Toilet Train Your Cat, Plain and Simple: An Incredible, Practical, Foolproof Guide to #1 and #2
120
Toilet Train Your Cat, Plain and Simple: An Incredible, Practical, Foolproof Guide to #1 and #2
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Overview
Step-by-step instructions on gradually training your cat to use a toilet
Helpful tips from an experienced cat owner
Clever, sophisticated illustrations
Unlike other kitty-training manuals with far-fetched promises, Brooks takes a realistic approach, advising readers to have patience and suggesting useful items to purchase or have on hand throughout the training process. His humorous tone makes this guide as fun to read as its end results are rewarding. Cat owners everywhere should read this book. Just imagine: you’ll never scoop poop again.
Product Details
| ISBN-13: | 9781510707269 |
|---|---|
| Publisher: | Skyhorse |
| Publication date: | 02/21/2017 |
| Sold by: | SIMON & SCHUSTER |
| Format: | eBook |
| Pages: | 120 |
| File size: | 4 MB |
About the Author
Read an Excerpt
CHAPTER 1
Why Toilet Train Your Cat?
Imagine waking up in the morning, your cat nuzzling your cheek, eager for his morning meal. You nuzzle back and the clean smell of feline fur fills your nose. Even though his morning duties are done, there's no telltale litter box odor to contend with.
You get up and pad across the floor to the bathroom. For the first time in memory there's no gravelly crunch under your bare feet, no scattered litter to sweep up, and no smelly box to sift through. All you have to do is flush.
Sound like a fantasy? It doesn't have to be. In a few short months, you could be living a litter-free existence. If you've ever considered training your cat to use the toilet but haven't done anything about it, now is the time.
Did I say a few months? The reality is that training a cat to use the toilet takes time and patience. It's a step-by-step process that capitalizes on your cat's natural abilities and inclinations. I've heard of people training their cats in a couple of weeks but those cats are the rare exception to the rule. So plan on three solid months, give or take a week or two, to completely toilet train your cat. I've found that, no matter how smart or stubborn a cat may be, in approximately three months you will say good-bye to litter and litter boxes forever.
If it still sounds rather daunting, trust me as I lead you through the process. The first time your cat nonchalantly hops up on the toilet and does his business, you'll realize it was well worth the effort.
Real Expectations
A toilet-trained cat has few, if any, drawbacks. Your cat, already a fastidiously clean animal, will become even more so. Because he will no longer come in contact with his waste, his fur will stay clean and odor free. As an additional benefit, you'll no longer have to worry about the ill effects of commercial cat litter on the environment or your cat.
You will have to remember to flush for him. Though not unheard of, your cat is not likely to learn to flush. That said, your cat will want to do something about the odor. My cats pulled the toilet paper from the roll and stuffed it in the toilet. It wouldn't have been a bad solution if I could have taught them some restraint — they used about half a roll each time! After putting the toilet paper out of reach, one of my cats would push the door and run out before it closed, trapping the odor inside. Both of these solutions illustrate the intelligence and resourcefulness of the cat. During the training process, you will need to respond promptly to your cat's actions so he doesn't get put off and decide that the toilet is an unsuitable alternative. Moving the toilet paper and purchasing a motion-activated air freshener made my cats very happy. You will be amazed at how clever and resourceful your cat is as you guide him through the process.
My cats have been using the toilet happily for years, so every once in a while I put the toilet paper back on the roll. All is well for a while, and then one day, seemingly out of the blue, I walk in to find a bowl full of paper. I smile, clean up, remove the roll, and place it on the back of the toilet. I decided a long time ago that a displaced toilet paper roll was a small price to pay for the savings, convenience, and joy of sharing my home with a pair of toilet-trained cats.
