How To Teach Your Cat To Use The Toilet

By: Gautam Jayanthi

Break Studios Contributing Writer

If you own a cat and you're tired of cleaning the litter box, you can definitely benefit from learning how to teach your cat to use the toilet. Litter boxes not only smell bad, but they're also hotbeds for bacteria. For the betterment of your home and your feline's health, you should definitely know how to teach your cat to use the toilet.

To teach your cat to use the toilet, you'll need:

  • A litter box
  • Several phone books
  • Wax paper
  • Flushable litter (Sold in most pet stores)
  1. Move the litter box next to the toilet you want your cat to use. Doing so will get your cat used to the environment of the bathroom. Keep the box here for a day or two to get your furry friend fully acclimated to the surroundings.
  2. Using the phone books, move the litter box closer to the toilet bowl. Do this daily to ensure that your cat gets comfortable with its new surroundings. Repeat this process until the box is level with the toilet bowl.
  3. Gradually move the litter box onto the toilet bowl. Every time you move the litter box, take a little bit of the litter out of the box until less than an inch remains.
  4. Replace the litter box with the wax paper. This is one of the trickier parts of learning how to teach your cat to use the toilet. Lift up the toilet seat and place the wax paper over the bowl so that it resembles a snare drum. Be sure to put enough paper to support your cat's weight so they don't fall into the water. Put the flushable litter in the center of the paper and lower the seat.
  5. Make a small hole in the center of the sheet; as time goes by, increase the hole's size and use less litter. By making the hole larger and using less litter as time goes by, your cat will become increasingly used to doing its business without seeing litter or a litter box. Remember, this process takes a few weeks, if not a few months—the most important thing you can do at this step is be patient and persistent. In due time, however, your cat will be using the toilet with no paper or litter at all.

Litter boxes are one of the worst parts of owning a cat, so you can gain from knowing how to teach your cat to use the toilet. Make your furry friend a full member of the family by teaching it how to use modern bathroom technology. When you learn how to teach your cat to use the toilet, you'll never have to worry about scooping clumps of waste out of a smelly litter box ever again.

Posted on: Aug. 09, 2010