------------- Isky's Quick Guide to Toilet Training Your cats : PART B -------------

***** Phase IIb: Building a Litter Barrier *****

So... what I did was to build a mini-wall around the hole to trap the litter. I started with A4 paper(s) long enough to go along the side of the inner hole (you will need to staple some A4 together as the hole gets bigger). I then folded it to a height where I have about 1 - 1.5 inches above the tray and about 0.5 to 0.75 inches below the tray (so total height is between 1.5in to 2.25in). I used duct / cloth tape (waterproof) to tape up the top part of the folded paper, then made little cuts along the bottom part (Pic#8). I then placed in into the hole that I made (Pic#9), taped up the bottom (Pic#10), and sealed up the top (Pic#11). Pic#12 and Pic#12?? (oops!) show the tray in the toilet, but it's only half complete - just wanted to show the basic idea. FYI, the hole in the picture was the final hole size before I completely removed the tray.

Building the barrier pretty much stopped all the accidents for now. The boys had litter that they could scratch and dig. Although some litter would still fall into the toilet bowl, there was always plenty to absorb their urine or partly cover their poop. Cleaning up was also easily. Just scoop, throw it into the hole, and refill.


***** Phase III: Bigger and Bigger hole *****

The next set of hurdles happened as the hole gets bigger. You obviously want to try to get the cat on the toilet seat (partially at first) and off the tray itself. What I did was to try and catch them pooping / peeing as often as I could and slowly adjust their position while they are doing their business. Whisky had no problems at all, and quickly figured out how to sit on the toilet seat. Guinness would sit on the toilet seat to poop, but wanted to straddle over the hole to pee. I had to keep them at the last hole sizes for over two weeks, just to get Guinness comfortable with his peeing / pooing position. I had a feeling that he would have difficulties near the end.

At this point, there's less space with litter and a bigger hole in the middle. Occasionally, they'll poop and pee directly into the bowl instead of into the litter on the tray. YAY! You'll want to keep them at this stage a bit longer, so they get used to the sounds of pee and poo falling into the water. The litter barrier does get a bit dirty at times (skid marks from falling poo), so you will either have to clean it up, or replaced with a new one. Sometimes the pee will soak through, causing the cloth tape at the bottom to peel off. You'll definitely need to replace it at that point.


***** Phase IV: Removing the Tray *****

After about 2 weeks at the final hole size, the boys were already consistent about using the bowl / tray to do their business. One day, I was about the clean up the tray to replace the litter barrier when I thought, what the hell... let's see if they are ready. Well, Whisky just went straight up, perched on the seat, and did his business. Yay, but not surprised!! Guinness was a bit more hesitant, and needed more coaxing. He did ok with pooing, but when he wanted to pee, he kept trying to straddle the hole with his feet on the sides of the toilet seat. Mmm... hole's too big, so I took out the kiddie toilet training seat I got from my sister a couple of months ago, and put it on the seat. The cushion was too high, so I took it off, quickly cut off the outer part, trimmed down the foam seat inside, taped it all up, and put in back on the seat (Pic#13). With the new seat in place, Guinness plonked his ass on the side of the seat and peed. Phew!!!

At this stage, I'd say they have been trained, but under probation awaiting for full certification.


***** Phase V: Toilet Training Probation *****

It's been almost two weeks since phase IV, and I have to say that Whisky deserves his full certification already. Guinness has had three accidents... all pooping-related. Once was right in front of me... he was on the seat getting ready to poop, but got pushed off by the brother cause he was taking too much time finding the right position. So while Whisky pooped on the toilet, Guinness couldn't hold on any more, and let go on the toilet floor. Ok.. I can deal with that.