Learning a New Behavior
Cats are extremely trainable, but in my experience, they learn "tricks" when the trick fills a particular need or the reward is pretty much irresistible. For the most part, they don't learn tricks to please you. Without self-motivation, they see no reason for the trick and are not swayed by earthly coercion, no matter how earnest. It doesn't mean your cat doesn't love you — it just doesn't feel the need to perform in order to earn your love and admiration. Many cats tend to have a "love me as I am" attitude, and if you do, they return it tenfold.
Fortunately, teaching a cat to use the toilet is nothing like teaching him a silly parlor trick. You will be providing your cat with an alternative to a litter box or a soft patch of ground. So forget about tricks — that's not what this is all about. You will be teaching your cat a series of small changes that add up to a really big deal.
Make no mistake though, the transition isn't without its stresses. Unfortunately, you can't tell your cat why you're imposing all these little changes — often daily changes — on his routine, so don't expect him to take it silently. Expect a little meowing, especially during the latter stages of training, as your cat recovers from his litter dependency and replaces it with a series of new behaviors.
As you go through the process, it may help to remember the last time your routine got changed and how, despite knowing the reason for the change, you struggled with it. Allow your cat to complain a little and act out as he grudgingly adopts a whole new set of behaviors which, one day, will come to him as naturally as the old ones.
You will also have to deal with a bit of a mess as your cat may kick a lot of the dwindling litter store about as he gets used to the new setup. Once your cat has accepted the toilet, things should be nice and relatively tidy, but until then, expect a little more litter strewn around than normal. You'll also have to deal with walking into the bathroom to face a bowl full of cat excrement and the lingering odor of a toilet that hasn't been flushed. Flush the toilet, spray a little air freshener if necessary, and move on to other tasks.
And finally, there's the issue of accidents. During the training process, you will have to deal with your cat going in inappropriate places a few times. It will happen, but once your cat decides that the toilet is a great place to do his business, you shouldn't have to worry about accidents anymore.
Why Me?
I'm not an animal behaviorist, a veterinarian, or a zoologist. I'm just a guy who decided that living with a toilet-trained cat would be awesome. So I made it my mission to do so. But where to begin? The few products and resources I encountered were lacking in one way or another, and one particular product, sold in pet shops across the country, failed miserably. There are better options out there today (I trained my first cat over twenty years ago), and because of a proliferation of clever cats in the media and on YouTube, more and more people are realizing that toilet training a cat is not only desirable but possible. I wrote this guide with those people in mind.
And let's be honest. If you're reading this, you probably think there's something adorable about watching your cat jump up on the toilet and using it like a human. All these years later, I still get a kick out of it.
The process is a bit daunting and even a bit scary as you see your perfectly litter box–trained cat struggling with something new. Is my method better than the others? Foolproof? I don't know, but I wouldn't be sharing this if I didn't think my method was the most straightforward and cost-effective solution out there. Over the years, I've personally trained seven cats to use the toilet: three domestic cats, two F1 hybrids, an F2 hybrid, and a wild yet wonderful Bengal. All were champs, all had their own particular needs and quirks, and all took relatively the same amount of time to fully train. The disparate collection of cats I've trained has me feeling pretty confident that my method will work on even the most stubborn and intractable cat out there. That said, it will require patience and perseverance on your part. If you get frustrated and give up easily, toilet training your cat might not be for you and may result in a miserable experience for both you and your cat. Be honest with yourself: do you have the patience necessary to shepherd your cat through the process?
As a lifelong apartment dweller, I can't tell you how wonderful it has been to not have to drag home jugs of litter, find a suitable location for a box when none exists, and worry about the nonstop cleaning. But even more important than the lifestyle change it's afforded, I learned, during the process, a lot about my cats and how, by exhibiting care and understanding, the sky is the limit.
Okay, let's get started!
Guaranteed Success?
While there are no guarantees in life, if you're tenacious, creative, consistent, and caring, I see no reason why you won't be just as successful as I've been. I've included as much information as possible — reaching back in my memory to the time when I trained my first cat — to address the questions and concerns you may have.
