CitiKitty: Cat Toilet Training Kit

One of my co-workers swears his girlfriend has toilet trained her cats. I have never seen it, but he evidently has. I don't know if she used this product, but the method that was described to me was very similar to what's on the web site.

Alex, I refer you to http://www.ebaumsworld.com/welltrainedcat.html

I do know of at least one cat who was trained in a similar way to this, although not with this product. I forget the details, but it started off with the cat's litter box being set on top of the toilet, and ended up with the cat being toilet trained. I'll have to check to see what the intervening steps were.

Other versions of this device have been around for ages. I know you're all going to think I'm making this up, but supposedly Jazz bass player Charles Mingus developed some means of toilet training cats. I can't swear it's true, but I promise that I didn't make it up.

OK, check this out:

http://www.mingusmingusmingus.com/ownwords/catcatalog.html

Wasn't there a scene similar to what y'all are talking about in the movie 'Meet The Fockers'?

I had a cat a while back that actually used the toilet, only for urination, though. We didn't train him to do it. He just started doing this one day. I do agree that you can't train a cat to do anything that isn't his idea. Too stubborn I guess.

It's true. I've done it and I know others who have. It's not really woth the trouble, IMO, but it's not that hard. As long as the cat agrees to play along. 😊

Why not??! I pee in kitty litter sometimes :roll:

you can train cats, there are featured in many films doing numerous activites. And I've seen at least 20 you've been framed clips of a cat using the toilet. Sorry alex but I think your wrong.

My parents own two pet stores, and I worked in them for 10 years, so I can vouch for the fact that these things work, given enough time and patience. Cats are fairly stubborn animals, but they can be trained to do most anything if you know what you're doing and know how to do it.

I milked a cat once. You can milk just about anything with nipples.

But wouldn't the cat occasionally fall into the toilet? And wouldn't that dissuade it from using it?

And how is the human supposed to use the toilet while there's a litter box stationed on top of it? Seems like you'd need an extra, unused toilet to train the cat.

I suppose you just move the litter box out of the way whenever you need to use the toilet. Or else buy a lot of diapers.

I mentioned this to my parents who, as it turns out, actually know someone who did this with their cat. So maybe it can be done. But apparently these people also encountered a serious drawback with the method: the cat didn't know it was supposed to aim into the water. It just knew that it was supposed to perch on the seat and go. So more often than not, the stuff would end up on the floor around the toilet.

Another problem: cats instinctively want to scratch to cover up their mess. So to train a cat to go into the toilet is going against cat instinct. Therefore, I still believe that MOST cats would resist being toilet-trained.

Yeah, actually a cat can be trained to use the toilet in that manner.. just can't train 'em to flush or close the seat! It's no hoax.

A cat can be trained to flush and this is a horrible thing because once they learn what fun flushing is, they like to just flush the toilet and watch the water swirl down.

They will also unroll the toilet paper into a heap on the floor.

While growing up, my husband had two cats that were toilet trained. The only downside was that they were the only ones who could use that specific bathroom because people scents on the toilet bothered them. That training method mentioned in the ad isn't very new. I bought a kit similar to that years ago to use on my cat. Didn't work though. She was too freakin' scared of the toilet to use it (probably didn't help that I used to drop the lid on her when she'd try to drink out of the toilet when she was young. On the other hand - she did stop drinking out of it).

Yes, Alex, there are quite a lot of people who have trained their cats to use the toilet. The main drawbacks are that you have to leave the lid up all the time, and cats (at least most cats) will never learn to flush.

Ocelots are supposed to be especially easy to toilet-train, because they are said to naturally eliminate into streams in their rain-forest habitat. I'm not advocating keeping ocelots as pets (I've only known one person with a pet ocelot and that one was a terrible pet); I'm only repeating what I've heard and read.

I once bought a book entitled "Toilet Train Your Cat," which detailed numerous training methods and also described various case histories of cats that had taught themselves to use the W.C. I've forgotten the author's name. Another time, a friend bought me a product called "Kitty Whiz," which was fairly similar to the CitiKitty described here. I never got around to using it, though. Since I'm away from home most of the day, it just seems easier to keep scooping out the litter box (which my cats use with no prompting, as long as I keep it clean) than to try to supervise my cats and modify their behavior whenever they need to spend a penny.

Alex is dead wrong when he says, "After all, you can't train cats to do anything." I've got a friend named Tom who trained his cat, Poopy Foot, to do an entire lion tamers act, but Poopy was a house cat. Watching Tom put Poopy through the routine was absolutely one of the funniest things I have seen in my life. Just imagine a lion tamers act that you would see at a circus, complete with roaring, standing, jumping from perch to perch, and the jumping through the burning hoop of fire as the finale, all with a house cat, and you get the picture here.

Tom had been an elephant trainer at the city zoo for many years by the time I met him. He claims that it is possible to train any animal to do SOMETHING, no matter how old it is. I believe him. You just have to BE CONSISTENT (this is probably the most important thing), and you have to UNDERSTAND AND WORK WITH THE ANIMAL'S NATURAL INCLINATIONS. Food is generally the best motivator there is.

