Toilet Training the Cat (Part 1)

As mentioned in a previous post I'm training Alice to use our family commode. I'm doing this for several reasons. 1. It will save a lot of money on kitty litter. 2. I don't like to clean litter boxes. 3. If we decide to have another child I won't have to worry about toxoplasmosis. 4. It's a cool trick!

I have done some reading up on the various methods of toilet training cats and have mixed a few of them together to accommodate our particular situation.

The first step was to make sure that Alice was, in fact, litter box trained. I acquired a small white litter box (about the size of our toilet bowl) and flush-able litter. I placed her box right next to the toilet. I intend to train her on the toilet in our master bathroom. I don't want her using the guest bathroom as I can foresee that leading to quite a shock to visitors.

For the first day she was with us I kept Alice shut up in our master bedroom with the door open to our bathroom and her litter box. This way I could make sure she knew where her box was and it would be easy to find any "accidents" if they did happen.

Step 1. Complete

The next phase in training involves raising the litter box to the same level as the toilet. Every day I will raise it up a little higher until she eventually has to jump up to get into it.

One book:

Two books:

You can see that I've taped the box in place. It wouldn't do to have a unstable litter box during her training.

Yesterday we got her toilet training kit in the mail! They shipped it very quickly. Once we're ready it will be exciting to start using it.