Toilet training cats, but one keeps using various sinks instead of toilet!

[skreezy]

I have two cats, a male and a female, who are three and a half years old (they're siblings). I started working on toilet training them about a month and a half ago and I'm having some major issues with my male cat. I thought for sure that if I was going to have problems, it would be with my female, Artemis, but she's been doing fantastically - if I were to take the tray off the toilet (I used a kit called CitiKitty), I'm sure she would continue to use the toilet with no problems

My male, Apollo, however, is a different story. He knows how to use the toilet, but instead of squatting on the edge of the seat like he should be by now, he insists on trying to squat in the tray. That's not an issue as long as I still have the tray on the toilet, but he's also taken to peeing in anything else with a drain - the bathtub, bathroom sink AND kitchen sink. As long as I keep a few inches of water in them, he won't use them, but are there any other ways I can deter him from doing this?? Having to scrub out the various drains every couple of days because of mildew and buildup from standing water is almost as frustrating as scrubbing them out after he pees in them.

This is Artemis, who has no problems at all.

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• skreezy
• Feb 23, 2013

And this is Apollo... who has problems as stated.

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• skreezy
• Feb 23, 2013

 

[mani]

Hi skreezy.. welcome to The Cat Site!

Not all cats will do the toilet thing... after all it's pretty different to the way they normally go..  Apollo may just not want to do it without the tray.

Another thing I've found is that cats quite often won't poo where they wee (and vice versa, obviously), even if it does disappear into the loo...

Mine went in every sink available until I sorted that one out

  Now they have three litter boxes.

It's unlikely you'll be able to make Apollo do the loo thing if he doesn't want to....

I love the looks on their faces:  "Must you photograph me right now??" 

 

[skreezy]

That's what I'm afraid of - if I have to set up a litter box again for Apollo (while training them, I got rid of the normal litter box), despite Artemis having no problems with the toilet, I'll know she'll go back to using a box if it's available, meaning the last couple of months will have been for nothing. I've never really had a problem with cleaning the litter box, I don't mind doing it, especially since I use Feline Pine cat litter (which to me, is a LOT better than using clay), but the thought of being THIS CLOSE to not having to do litter boxes anymore makes me not want to give up just yet!

They weren't very impressed with the toilet photo op, but the girls at work didn't believe me, so I got some proof!

 

[dejolane]

Do you think this would work with a kids potty too ?

dejolane

 

[skreezy]

Hmmm I'm not sure, I never thought of that! I'm not sure if they would like using one that's separate because it would sit in the potty and make the whole room smell, but maybe I could try one of those smaller seats that you install that can just be lifted out of the way. I've thought that maybe he doesn't like using it simply because the toilet seat is too wide for him - when he was eight months old, he broke his leg and even now, almost three years later, he still lets his leg hang down when sitting on stairs, the cat tree, etc. I couldn't think of a way to address the problem though, short of keeping the tray, which has to be removed every time I need to use the toilet (only one bathroom in the house). I think that's worth a shot, though.... thanks for the idea!!

 

[dejolane]

Hmmm I'm not sure, I never thought of that! I'm not sure if they would like using one that's separate because it would sit in the potty and make the whole room smell, but maybe I could try one of those smaller seats that you install that can just be lifted out of the way. I've thought that maybe he doesn't like using it simply because the toilet seat is too wide for him - when he was eight months old, he broke his leg and even now, almost three years later, he still lets his leg hang down when sitting on stairs, the cat tree, etc. I couldn't think of a way to address the problem though, short of keeping the tray, which has to be removed every time I need to use the toilet (only one bathroom in the house). I think that's worth a shot, though.... thanks for the idea!!

If you try this kids potty please let me know thanks

dejolane

 

[duckdodgers]

Do you think this would work with a kids potty too ?

dejolane

While I've never had to interact with a kid's potty, I would definitely prefer scooping a litter box daily to dumping and washing a potty daily...