Hey everyone. BellaSugar here. I love my cats Milo and Minou to pieces. What I don't love about them is their frequent, fetid fecal droppings. They do this thing I call the Circle of Poo: One poops, then the other has to check it out. And then that kitty has to poop in solidarity. Then the other has to have a look, raising the ante by squeezing out another little pooplet. And so on. (Too much information? Yeah, well, there's too much cat poop in my life.)
About six weeks ago, I remembered reading about people who toilet train their cats. I think you know where this is going. The traditional method, as described by jazz musician Charles Mingus, involves keeping a litter box over the toilet. That seemed like too much work, so instead, I decided to try CitiKitty ($29), a feline toilet training kit. The website was filled with photos of happy kitties neatly depositing their mess into a toilet, which gave me great hope. Surely, Milo and Minou would be able to use the loo in a similar way, right? Right?
To find out how the first few weeks have been going, read more
Even though Milo and Minou are of above-average intelligence, I decided to take things nice and slow with the CitiKitty. The device itself is a lightweight plastic reservoir that sits over the toilet bowl. It has perforations that get punched out over the training period. The idea is that as the cats use the bowl, the hole in the middle gets bigger, and eventually, the kitty will just do his business directly in the toilet. Simple!
Except... it wasn't. For the first week, I used Milo and Minou's regular litter in the CitiKitty and had no problems. I praised them when they peed and pooped in it. (I spent a lot of time cleaning up litter, too.) When I switched their regular litter with flushable World's Best Cat Litter—a misnomer if ever one existed—they turned up their noses. Although they'd pee happily, they wouldn't poop. Milo would meow forlornly and walk around the house looking for somewhere to unload his bowels. Even though I kept putting him on the toilet seat, he refused to poop anywhere except in the bathtub. Ditto Minou.
So I went back to square one, back to their regular litter box. This time, I gave them about a week and a half to get accustomed to the World's Best Cat Litter. They pooped like crazy in there, so I thought we were ready to try it with the CitiKitty again. Last night, I gave them lots of treats and showed them the WBCL in the CitiKitty. At 6am today, I woke to the sound of tiny paws on ceramic. And sure enough, there was Milo, shamefully trying to cover the steaming pile of poop that he'd just produced in the bathtub.
So far, not so good. The boys have no problem peeing with the CitiKity, but I can't seem to get them to do Number Two. Like they say, you can lead a cat to the crapper, but you can't make it stink. I still have high (delusional?) hopes for toilet training the boys. Anybody have suggestions on how I can get them to poo on the CitiKitty?
Soft Grey
Lacoste
Sonia Rykiel
could you start a kitten off doing this?... i would think that they'd be to tiny to support themselves...hmmmm
1but good luck petsugar!!! keep us updated
Oy, I wish I could get my 2 boys to do this. The one is slow so I seriously doubt he'd catch on, unfortunatly. The other is fussy. Litter box in the basement it is...
2I tried this for my cat as well, and it did not work. My cat would not poop in it at all! This lead to an accident on the floor, which my dog got to before I did, which let to him puking...ugh-it was terrible! My mom also tried this with her cat and didn't have success either. It seems like a great idea, but I think many cats aren't ready for it....
3Oh dear, Bella! Sounds frustrating! Sorry I can't be of more help (I'm allergic to cats), but this sounds like a sticky situation! Hope your kitties improve over the next few weeks.
4I remember trying to train my cat using a kit like this about 10-15 years ago. It didn't work. I can't really imagine any cat would get used to the idea of using a human toilet- it's just not natural for them, they like litter and the whole process of digging and covering up. I would think the only chance would be to try it with a kitten who hasn't yet been toilet trained, as you then wouldn't have to undo any trained behaviour.
5I've thought about doing this, but I don't think it's natural for a kitty to use the human potty. They have instincts to nurture (covering, digging, etc) and even though they may learn to suit YOUR needs, they still desire to suit their own. So I just let them be cats.
6I swear I did not see Olive's post above mine before I posted.
7I think you're right -- if I had been able to start the boys on this when they were babies, it might have worked. My parents just adopted a kitteh named Cecil, and I might suggest it for them. From what I understand, cats like to cover their waste to mask the smell. Sadly, I don't think even the entire Glade Plug-In factory could mask Milo and Minou's poo...