The second time, I had begun noticing that Guinness tends to back off from the toilet bowl if it's not flushed. I didn't think about it before, so I just flushed until he was happy. One day, I had been out all day, and I came back to find Whisky's poo in the toilet bowl, but Guinness's poo on the floor (I can tell from color and consistency). I suspect that Guinness wasn't happy with using an unflushed toilet, so he decided that as long as it was nearby it was OK. Hmmm... not good. Right now, I'm in the process of retraining Guinness to overcome his clean toilet thing... which means not flushing after Whisky pees or poops. Thankfully, their poop sinks into the water so there's less smell. Although it can get rather...fragrant... while they are doing their business (and for some reason, they tend to do their business while I'm showering or worse when I'm brushing my teeth), the urine or poo smells go away rather quickly. Training is still ongoing.

The third time... errmm, I was hogging the toilet.

-- continued in Part C --

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-------------Isky's Quick Guide to Toilet Training Your cats: PART C (FINAL PART) -------------

****** SUMMARY ******

As I mentioned before, the success of your toilet training efforts has more to do with your cat and his/her personality and less to do with age. Whisky is the quiet but observant one, and all my friends say that he has a mind of his own. Guinness is the typical naughty, hyperactive, but clingy type. He's also the more dominant of the two. Perhaps that's why he's taken longer... I'm not sure. In the end, I spent almost 2.5 months training the boys. If you exclude the failed Water Approach phase, it would be about 2 months. Is it possible to train a cat in 21 days like the book says? Well, I think Whisky could have done it, but Guinness would need longer (and is still learning). Each cat will be different.

I'm not sure if my approach if the best or fastest approach, but it fits my requirement.. to have as little mess as possible. But I'd offer the following advice and tips for anyone thinking of toilet training your cats.

1. Patience:
You'll need plenty, especially if you are sharing your toilet with your cats like I am.

2. Time i.e. be around as much as possible:
It helps if you are around to catch your cat pooping and peeing, so that you can slowly adjust his position to the correct stance, or stop them from pooping / peeing in other places. For some reason, I always managed to catch and correct Whisky's stance, but I was never around to catch Guinness doing it. Also, being around more often means less chance of accidents happening, which means less stress for owner and cat alike.

3. Keep the rest of the area / house clean:
Now that their poop just falls into the bowl, I have little or no skidmark issues. But during the training phase, Whisky had soft stools, so he would inevitably leave skid marks around the house when they sit down, which of course would tempt guinness to poop at that spot. The cleaner I keep the apartment, the less likely that accidents would happen. I ended up vacuuming and mopping my place twice or even three times a week. I also took a damp cotton ball to their butts to clean up any "kling-ons".

@Luigi, i'm not sure what advice I can give to prevent them from getting the seat itself dirty. The seat will occasionally get dirty with paw prints, but not from urine since they hang over the edge of the seat instead of "levitating"...a concept that some of the ladies might be familiar with :P But I do try to keep the seat as clean as possible, so they don't mistake it as a place to poop or pee (I only had one accident on the seat when Guinness pooped on it)

4. Keep plenty of antibacterial soap and floor cleaner in the toilet:
You'll need it. Tried to look for more environmentally friendly organic cleaner - didn't want to expose the boys to too many chemicals. Settled with an orange / citrus-based cleaner, but still looking for alternatives.

5. More cats MIGHT be more trouble - I'm not sure how hard it is to train more than 2 cats (like Luigi), but training a lot of cats MIGHT be difficult. Guinness didn't learn by watching his brother. In fact, if one cat has an accident.. chances are the other cat will also follow suit and poop / pee in the same place. Still, while it MIGHT be difficult, I wouldn't say it's impossible.

6. You have to know your pets:
The training will have a better chance of success if you know your cat's peculiarities and behavior. I know when Guinness wants to poop or pee, and isn't sure where to go, so all I do is plonk him on the toilet seat and he'll be fine. He is like this at the moment, so I still consider him under probabtion. I know when Whisky wants to pee or poo, but I've accidently close the toilet lid or closed the door, because he'll come find me and "tell me".

