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Potty training cats...?
This is a really weird question, but...
My cat is a little over a year old, and I adopted her at 11 weeks. She's been litter-trained, and has never missed, never had a problem with it. I clean her litter box every day, and nothing has changed.
I woke up this morning to the sound of her scratching at something, and walked into my bathroom to find a few little...presents...in my tub. I cleaned it up, put them in the toilet, and showed her.
This sounds odd, but she's really, really smart. I can only assume she figured out that the bathroom is where I do my business and she tried to do the same thing.
Does anyone have any experience potty-training cats? Or any ideas?
Thanks!
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It's not as weird a question as it seems. If this isn't a stress response to changes in the cat's life, it is possible to potty-train a cat. It's really inconvenient at first though. First, move her litter box into the bathroom for a couple of weeks. Then, and this is the inconvenient part, place saran wrap across the opening of the toilet and put the seat down. Then sprinke some litter from her litter box onto the saran wrap. You have to use a lot of saran wrap (plastic wrap) and use the heavy duty, and duct tape it to the toilet so it doesn't just fall into the bowl when your cat steps on it. The problem is, you have to dismantle this everytime you go to the bathroom, and your cat might be one of those that never learns to flush the toilet....which might be a good thing, because there's very little more annoying than being woken up at three in the morning by a cat flushing the toilet to watch the water go down. Sorry I don't know more about it. I considered it as a novelty, but never actually did it. Good luck.
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Honestly, this most likely isn't a potty training question. If you cat is a little over a year old and just suddenly went to the bathroom outside the litter box, then it is most likely a stress related thing, or a health issue.
Has there been any changes to her life at all? Is there a new baby in the house, a new animal, or did someone leave the house recently? Did you move? Did furniture get moved around? It could even be a new animal (most likely cat) around the neighborhood that is stressing her out. If any of this has happened, then it could be that she is stressed.
Or it could be a health issue. One reason that cats stop using their litter box is because of some kind of urinary or bowel issue with their health. She could have a bladder infection, or stones in her bladder. If it hurts to pee, then she could associate it with the litter box, and then she would avoid the litter box, thinking that the litter box had something to do with the pain. Most often, they will choose the bathtub or sink. Does she cry when she uses the box? Have you noticed any blood in her urine? Does she seem to strain? If so then it could be a health issue.
Either way, I would bring her to your veterinarian, or at least call them to see what they think.
You should also feed her canned food. Cat's don't normally drink a lot of water, and this can sometimes make them predisposed to urinary or kidney disease. Feeding them canned food will help them get plenty of water in their system, helping to flush out their kidneys and bladder.
Edit: You asked for advice from someone who has experience with this sort of thing. I do have experience with this sort of thing. I didn't say that you don't know how to care for your cat, I'm just pointing out, since I work in Veterinary Medicine, that there are changes that your cat goes through that owners who aren't in the veterinary field don't notice.
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Was this just a one time occurrence? My cats (age 8 and 5), are 100% potty trained, and yes we have had 3 or 4 occurrences (not sure from which cat). It happens, and for some odd reasons cats have an odd fascination with bath tubs. Perhaps she was just tired and thought it was a giant litter box? Lol. If she's back to using her litter box, then I wouldn't be too worried about it, but if it happens again, try getting her a new kind of litter (some cats are picky).
~Maria, 18
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I've never potty-trained a cat, but I've always wanted to and I've done some reading on the subject for when my girlfriend and I get our own cat.
Basically, the idea is to move the litter box closer and closer to the toilet seat in incremental steps. You start out by putting the litter box in the bathroom next to the toilet, making sure that the cat knows where it is. After a few days of this, you put the litter box on a small platform (just a few inches off of the ground) next to the toilet, then a few inches higher until it's near the level of the toilet.
Once the cat is fully used to going at the same height as the litter box, you essentially suspend a container of litter above the water in the toilet, so that the cat has to jump onto the toilet to use it. After the cat has this completely learned, take the container away. Presto! Your cat is toilet trained!
Two very important things that need to be done. Always make sure to place the cat in the litter container each time that you move it so that your cat knows where it is. Second, make sure to reward the cat with a treat if you ever see it using the litter box in a new position: while it's not a very consistent reward schedule (you won't see it every time), it will help to show your cat how proud you are.
This is just a basic outline of it: you can probably find more in-depth information on Google.
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