As long as your cat is healthy and consistently using the litter box, you should be able to get him to use the toilet instead.
Encouragement versus Training
Semantics? No, not really. When teaching your cat to use the toilet, you'll be encouraging him to adopt a new series of behaviors. In a real sense, your cat knows how to use the toilet, he just sees no reason to do so. Having trained a half dozen cats to use the toilet, I'm convinced of it. Knowledge, in this case, is definitely power. Don't force. Encourage. Provide the impetus for your cat to agree to the desired behavioral changes, and you'll be on your way.
Lessons Learned
It's easy to become impatient while working through the steps, and at times, it will seem like you aren't making any progress. But you are. At the end of each step, the Lessons Learned section identifies the behaviors your cat has just picked up.
Progress Journal
In the back of the book is a Progress Journal that you can use to track your cat's progress. There is a page for each step where you can post a picture of your setup or your cat, add notes on how the training is going, and log the start date and completion date for each step.
The Progress Journal is your place to jot down the funny, the problematic, and the little successes along the way. When you complete the process, you'll have a record that you can share and even utilize during future trainings.
While journaling the process is optional, it's highly recommended. Some of the benefits of using the journal include:
• Months or years from now, looking back over the journal will remind you of the difficult yet rewarding process your cat went through. Once he's using the toilet regularly, it's easy to forget how proud you were the first time he got it right.
• It serves as a place to identify issues as you work through the steps. If things seem to take a turn for the worse, you may need to back up a step or two. Your notes will help you identify where and when things went south.
• You can't help but make some observations about your cat's nature. Write them down as they can enhance your relationship with your cat.
• Keep track of successful task completion. For instance, your cat may need to successfully complete the desired task 3–4 times before moving on — this provides a place to tally his successes.
• Write down reminders for yourself.
• Share your notebook with friends and family who also want to toilet train their cats. While buying them a copy of this book will serve as the basis of their training, being able to read about your successes and failures will add a personal touch and encourage them to carry on.
• On bad days, reading back over the progress your cat has made, the hurdles you've jumped together, will provide confidence that the current problem will pass, too.
• On those days where everything seems to be going awry, sit down, take a breath, and write down what's going on. Trust me, by the time you've written it down, your blood pressure will go down, you'll see the situation for what it really is, and you'll be able to move forward.
Journaling can mean the difference between failure and success for some. The little successes are often hard to see; writing them down and going over them from time to time can make them more real in your mind and make you proud of your cat's progress.
As you should be.
So, sharpen your pencil and your observational skills. It won't take much time and will be well worth the effort.
CHAPTER 2Before You Begin
Before you begin the process, there are a few things that must be assembled:
• 10-quart plastic mixing/food storage bowl
• Flushable litter
• Cat rewards
• Pet stain remover/odor neutralizer
• A couple plastic rulers (optional)
• Old magazines, boxes, paper
That's it. Not much, really, when you consider how much you're bound to save in the years ahead. And if you consider the fact that you have to buy litter anyway, the price is even lower. As an apartment dweller, I used to buy litter, litter box deodorizers, and little plastic bags to scoop the dirty litter into. It added up pretty quickly. Now I walk past the litter in the pet store with barely a sideways glance. That, my friends, is living!
The materials are few, but they are important and deserve a closer look.
Plastic mixing/food storage bowl: You will need a plastic bowl to insert into the toilet. You may already have one of these in the cupboard and won't have to buy one (of course, if it's not yours, ask first; you won't be using it to serve popcorn ever again). My first bowl was a repurposed white plastic mixing bowl. Because the bowl was a little small, I taped a ruler to the lip on both sides of the bowl to securely "hang" it in the toilet. Once the seat was lowered, the bowl was secure enough for my 18-pound cat to use confidently.
