Teaching Tricks and using the toilet?

[meowkittymeow]

I'm not sure if this is the place to place this, if there is a better place, please move

Has anyone taught their cats tricks? Is it something that is possible? And on a similar note, what do you guys think of teaching a cat to use the toilet? My husband mentioned this to me and showed me how we could possibly do it... It seems unsafe and like they could fall in!

 

[pinkdagger]

It's definitely doable, but depends on the cat. I haven't done it myself with either of our cats though. I know a lot of animals thrive really well on clicker training, and I had taught one of my lovebirds a few tricks with the clicker (playing basketball and taking shapes off a peg). Clicker training is one of the faster and easier ways to train, I find, because it builds a direct association to the clicker, rather than a voice that may not always be consistent in verbal order or tone. A clicker always sounds the same, and it will always mean they did something good and a treat is coming.

http://www.catster.com/cat-behavior/clicker-training-for-cats

I've contemplated clicker training Kismet and even my birds again, but I keep forgetting to bring my clicker back up with me when I visit home. The first bird I trained was a massive people pleaser, but by and large, the pets I have now know I'm a massive pet pleaser and may or may not exploit that.

For toilet training, it's a consistency thing. I looked into this several years back, before I even had cats. From what I've seen, you just place a litter bowl on the edges of the toilet bowl. Since the bowl isn't very big, the cat will do their best to not slip backwards because they know there's a limit space for them to fall into or they'd be falling on their own waste. A lot of cats I've seen in videos are clinging to the outer edge of the toilet seat. Over time, you just remove the bowl and replace it with a piece with a hole cut into it so they get practice not falling in as the hole gets bigger. There are actually a lot of YouTube videos of toilet training successes, and some even on TCS, but of course there are the ups and downs in the process. I would keep litter boxes around as alternatives to the toilet as well, but I don't know if that defeats your purpose.

http://www.thecatsite.com/t/270990/success-with-toilet-training

http://www.thecatsite.com/t/92682/toilet-training-my-kittens

http://www.thecatsite.com/t/63209/toilet-training-update

http://www.thecatsite.com/t/262019/toilet-training-adventures

If you decide to take the plunge, please let us know how it goes!

 

[andrya]

l think it depends on the temperament of the cat. l got the clicker training kit and it only interests one of my cats - the other two are just too "aloof".

The one cat gets right into it.

For the toilet training, l've never tried it, and l've read that it can cause inappropriate litter/toileting issues with the cat, and causes them undue stress.

Maybe someone who's tried it can give you some better feedback.

 

[meowkittymeow]

Thank you so much for those links!! After reading that stuff, I am going to order the rings and flushable litter tomorrow and give it a try! My husband stays home so someone will always be here to watch and "help" if needed.

I would like to eventually get rid of the litter box, simply because with 4 cats I am having to clean a lot of boxes daily! (esp. with a picky one who has to have a CLEAN CLEAN CLEAN box). 

 

[thehistorian]

I would definitely advise against training a cat to use a toilet. It is just not natural for cats to use toilets. The practice of digging a hole to deposit waste and burying the waste is a behavior they evolved for survival reasons in the wild. Taking that away from them is like taking meat away from them in my opinion. 

 

[mani]

Yes, to me, getting cats to use our toilets is just easier for us, and saves a lot of litter (which is a good thing).  But I feel it's really unnatural for the cats. 

 

[plan]

A friend of mine taught her cat to use the toilet and to flush. I would not have believed it if she didn't show me a video of it on her iPhone. She said she started training her immediately when she got her as a kitten, and used some sort of toilet seat attachment she bought on eBay. I didn't see it up close, but it looked like an oval piece of plastic that fit within the toilet seat, with a smaller opening for the cat to do her business through. The opening was small enough that the cat can't fall through.

IIRC she told me she never had a litterbox in the house and the toilet is the only way her cat knows how to do her biz.

As for tricks, I've been trying to get my kitten to high-five me the way James Bowen's Bob, of book fame, can do. Not so successful. My kitten just wants to grab or lick my hand in search of treats. I decided to go for a more modest goal and get him to put one paw up when I say "paw," followed by a treat. He does it properly about half the time, so we've got work to do.

 

[jcat]

Our cat decided on his own to use the toilet when the lid is left up. I'm not happy when my husband forgets to close the lid, because it makes it much more difficult to monitor Mogli's excretions. He has IBD, so it's important to keep an eye on the consistency of his stool, and I worry that I'll miss a decrease in the amount of urine that could point to a developing UTI. I also am afraid that some day he'll come in contact with caustic toilet bowl cleaners.

One of my sister's three cats is indoor/outdoor and refuses to use a litterbox, preferring to use a toilet when he's inside. He taught himself, too. She constantly has a lot of company and has to make sure that they don't close the lids. Unfortunately, one of her dogs will drink out of the toilet bowl, as will one of her other cats.

There are definite downsides to having a cat or cats using toilets meant for humans.

Clicker training works very well with food-driven cats. Mogli eagerly awaits his daily practice session, and it solved the problem of his practically shredding my legs in the early days when I was preparing a meal for him. Now he automatically sits when there's food.