Toilet-train your cat!

Stage 5: Eliminating the Litter

With Stage 4 complete, there's nothing left of the roasting pan except a 1" strip of litter. Your kitty is willingly doing her business straight into the water, and she has three if not all four paws on the toilet seat. Give yourself a pat on the back — you are your cat are almost at the finish line!

That last bit of litter might be something of a crutch for your kitty. Some cats will do just fine if you take it away; other cats are completely addicted to litter and will refuse to go if it's not there. We won't take any chances at this stage, so let's play it safe and wean your cat off the litter gradually.

To do this, first remove a tiny bit of litter from the pan — shave about a millimeter off the top. (Actually, odds are your cat will do the work for you by pawing some litter into the toilet during the course of her digging, naturally reducing the litter in the pan. You might even need to add more litter if she paws too much into the toilet!)

Wait for her to go #1 and #2 again. Once you're certain she's used to having less litter in her pan, repeat the process and remove a little more litter from the pan. Keep repeating until there's no more litter in the pan.

Voila! Your cat has now been weaned off her litter.

Removing the Roasting Pan

If you're one of the unlucky ones, not to worry — it just means we need to keep enlarging the hole, albeit at a slower pace. Get out your pair of scissors and cut away the litter dam (we don't need it anymore anyway, since there's no litter left in the pan to prevent from falling into the toilet). This will make what's left of the roasting pan a little less stable, discourage her from using it, and get her to put that last leg on the seat. If she still insists on putting one leg on the ledge, then gradually cut it away, about half a centimeter after each time she goes to the bathroom. Eventually, there won't be enough roasting pan for her to use as a ledge, and she'll be forced to teach herself to put all four paws on the toilet seat.

If you're one of the lucky ones and she already has all four paws on the toilet seat, then the rest of the way is easy... all you have to do is enlarge the hole one last time by cutting away what's left of the roasting pan, so that the entire bottom of the pan is gone.

Wait a few days for your cat to go #1 and #2 a few times. After you've made sure that she's comfortable, remove the roasting pan entirely.

Congratulations — your cat is now toilet trained!