Do you think it’s impossible to teach your cat how to use the bathroom? What’s just a movie? So we have good news for you: it’s possible to teach your cat how to use the bathroom. It’s not easy or fast and you won’t be able to do it in two days, but following our guide, you can make your cat the most hygienic on your street.
Before we begin, we want to make it clear that it is much easier for a trained cat to do this than a cat that has not been trained. Continue reading this Animal Expert article and teach your cat how to use the bathroom.
1
Place the sandbox in the bathroom: The first thing to do is to place the cat litter box next to the toilet. You have to get used to the cat going into the bathroom, so there’s nothing better than leaving your sandbox there. It is normal that at this stage there is no problem. The cat will go to the bathroom to do your needs without problems and will not need more than two days of adaptation.
2
Place the highest container: There is a height problem between the sandbox, which is at ground level, and the toilets that are higher. How do we solve this? Gradually, educate your cat to ride. One day he places a book under the sandbox, in another something slightly taller than the book and so on until the cat gets used to jumping almost into the bathroom.
Make sure the box is properly on top of what you put underneath and that they can be magazines, pieces of wood, or any other material. Improper or unstable placement can blow the cat, knock down the box and make our partner think “I won’t jump here anymore.” This would scare the cat more when it came to climbing the sandbox.
3
Zoom in on the toilet tray: You already have the sandbox in the bathroom and at the same height as the toilet, now you have to approach it. Come every day, remember that it’s a gradual process, so you should push it a little more day after day. In the end, when you have the box right next to the toilet, what you should do is place it on top. It is important to make sure that there is no problem of instability, otherwise it will leave the cat traumatized.
4
Reduce the level of sand: The cat already does its needs in the bathroom, but in the box. Now you have to get used to the sand and the box, so you have to remove more and more sand. Gradually, you should reduce the amount of sand until a small layer reaches less than 2 centimeters in height.
5
Replace the box with a container: now you need to change the cat’s mindset. You must go from your needs in the box to make them directly in the bathroom. There are different options to do this, from training boxes sold in the pet shops themselves to a simple plastic container you have at home. You can create your own box with a container you put in the toilet and a solid paper that can support the weight of the cat under the lid. In addition, you can add some sand so that the cat still has a memory of its sand and lists it.
6
Make a hole in the paper and remove the container: When you have been used to doing your needs in this container and paper for a few days, you have to take it out and make a hole in the paper for the stools to start falling into the water. This phase can be complicated, but we have to go slowly until the cat can do it comfortably. When you see how comfortable it is, clear the hole until there’s virtually nothing left. When you clear the hole, you have to remove the sand you put on the paper. Your cat should get used to doing its needs without sand, so you should gradually reduce it. At this point, you should have already managed to meet your bathroom needs, but this behavior still needs to be reinforced.
7
Flush out the toilet and reward your cat: cats don’t like to defecate or urinate with their own urine. Also, it is not hygienic to leave your needs in the bathroom because its smell is quite strong. Therefore, you will have to flush the toilet chain every time the cat uses the bathroom, both for our hygiene and for this “mania” of the cats. To reinforce the behavior, you must give a cat a prize every time you urinate or defecated in the bathroom. This will make the cat think that he has done something good and that next time he will do it again to receive his reward. And if you got here… congratulations! He made his cat learn to use the bathroom. Was it hard? Do you have another method to do that? If so, tell us what your method was.
If you want to read articles similar to, we recommend that you go to our Advanced Training section.