On the other hand, rather than using the ruler method, you'd be better off purchasing an inexpensive flexible plastic bowl that has a little bit of a lip along the edge. A plastic 10-quart mixing bowl is likely to fit right in, with the lip of the mixing bowl clamped between the seat and the bowl, creating a secure seal.
I've got one of those generic white porcelain toilets, but I'm aware that some people have decorator colors. If you have one of the more colorful bowls, try to find a mixing bowl of the same color. For some, that might be difficult, but it should make the eventual removal of the bowl less noticeable and jarring. Anything you can do to make your cat less anxious during the process will make things easier for you both.
Litter: Make sure that the litter you choose is a flushable variety. I've seen flushable litter made from corn cob, pine, wheat, and clay. Try finding a litter that closely approximates the litter your cat has become accustomed to. If you've been using a clumping clay litter all along, it would be best to search for a clay-based flushable litter. If your cat is particularly resistant to change, get your cat used to the new litter by switching to it before beginning the process.
Cat rewards: Many cats respond favorably to commercial cat treats. They're easy to store and use, so if your cat enjoys commercially prepared treats, they make an ideal training reward. On the other hand, if your cat prefers a chunk of cheese, make that his reward. One of my cats, a particularly stodgy and stubborn tom, turned his nose up at treats offered as rewards. He didn't want to have any part of this new-fangled potty thing, so the offering of a treat as he stepped down from the bowl added insult to injury. For him, I was able to reward him by brushing the side of his face with his favorite brush — something he couldn't resist. So, from here on out, when I refer to rewards, I'm not just talking about food treats, but whatever it is that makes your cat purr.
Again, be creative. Find something your cat craves and relegate it to his post-performance reward. That means, as harsh as it sounds, no between-performance rewards. Okay, fewer between-performance rewards.
In addition to the rewards, don't forget the accolades! Always tell your cat what a wonderful guy he is, stroking him affectionately all the while. Even if your cat appears unappreciative and shies away, don't despair. It's getting through to him. Trust me on this one, and soon you may have a cat that finds the post-performance accolades the real reward.
As you progress through the program and your cat begins to use the toilet consistently, reduce the number of rewards. If you don't, you might end up with a cat who waits to eliminate until you get home.
Pet stain remover/odor neutralizer: If you're going to skimp on anything, make sure it's not here. Cat urine is very difficult to completely eradicate. Most household cleaners just aren't adequate and some, especially those that contain ammonia, may even attract the cat, enticing him to void himself in the same spot again. Products designed specifically to neutralize pet stains and odors are available at your local pet store. But don't wait until your cat has made his first mistake. You'll want to have it on hand when that mistake occurs. Trust me, even if your cat has never even considered going in an inappropriate spot, he will. Expect your cat to make 4 to 6 mistakes before the training is complete. So instead of getting angry or disappointed when he does, consider it an important step in the process. Look at it as one less mess to clean up on the road to a litter-free existence.
(Continues…)
Excerpted from "Toilet Train Your Cat Plain and Simple"
by .
Copyright © 2017 Clifford Brooks.
Excerpted by permission of Skyhorse Publishing.
All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
Excerpts are provided by Dial-A-Book Inc. solely for the personal use of visitors to this web site.
Table of Contents
Why Toilet Train Your Cat? 1
Before You Begin 11
The Procedure 22
Step 1 Up, Up, and Away 31
Step 2 One Paw at a Time 35
Step 3 Easy on the Sand 39
Step 4 Like Sands Through the Hourglass 43
Step 5 The Times They Are a-Changin' 45
Step 6 Building the Perfect Beast 49
Step 7 Cat on a Cold Porcelain Throne 53
Step 8 Free at Last 57
So What Do You Do When He Just Won't Use the Toilet? 61
A Note on Changes 63
A Note About Failure 65
Don't Stop Now 67
A Note on Furniture 69
Do No Harm 71
101 Uses for Your Litter Box (Now That You're Done) 73
Further Reading 95
Collaborators 99
About the Creators 103
Progress Journal 105