I tried to get Tom to let me video tape him and Poopy Foot for America's Funniest Home Videos or something, but he would not let me. :(

I tried this with my cat once and it basically went crazy. After a while, it started going pee and stuff all over the place. The worst was when it randomly decided to pee on my brand new white shoes before I had to go to school. It smelled like pee for a really long time.

Alex, you move the kitty litter holder when you have to go. Idiot.

Back when I had more free time, I taught my cats to do various tricks on command, such as "jump up" (onto a chair), "jump down," "sit," "stand up" (on hind legs), and "catch."

Cats are at least as smart as dogs, probably smarter in some ways. The main difference between training a cat and training a dog is that you might be able to intimidate a dog into doing something, but you'll never get a cat to do something he doesn't want to do. If the cat doesn't enjoy the routine, forget about it.

...And if you don't believe me and Bugbearsloth, you should take in the Moscow Cats Theater some weekend:

http://www.villagevoice.com/people/0542,bengal,68721,24.html

This thing works. My aunt had a spare bathroom that was just for the cats. They used the friggin toilet...one disadvantage to the spare bathroom for the cats scenario is that someone has to remember to flush. Also i've heard of cats switching tot he bathroom sink in defiance of the toilet.

I don't know if that kit will teach your cat to use the toilet, but I know that my cat adopted the practice on his own. He always follows people into the bathroom. I assume he likes to watch. Anyway, he spontaneously began using the toilet and after a couple of months, my other cat began copying him, eliminating the need for a litter pan completely. I have no idea how it happened and have no advice, but I sure am pleased.

You can train your cat to do all sorts of things. Most people train their cats to come when called, but don't even think of that as training...yet it is. My niece trained her cat to shake hands, roll over and fetch. I trained a cat I used to have to fetch little wadded up balls of aluminum foil. He refused to fetch a little ball - it was probably too heavy. Of course, that was more serendipity than training. The cat ran after the aluminum ball and picked it up. When he surprised me by bringing it back to be thrown again, a new game had been discovered. Of course, some my say my cat trained me to throw.

You can not believe if you like, but 2 of my 3 old cats were toilet trained - although I didn't use any particular device. We started with the litter box on the toilet, changed to a bowl of kitty litter that was the right size to hang in the hole in the seat, then to a dollar store plastic colander. Actually, the third cat sort of got it but he had once fallen in the toilet so we had to leave the colander in for him. That meant that if he went #2 you had to go in and dump out the colander so he was trained to go on the toilet but not toilet trained completely.

I never did get them to learn to flush.

And no, the cats never took a crap or peed on the bed for revenge. It was interesting in the middle of the night when you jumped up to run to the can and turned the light on to find the cat there taking a leak, though.

When is the status going to be changed to "true?"

I agree with Joe. The status for this should be changed to "True" or "Real".

I'll add my vote on "True". An ex-university friend of mine works as an animal psychologist - Exactly like an animal behaviourist, but at triple the pay - And toilet training animals for apartment dwellers is a big earner for her. It can be done, but cats are wilful little SOBs, and sometimes they break training for reasons best described as spite.

We had a cat that would pee down the bathtub drain whenever he had a urinary tract infection. I suppose because he was in a hurry and couldn't wait. He was very tidy about it. The litter box was all the way down in the basement. Then I would give him his medicine and he would go to the basement litter box again when he was well.

In a previous apartment, one of my cats also used to pee down the bathtub drain, even though the litter box was right beside it. My other cat races me into the bathroom and jumps onto the toilet seat as soon as I lift the cover. Unfortunately both my kitties seem to prefer crapping (and, of course, puking) all over the house rather than using the litter box, so I doubt they could ever be toilet trained themselves. Sigh. 😕

yep, im currently using that exact kit on my 2 kittens and my adult cat and yes they really are using the toilet. it takes patince but yes, cats can be taught.

dont underestimate the power of a stubbourn cat owner.

Years ago I learned how to train a cat to use the toilet, he loved to flush : flush,flush,flush. For hours on end I never trained another cat to do this!!!

Again, when is the status going to be changed? You added it to bring more credibility to the site, which is a great thing. But what good is it if it's not accurate?

Very funny that this should come up. Our CityKitty arrived yesterday and we began the training process. The thing fits over the rim, under the seat and gets filled with litter. You cut larger and larger oval sections out of the middle over the next few weeks and the cat just gets in the habit of doing his business while perched on the seat.
Our little cat Simon was a bit hesitant at first, but once he realized that he had a new litter box, he had no trouble adjusting. As I said, we only set it up yesterday, so it's not 100% certain that it will work, but it looks really promising.

I trained mine with a similar device years ago, and they weren't young cats. Worked great.

I know a fella who is currently documenting the whole Citi-Kitty experience.

http://webpages.charter.net/bucky/ceni/

That is the website with pics and all.

