Conference misery::feline_v1

    Funny to hear someone trying this.  I was watching TV the other night
    and a woman bought a book on how to toilet train her cat.  
    Supposedly you place the litter box next to the toilet and each
    day raise it higher and higher, until you get to the level of the
    toilet seat.  Then, you place the box on the seat, then remove the
    seat all together.  Never did hear how this method finally works
    out though...I mean, wouldn't kitty fall in, if not by jumping up
    while attempting to perch themself? 
    
    Is this the method in your book?  Curious to hear how it goes!
    

    ooops, in my previous message I meant to say "remove the box from
    the tope of the toilet seat" (not remove the seat all together!)
    Can you imagine, us humans replacing our toilet seats with a
    litter box?  Oh, would we be in for a role reversal!
    
    C.
    

    Don't tell me...this was from Designing Women.  If I remember correctly
    the show made a joke out of this by alluding to the fact that when they
    remove the litter box from the top of the toilet and the cat jumps up to 
    go, it jumps into the toilet and gets wet.  I think it was Julia
    Duffy's character that thought this was cruel to the cat.
    
    Actually, there is a seat cover type thing that fits over the toilet
    seat.  You can fill the center section (the part that would normally
    by a hole) with litter.  Once the cat gets used to jumping up and
    using the seat cover with the litter in it, you can remove the center
    section and in theory the cat will go into the toilet.  Then when kitty
    has this down as pat as a cat can, you can remove the entire seat cover
    and kitty will continue to the toilet with the normal seat in place.
    
    Jan
    

    If the training method described in .1 really worked (moving the
    litterbox to the top of the toilet, then eventually getting rid of the
    box and just leaving the toilet), then I think you would have a real
    problem on your hands.  :^)
    
    If cats are so tuned into the placement of the box that they won't
    notice that the box is gone....
    
    
    
    then my cats would probably be going on the floor wherever the box was
    before I moved it to the top of the toilet seat!!!  %^D %^D
    
    Jo

    I bought the book at the Paper Store .... it's called "How To Toilet 
    Train Your Cat in 21 Days".  I've never watch Designing Women ... so
    I have no idea what that's about.  Anyway, the method is quite simple:
    The kitty is now next to the toilet and everyday you put a magazine
    under the kitty litter box to eventually raise it as high as the
    toilet (this is how they get used to jumping up).  Then, you inch the
    kitty litter box towards the toilet, then you put cellophane under the
    toilet seat and add kitty litter for a couple of days.  Eventually, 
    they get the idea.  You can get little pieces of rug to put on each end
    of the seat so they don't slip.  I have three cats, so they all have to
    get the idea or it won't work.  Believe it or not, one of the cats was
    actually squatting on the toilet last night (he didn't go but he's
    definately getting the idea quick) and was very well balanced without a
    rug on the toilet seat.  With three cats, there's a lot of anxiety and
    stress  over the kitty litter box (territorial stuff) so if this works,
    I believe they'll be happier.  
    
    Tammy  

    If I were to go as far as to teach my cats how to use the toilet, I
    would also expect them to learn how to flush!!
    
    
    --Roberta [who's cats are too stupid to do either!]
    

    My mother taught her Penelope to do this; unfortunately, a cat that
    flushes won't do it just once; they go into an infinite loop because
    they enjoy watching the water go down the drain (good thing she has her
    own well; the water bills would get ridiculous).

    As for toilet training, while it sounds like a good idea, I'm not sure
    that I would want to have to jump to relieve myself if I had a full
    bladder, so I would tend to project these feelings on my cat.

    Also, having three FUS cats, I'd be a bit reluctant to try this, because
    if the cat is having a bout of FUS, he might be a bit reluctant to try
    to urinate ASAP, and my vet told me that the longer urine sits in the
    cat's bladder, the more likely it is to start forming crystals.

    Deb

    
    You'll be in big trouble if they learn how to lock the door. What if
    two have to go at the same time ?
    
    MF

    Yah ... and the next thing you know, they'll be bringing the
    newspaper in there taking their sweet time!  

    Not the newspaper - 
    Cats
    Cat Fancy
    I Love Cats
    etc etc etc
    

I bought the book in question and tried it on our 2 year old Tonkinese.. 

She was doing fine with the training and we knew it would succeed.. 

However, during this period, my wife and I began to feel very guilty that 
Cherie was home alone by herself all day and decided to get tonk kitten to
keep her company.   Unfortunately, I didn't think and we brought the kitten
home on one of the last days of Cheries training..   

The territorial distress of having another cat in the house blew the entire
thing..   She was doing everything she needed to in the toilet and we were
just about ready to remove the plastic completely...    Oh well....

We're going to try it again on both cats after we move and Cherie has been 
bred one more time...    

I'll let you know the results.. %)

-Rob

    Hi! I've beenout of the file for a week or two (I'm about 600 notes
    behind!!) and I noticed that it's been almost 21 days since the base
    noter (Tammy Clark) posted her note.
    
    I was wondering if you tried it, and how it worked?!?
    
    Bonnie

RE: .10

You forgot Catmopolitan!! (-:

Holly