Toilet-train your cat!

Stage 4: Enlarging the Hole and Teaching Proper Paw Position

Okay, so now your cat's gotten used to that 1" x 1" hole you cut in the roasting pan. Now let's turn that 1" x 1" hole into a 1" x 2" hole — get out your pair of scissors, and expand the hole lengthwise (i.e. along the short side of the roasting pan). Remember to fold the excess aluminum flap so that it creates a dam to block litter from falling into the hole.

Keep expanding the hole like this until eventually the hole becomes a rectangular strip right across the back of the toilet. Once we create that rectangular hole, enlarging it will simply be a matter of making a small cut into both sides of it and rolling up the aluminum flaps.

During the next few bathroom cycles, keep enlarging the hole a little bit each time kitty goes #1 and #2 successfully. As you increase the size of the hole, the litter dam will naturally get taller, so when it gets too tall, just cut it down or fold it in half to shorten it. Leave just under an inch of litter in the pan at all times. And remember, if at any time kitty seems nervous enough to start doing her business on your bathroom mat, just leave the setup alone for a few days to give her time to get used to it.

If your cat is a digger — and odds are she is — litter is probably winding up in the toilet. If she paws too much litter into the toilet, just remember to add more litter to the roasting pan. Try to maintain it so that the litter is just under an inch high at all times.

At some point, the hole will get large enough so that your cat's waste lands in the water in the toilet bowl instead of in the litter. Praise your kitty like crazy... this is a big moment for her! Doing #1 and #2 into the water might seem strange for your cat at first, but once she realizes that the water is a "magic litter" and does a better job of neutralizing the odor than her regular litter does, she probably won't mind one bit. With any luck, she'll be cheerfully doing her business in the toilet again the next time.

Keep on enlarging the hole until there's nothing left of the roasting pan except a 1" strip of litter. In the next stage, we'll work on eliminating this last bit of litter completely. At this point, your cat will have at least three paws on the toilet seat, if not all four.

Teaching Proper Paw Position

Before you cut the hole in the roasting pan, your cat probably started with all four of her paws in the litter pan whenever she went to the bathroom.

As the hole grows and the amount of litter decreases, your cat will do her best to aim for the litter, and will naturally find comfortable squatting positions to make this possible. When the hole gets big enough, she'll start going with her front paws on the toilet seat, and her hind legs in the litter. Eventually, when the roasting pan gets small enough, she'll learn to put one of her hind paws on the toilet seat. When the roasting pan gets so small that she can't put any of her paws in it, she'll finally learn to put all four paws on the toilet seat.

Most cats will learn this naturally, but some cats who are slower (but no less special, mind you) might need some help with this. If you notice that the roasting pan is getting too small for your cat's paws, but your cat is still desperately hanging on the last bit of the pan, try repositioning her paws — wait until she's committed to going, then pick up her paw and move it onto the toilet seat... and remember to praise her like crazy! She might not like being touched when she's going to the bathroom, but if you keep praising her and reward her with treats afterwards, she'll forgive you for this minor transgression. More importantly, she'll learn proper foot position and get comfortable with the stance.