Cat Toilet Training
Potty training is one of the first and most essential training a cat owner should give his pet. To do this efficiently, you need to study your cat.
The behavior of a cat; the do’s and don’ts of training a cat.
We need to set down some basic rules for toilet training your cat. The most important rule is that potty training will make no sense to the cat if you do not actually catch it stooling on the floor as it will not remember the reason. Also be careful that you don’t hurt your cat or make it scared of you when you do catch it. Rubbing the cat’s nose in the pool will only hurt it and it may in turn hurt you, making it hard for you to train it or teach it anything.
Potty training is essential if you have to keep the environment dry, safe, clean and mess free especially given that cats do not like messy environments. It can also be cost saving if you succeed in potty training your cat on a household toilet as you won’t have to buy litter boxes.
Cats using household toilets is also more sanitary because fecal of fecal mixed with cat litter is a threat to the health of humans no matter their age. Cats that use litter boxes carry the germs from the box to the humans who love picking them up. This can make you very sick.
Potty training a cat reduces this risk because the fecal matter of the cat goes under the water and the bacteria cannot spread. In the market, you can buy devices to help with your cats’ potty training. These are often accompanied by books for help and support in this venture.
To see what steps we need to take in potty training, let us examine a potty device.
A potty device looks like a small shallow toilet bowl which you can fit beneath the ring of the toilet. First step to potty training is to fit the device in the toilet.
You can cover all potted plants you have in the house to prevent your cat from digging into the dirt to pass feces. It is also recommended that, in the small portion of the device, you can put a small amount of litter and rid all other places of litter so that it is the only place containing litter. This will help direct the cat to it when it wants to poo.
Cats like humans need privacy to do their business. There are also some fragrances that can lure the cat to the device. As curious as they are, when alone they will explore and eventually use the device. Sometimes, you may actually need to pick up the cat and put it on the litter box when you realize it is about to go so it realizes what you expect of it. The cat may also need to first get used to seeing the toilet before the actual training starts. To achieve this, just put the litter box near the toilet for a while before you start potty training.
Older cats are more difficult to train since they have been doing as they please for a long time. It is not natural to a cat to use the bathroom, thoughtless of the toilet, thus to train your cat, you will need to be very patient and tackle it cautiously.
Like the saying goes ‘all is well that ends well’, when your cat is potty trained, you and the cat will be happy especially as there will be no litter boxes in the house.
Incentives can speed up this process too. You may not always notice your cat going to the toilet but make sure you reward him when you do notice.