Has anyone heard of toilet training a cat? I'm sick of litter boxes!

[LindsayB]

First off, this is not joke...lol. I'm actually very interested in teaching our cat this. Laugh all you want...Heres the whole story.

About 4 months ago we found a very sweet stray cat and started feeding it outside in the yard. I knew someone dumped her in our neighborhood bc you could tell she used to wear a collar. At first our 2 dogs hated the cat, and she didn't like them much either. They would chase her over the fence every chance they got. After a few weeks we started noticing a male cat hanging around and sure enough we caught them one night...... I knew then she was probable pregnant and need some extra care. I bought one those 'kitty condos' and brought her inside after worming and treating her for fleas. The amazing thing was that after we brought her in the house the dogs didn't seem to view her as prey anymore. We began to slowly introduce the cat to the dogs and after about 2 weeks they were all walking around the house together! I never thought that was possible since our german shepherd is a known opossum and coon killer. As the weeks went on her tummy began to get HUGE. She finally had 5 healthy kittens in the middle of the night and I was lucky enough to watch. They are now 3 1/2 weeks and starting to get little personalities. We have homes for 3 and are still looking for a good home for 2 more.
We definitely plan on keeping the momma cat and keeping her as an 'inside only' cat. I have never owned a cat before, growing up my mother hated cats, and my husband is slowly warming up to the idea. I catch him petting her every once in a while lol. The only issue we are having now is we both HATE having a litter box in the house. I don't enjoy cleaning it (I hope no one does), hate buying litter, and the cat tracks it everywhere. I've got a 1 year old at home, I don't need him picking up pieces of litter. YUCK! This morning at 6:00 I was laying in bed and heard the horrible scratching sound in the litter box....Then the smell came....

I had to jump out of bed and change it fast! Not a pleasant way to wake up!! Anyways, I found a toilet training system for cats that petco sells and its guaranteed to work.....I would love to buy this and try it out if it really works. Does anyone else have cats that are 'potty trained'? If so was it pretty easy? I keeping picturing that cat from Meet the Parents and start laughing... lol

 

[emys]

http://www.toilettrainedcat.com/

http://www.petplace.com/cats/how-to-toilet-train-your-cat/page1.aspx

 

[Cowgirl71]

I once saw a movie on youtube where a cat was trained to squat on the edge of a human toilet seat, do his business, and then flush the toilet. I thought it was really cool (in a way, LOL)! I'll see if I can find it...

ETA: Here it is!

I forgot though that the owner had to tell the cat to flush... This is probably not a good option for you, but I found it funny nonetheless...

 

[Beekissed]

My cats go to the door when they want out to do their business or if they just want out. We don't keep them inside all the time but when they visit, we do not provide a litter box. That is what the outside is for!

 

[LindsayB]

I've seen a bunch a videos and read reviews on the training systems. I was just wondering if anyone on here had cats that were toilet trained. If it was really easy and worth the effort.

 

[Strange_Screams]

there is actually an "As seen on Tv" product that they are selling at Petco right now to do just that, its three different size rings, it starts out with litter in the middle and you slowly take the litter and rings away as the cat learns to balance on the rim

 

[emarble]

I have heard the system works and you can train them to use the toilet. The way i understand it you start it out using a for lack of better term Hat the sits under the toilet ring and you add a small amount of litter to it and they get used to going there then you take away the other litter boxes and do that! I am not sure how you would get them to flush but you probabely could! I have heard that they adapt to the toilet training rather well though but have never taken the time to train mine

Ernie

 

[patandchickens]

I used to know a cat who was about 100% toilet trained and even occasionally flushed after herself... but she was totally self-taught. (A barn cat). Heaven knows why she decided to do it, but it was really cool. SHe had excellent, tidy aim too

If your cats poos are very very stinky, one thing to consider is whether a change in food would help. It quite often does. The specialty high-protein no-grain kibbles (not in supermarkets, just in high-end pet stores) may SEEM a lot more expensive, but you generally turn out to feed a much smaller amount of them so the price difference ends up not being very large; and they often cure the kinds of poo odors that make you want to open all the windows.

Good luck, have fun,

Pat