the amount of litte, then putting it on increasingly raised boxes, etc...until it's at toilet height, then stepping up to the actual toilet seat cover device, etc. Apparently going very slow is the most common way to success with this product (from what I've read). This might also work best for a smaller cat...since it will have limited space to do it's business.

One thing that you should consider...using something like this will make it very hard to keep track of how often your cat goes (pee) and in what quantities, if it has blood in it, etc...so could make it harder to see signs of illness (like a UTI). the same could be said for non-clumping litter though.

I hope this helps, even if it isn't first-hand experience. Good luck whichever method you choose.

Art

I've wondered this too, when I get home I usually find my kitty sitting on the toilet (with the lid down) - it's like she knows I sit on it, but she doesn't really know what I do on it because she can't see what I do, sometimes I think how great it would be if she knew what I did on the toilet so she'd do it too!

But I'd be too worried - I like to be able to see what she's done that day to make sure nothing has changed healthwise.

The fact that you can't see the kitty's droppings does seem like a downside to this approach. Fortunately though I think you can get a good look at it if you walk into the bathroom shortly after kitty finishes his or her business, and before you flush the toilet. As long as what you're looking for can show up in a pool of water as it could in a litter box, which may or may not be the case with bloody urine.

Its a 50/50 chance. IMO its not worth it. I tried it one time with my first cat - he was terrified of water. Worked well till the pan was taken out and he saw there was water in the toilet - never got up there again and I had to go back to the normal litter box.

IMO there is too many negatives vs the positives.

1. You cannot monitor how much or how little they are going (especially peeing).
2. You cannot really monitor their poop either.

Those are the biggest reasons I will not try to train them. I can monitor the litter box a lot quicker and safer then checking in the toilet.

Just show her where the toilet is. I've found that technique to work in the past with litter boxes so a toilet should be no different. Just set her down on the seat. She will take it from there.


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