8lol.... well this post had me in stitches, sorry about that BellaSugar
I have to
give you credit for trying because I wouldn't even attempt it! I'd be too worried that it would confuse them and I'd be forever cleaning up poo in strange places. I do think it's natural for
cats to want to dig and cover so I would say scratch the idea (excuse the pun).
What drives me crazy is I'll just get both litter boxes cleaned and filled with fresh new kitty litter and they immediately decide they have to come investigate the situation and do their business!
9I'd love it if I could get my Precious to use the toilet! She stinks up my entire studio every time she poos! I wouldn't even try this with my baby! Unlike your above-average intelligence cats, Precious is what you might call 'special'. I think if I tried this, she might drown herself!
The best thing I've found for dealing with stinky kitty poo is the "crystal" type litter. Its made of silica, and dries everything out so there is little to no smell. My sister was staying at my place recently and commented that the box doesn't smell at all!
10This was a very funny post, Bella! (I empathize, somewhat, even though I don't have cats.) I hate picking up the dog's poo, but at least it's in the yard and not in the house.
11"Like they say, you can lead a cat to the crapper, but you can't make it stink." Hahaha
I think you should just go back to your regular kitty toilet, and know that we admire you for your effort =) As they say, they like the hiding, and hiding it in your bathtub when you're ready to take a bath is not as nice as if they've hidden it in their toilet. I'm training my rabbit to go to his toilet, and he is really good, no accidents at all! But I guess there's a big difference between kitties and bunnies.. And I could NEVER make him go somewhere he hadn't decided for himself.. Stubborn little creatures
12I don't what I like best about this post, Bella, your alliteration: "frequent, fetid fecal droppings," your hilarious re-phrasings: "you can lead a cat to the crapper, but you can't make it stink," or your defense of Milo and Minou even in the face of their dropping the ball on this one, as it were..."Even though Milo and Minou are of above-average intelligence..."
13Awww I wanted to try this really badly but I think my kitty is just A LITTLE too old now
14Great post though! Lots of good info if I do decide to change my mind
holy toxoplasmosis batman
15and i love the word 'pooplet'
16I agree with the others that it just doesn't seem natural to have them go in the toilet. Instead, you may want to try a self washing litter box. I don't have one yet - because they cost like $200+ but I have a friend who owns one and loves it. It's a litter box that's filled with sand instead of litter and you hook it up to an exposed pipe and after your kitty goes, it flushes out the waste and cleans the sand. You don't have to change your litter - just add more sand.
17I'm going to have to keep these in mind. I'm looking at moving to Ottawa year and want to get a cat (and after 3 years of "I want a kitty!" my boyfriend has finally agreed to one).
18I tried in vain to get my cats to use the toilet more than once and with more than one kind of kit. They did the same bathtub litter box routine and refused to use it regularly. The best thing I have ever found, while pricey, is the electronic litter boxes. We have one now, which is about waist high and cost around $300. It's a giant orb which circles and cleans itself after the cats go. It's called a robot litter or something like that and we bought it on Amazon. It has been a life saver and has reduced smell and clean up as well as the cost of litter as it seems to use less. The cats are both happy and so are we.
19Oh wow if only Jude and Jezebel would use the toilet, but alas I don't think I'd want to try this and go through what you have Bella-the whole random place pooping.
My baby had a a few accidents when I first got here and wow, talk about ripe!!!! She (Jezebel) will often poop in the littler box and not cover it and let me tell you, holy hell!!!
Luckily Jude goes right in for her and covers it.
I wonder how well this would work for a kitten (being so small) and older cats. I mean once they start getting up there in years why make pooping that much more challenging for an older kitty.
20One of my coworkers has her cat using the toilet, so I know that it can be done, but I have no idea how she did it! I should ask...Must know for my own little stinkers...
21ALSW, you must share your findings! (Can you tell that I'm desperate?)
If the toilet training doesn't work out, I'm going to buy a new Littermaid. Or maybe the robo-box that hooks up to the toilet. I just can't keep scoopin' as fast as they're poopin'.
