Kinky the Cat was entered in The Great Aussie Pet Competition (2004).
She was the runner up in Category 5 – Smartest Pet, coming behind Gemma the surfing dog. Gillian the Corella was the overall winner.
Since then, we have received several letters from viewers asking if we could do a segment on how to train a cat to use the toilet.
Kinky’s training:
Kinky’s owner, Simone Moore, owns two Burmese cats, Kinky and Clawd. The idea to teach the cats to go on the toilet came about when Simone noticed that neither cat liked putting its paws into the litter and were balancing on the edge. She thought if they could balance on the tray, they could balance on the toilet seat.
The training took four to six weeks. Simone started by putting the tray beside the toilet. After a week, she then found another litter tray that could be secured to the toilet seat with occy straps (about $5 at most leading supermarkets). The cats don’t go outside, so they had no choice but to use the tray. Once the cats were used to jumping up on the seat, Simone had to hunt around and find a container that could fit inside the toilet. She found a suitable container and put the litter in it. She used recycled paper litter. This was better because if some of it went into the toilet, it could flush away. Soon after, Simone took away the litter and left the tray. Once they were happy with that, she took away the tray and just monitored the cats. It took a while for Clawd to get his ‘sense of direction’, sometimes he would miss, but now they are both fine.
The toilet seat has to be kept down for the cats to get the right purchase. Simone has had to put up a sign in the loo to remind guests to put the seat down.
Shadow and Robo:
Simone also owns two dogs, a Kelpie called Shadow and a German Shepherd called Robo. She has also taught the dogs to pee on command. Whenever she noticed they were about to pee she would say ‘do a wee’ and give them lots of praise. Eventually they learned to do it on command.
Health warning:
Toxoplasmosis is a disease that is particularly dangerous to pregnant women. It is caused by a parasite sometimes found in cat’s faeces. If you’re pregnant, don’t train your cat to use the toilet. In fact, it is recommended that pregnant women avoid contact with cats – always have someone else handle the litter trays and make sure the litter trays are cleaned daily.