Cats can be trained, but I especially enjoyed reading about the cats who just decided on their own to use the toilet. I am attracted to the convenience, but I am also concerned about the environmental impact of putting more and more cat litter in land fills. Using toielts is not natural for cats. Living in houses is not natural for cats. Since they are native to Egypt, living in America is not natural for cats. Taking cats tot he vet is not natural. So what? Preying on song birds is natural for cats, and when they are allowed outside they have a big impact on songbird populations. Just because something is not natural doesn't mean it isn't good.

If you want, email me and I will give you my address so you can see it for yourself. Cat's are very smart and you can train them to do anything...including playing fetch!

My Cat, Fred, was trained to use a toilet within 6 weeks. He originally had a litter box infront of the toilet in the guest bathroom. We then bought a $3 plastic bowl that fit inside the toilet under the seat. We put litter in it and removed his normal litter box. We also added 3 books beside the toilet so he would be able to easily climb up to the toilet without jumping (cats falling into water will fail this project miserably). Each day you give the cat "good cat" treatment when you see he used the new litter box. In addition, you make a hole in the plastic bowl...making it larger each day. Eventually you remove the plastic bowl altogether and get rid of litter.

Now, the cat did not like this at first...obviously, however, when he was bawling in the bathroom, looking around for litter, I picked him up and showed him the new source...the rest came naturally. We where strict in not bringing back anything we took away. A cat will quickly move over if there are no other options (secondary litterboxes also cause problems).


FYI, use "flushable" litter to do this training, it's much nicer to deal with and won't scratch the toilet. Also, be prepared for messes. This process is much dirtier up front, litter everywhere. They have to retrain themselves how hard to scratch when done....etc. Since then, we had him trained for 6 months and then put him back on a litter box due to traveling with him to different states. We found it hard to train him on new toilets and new environments...it was too much to ask for. The day we put the litter box back out, is the day he was litterbox trained...never went back to the toilet to use it, though we still leave it available to him.

I toilet trained my cat, but used the Scoop No More DVD, which outlines toilet training from beginning to end. I didn't find it too difficult and trained my two kittens when I brought them home.

http://www.scoopnomore.com

I love living without a litterbox, you should try it.

SM

You're cat is so retarded if it can't do this. Actually, NO, your cat may be the most talented cat in the world- but has a MORON as an owner!!! You are completley and utterly a disappointment to all cat owners. TRUE cat owners BELIEVE in their pets. You obviously DON'T and you don't need to own a cat. Maybe you should switch to owning a lifeless, motionless, loveless rock you stupid son of a bitch!

I had a friend who was training a cat to use the toilet with the Kittycat program. It seemed to be working pretty well until he found cat poop in the tub! Y'know, porcelain is porcelain--at least to a cat!

I notice that a lot of you are using the word 'smart' to be synonomous with 'trainable'. In on case, someone indicated that cats are at least as smart as dogs. Just to clarify some of this: cats are, because of a lesser degree of domestication 'smarter' than dogs (domestication of a wild animal genetically changes them, making them stupider, and therefore more managable). Also, cats are not as trainable as dogs, that isn't to say that they can't be trained, that's just to say that it's harder. This is obvious, otherwise there would be just as many well-trained cats as there are dogs. Finally, not only is 'smart' not the same thing as 'trainable', but it is essentially the opposite. If I asked you to do something that you found to be pointless or you didn't want to do it, you woudn't, because you're a fairly discerning and intellegent organism. A cat, likewise, does what it wants. A dog does what it's told. Obedience is not intellegence.

As for peeing in the toilet, that would be awesome, I'd like to try it on mine, if they aren't too smart for me 😊

My cat started to use this last week and everything was going fine. Last two days though, she started to shit on the floor around the toilet for no apparent reason. She still pees on the plastic thingy.. which I guess is a minor achievement.
Very diappointed with this product. DO NOT BUY CITYKITTY!!

No, cats can use the toilet. Cats won't fall into the toilet--they're very agile. You can train the cat to flush (see Karen Pryor's Clicker Training for Cats, and use simple target training), but I wouldn't advise it--the cat may just flush over and over again for his own amusement, and there goes your water bill. As far as the litter tray, it is temporary--you cut a hole in it, making it larger and larger over time, eventually you remove the tray. In the mean time, just lift the tray off when you need to go. Also the cat is more motivated to pee somewhere other than in a smelly litter box. This is not to say EVERY cat will do it or that you won't get accidents.
http://www.kittygoespotty.com/videos.php

It is possible b/c I've been trying it for about a month or so. However, the products and kits sold are useless-you do it in stages and eventually you put a metal bowl under the seat. My problems have been that they haven't understood the part where I take the litter out of the bowl (they'll go on or near the toilet, so the mess isn't really bad). Also, it is harder on me because I have two cats. the older male would've probably got it by now, but the younger female hisses at me when I try to show her "correct feet placement".