Also, despite the fact that Guinness is the main culprit if something goes wrong, I also go very easy on him as he's coming into his maturity (he's starting to hump his brother), and I know that a cat's behavior can go haywire around this time. So, as much as you want the cat to adjust to your requirements, you'll also have to do some adjusting yourself.

7. If it fails, just take a step back and try again. A little perseverance will go a long way.

******* Final Thoughts *******
I haven't had to scoop poop and sweep litter off by bed for weeks. No more smell, no more poop disposal runs in the middle of the night (to avoid the neighbors in the elevator), no more hauling bags of litter. As challenging as it has been for the past 2 months or so... I'd say it's been very worth it.

Hope this helps. Good Luck!

thank you for sharing, you rocks!!! I know you mention that there is no smell but is it really no smell at all? How is the smell compared to the poop in the litter box?

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quick malay-english cat pattern code dictionary by linuxlah

si comot = tortieshell
si belang = mackerel tabby
si tompok = spotted tabby

Well, first of all, I keep the bathroom door open which helps a lot. Even then, air circulation is so so only. When they are in the middle of pooping or peeing, you can definitely smell it. But after about 5-10 minutes, I barely smell anything. I have to stick my nose closer to the bowl (or in the bowl) to smell anything.

To me, it smells way better than when using cat litter. I used to use the normal clay type, which was great for the first few days, but gag-inducing after that. Switched to flushable arm&hammer, which was better, but it has a sweet smell that can be annoying. I keep the bathroom door open, and guests never notice any smell when they come in, but they did smell something when I used the litter box in the washing area next to the kitchen.

The only exception... if your cat has soft poo and some sticks to the side of the bowl on the way down. So far, with the kiddie seat in place, all poo and pee go straight into the water. From my room, i can hear the plinking and plonking of my cats using the toilet.

What an educating post! It's been a long time

Thanks for sharing..That's just the zenith !

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european burmeses rock!

Wowwww... thank's a lot isky.... what a usefull info we got in here.... i do really appreciate it.... i'll do the train as soon as i can.... thank's again

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Wow Isky...i'm very impressed. Lots of useful directions complete with pictures!. Thanks!

Yeap, am finding it especially hard since i'm working full time and hence unable to keep an eye on them all the time, except in the evening after work and weekends. And lately, i noticed that there is some blood in the urine...problem is i don't know which one is it from cause all 3 cats uses the same toilet bowl. I suspect that this could be the change from using their normal litter to the toilet bowl, with much lesser litter sand used.

I've bought the Scientific litter (the one that can detect urinary infection problem) and am planning to get each of cats to pee in them...to see who might be having urinary problems. Feel really bad though, coz it could be due this whole toilet-training thing.

Anyway, see how it goes. Hopefully i'll find out which one, either Abu, Lulu or Oren and off to the vet i will go. Only after that, i will start this whole process again (maybe). At the moment, am having mixed feelings about toilet training them coz dowan my cats to be sick becoz of it.

Thanks again for the info.

Thank you Isky! Your posts are inspirational! Makes me want to train my cat to use the toilet bowl!

Glad i could help. When I was doing my own research on toilet training, a lot of the sites suggested aluminium roasting pans, which are hard to find around here (at least the large ones). Besides, I've been lurking around this forum for a while, so I figured I should contribute back.

@Luigi .. although i could be wrong, i doubt if the toilet training is the cause for the blood in urine. My vet knows that the cats are toilet trained, and he's pretty supportive. If toilet training was bad, i'm sure he would have said something. But then again, I don't really know...

@ zzorro, waiteng74... good luck. Do give updates on your progress if you decide to take do it

Well, probation period for guinness continues. No accidents lately, but I have to get up earlier to make sure i catch him if he started scratching around at the wrong places. In fact, i just finished my get-your-butt-on-that-toilet-seat-young-man routine with guinness just now, so it's not quite over for me.

I have 4 cats that will use the toilet bowl for pee2 and poo2. Self trained.