How to Toilet Train a Cat

The first thing you have to do when training your cat to use the toilet is to place its litter tray in the bathroom. You should place it near the toilet so that it becomes used to doing its business in this area of the house. So, a good way to start is to put its sandbox inside the bathroom.

This first step should not be too difficult; each time your cat wants to do its business, it will go to the bathroom where its litter tray awaits. It shouldn't take more than a couple of days for it to adapt.

The next step in toilet training a cat is to raise the litter tray off the ground. The toilet is high and the litter tray is at ground level. To overcome the obstacle, train your cat to gradually work up to the height of the toilet. Grab a phone book, an encyclopaedia, and progressively raise the litter tray until it gets used to being at the same level of the toilet.

Be careful and see that the box is placed correctly on the books or any other material; if, on the contrary, the surface is unstable, your cat could fall and this is the type of experience your pet will remember. Therefore, take special care to ensure the tray is centred evenly over the surface on which it rests. Falling off an uneven surface will traumatise your cat and make it very difficult for it to learn and become toilet trained.

Once the tray is at the height of the toilet, you'll then have to place it nearer to it. Place it gradually closer each day; you can't simply move the tray from one corner of the room to the toilet. Move the tray closer and closer each day until it touches the toilet. When you reach that stage, place it on top of the toilet itself. When you put it on the toilet, make sure it is centred to avoid a situation in which your cat falls and is frightened.

You'll have to start to reduce the amount of sand so that it it gradually weaned off both the pebbles and the tray. So, little by little, reduce the amount of sand until a very thin layer is left, of no more than a couple centimetres in height.

The next step is to try and change your cat's mentality. It should start doing its business in the toilet instead of the litter tray. Here are several alternatives, but all you need is a simple bowl you have in the house. You can create your own sandbox with the container you put on the toilet, along with durable paper to withstand the weight of the cat under the lid. You can also scatter sand so that your pet continues to feel comfortable and associates it with its old litter tray.

Now, make a hole in the paper you've used and permanently remove the basin. Make a hole in the paper after your cat has done its business there over a few days, so that the waste falls into the water. It is a somewhat complex phase but we recommend calm and patience until your cat feels comfortable doing this.

As it gets used to doing this, you can make the hole bigger and bigger until there is nothing. As you do this, also reduce the sand placed on top of the paper. Remember that your cat should get used to do so without sand, so remove it gradually to strengthen its new technique.

Every time your cat uses the toilet, you'll have to flush. Cats dislike urinating or defecating on top of their waste. On top of that, leaving the toilet unflushed is unhygienic because the smell is very strong. Therefore, flushing the toilet when your pet used the toilet is both for their own good, and yours. Remember, to reinforce this attitude, you should reward them with a treat every time your cat uses the toilet correctly. Your pet will therefore associate this treat with going to the toilet.

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