And Giggle, I don't see what's so funny about acknowledging the off-the-charts intelligence of my kitties. You've met them; you've witnessed their brilliance.
22Have you seen the commercials for the Cat Genie? It attaches to your toilet somehow, but it ain't cheap...I'm not sure I'd have room in either of my bathrooms either!
We have a Littermaid too and while I love that I don't have to clean up after them everyday, I still hate that my little poop-machines manage to fill it up at least twice a week.
I promise I'll ask my coworker tomorrow!
23My cats don't have litter box issues...although they DO also do the whole one poops, the other has to check it out thing.
But I've always used an all-natural litter with them since they were kittens, Swheat Scoop, and I've had no issues or accidents. I guess I'm lucky!!
24OMG, that's such a funny narrative! My cat Vinnie uses WBCL too and he's protesting going poo in the litterbox, only whines to use the flower box outside my house. Yuck. So I feel your pain! Keep us posted if they ever do use the contraption. I'd love to get Vinnie to use it too!
25That's so funny! My cats got mad at me once and started pooping in the bathtub. I had been out of town two weekends in a row (Fri nite to Sun) and at the end of the second weekend, apparently they had had enough. It took months to get them out of the habit. So, since then, I don't mess with their litter boxes.
26Funny story. I thought about getting my cat to use the toilet, but I decided not to because I didn't want to look at kitty poo whenever I went to the bathroom.
27Okay, for pooping in the bathtub I have one word: EEW!
28Relaxing with a glass of wine and a nice good book in the bathtub might never be the same!
I didn't believe my brother when he told me that the crap from two cats isn't just added together, it's exponential. I believe him now.
29I've had friends that have trained their cats to use a toilet by moving the box next to the toilet, then raising it up with magazines in steps until it hit toilet height, moving it onto the toilet and then removing the box all together. I have not tried it though, because one of my two is of below-average intelligence and coordination, and I foresee the whole box being thrown everywhere.
Hours later and I'm still laughing at this post - I guess when you have cats you understand the poo thing....lol. One of my cats loves the bathtub but only when I'm taking a bath since she seems to think that hot, soapy bath water tastes better than her fresh clean water in her bowl....go figure. If she pooped in my bathtub I think I would have a conniption fit!!!
Good luck Bella, I will anxiously await the next installment of the story
30You could always do it like cat food change for newly adopted animals. Slowly intigrate the new cat litter into the old and then slowly start removing more and more of the old and adding more and more of the new...then wam they are using da new one
31Watch out!
I am mid-trial with the citikitty. I filled my bathtub with water, because my cat was doing the same thing. He found a new place to poo. My purse! Now tell me he doesn't want me to know how he feels about the citikitty!
32I just bought the system and so far(12 hours later) my poor kitty still hasn't used it. I feel bad because I'm sure he has to go. He is a Bengal so he is really smart but I'm worried he won't adapt to using the toilet or the citikitty system. A lot of people say their cats won't use it. I'm not using flushable litter at the moment because he certainly won't use it then. He hates that kind of litter. I hope he will use the system easily and soon enough be toilet trained. I can only hope...
33halu my cat pees in the toilet bowl lol true i have a video of it... i ddnt train him he just learned it all by himself, he just did it one day and still doin it up until now and its sooo damn hilarious and cute seeing him peeing in the toilet btw his name is Jerry and has a brother named Tom...
34halu my cat pees in the toilet bowl... lol.. true! i have a video of him peeing there... i ddnt train him he just learned it on his own, i just got surprized one day when i saw him peeing there it started a year ago and he is still doin it until now and its sooo damn hilarious and cute seeing him peeing in the toilet bowl btw his name is Jerry and has a brother named Tom...
35sorry bout that, it seems like im spamming the page.. my internet connction is having problems.. my message ddnt appear earlier i thought it wasnt sent... but jerry my cat ehehe hes hilarious!
36I am training my kitten to use the toilet as well with citikitty. He's struggling and is def. finding it harder to poo than to pee. I am not giving up just yet!
37I am currently using this product and my kitty was a bit hesitant about pooping in it at first, so I took some of his poop and put it in the city kitty. He jumped in and burried it and from that point on he poops in it. This may not work for you but you can give it a try.
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