Customer Reviews

How to Toilet-Train Your Cat: 21 Days to a Litter-Free Home

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(9)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(6)

 

 

We bought this book about 8 years ago, and used it to successfully train our two 6-8 month old cats (age uncertain, from a pound). We learned the hard way (i.e. we thought we could just do the parts of the book we wanted to) that the book's advice IS valid. The cats MUST be fixed first, and you have to let the cats learn at their speed. Plus, we were not successful until we had weaned them of perfumed litter first. With persistence, they learned well, and were able to learn that other toilets at other's homes, in hotels, on moves, etc. are all the same thing. We haven't had to buy litter since, and love the lack of cat litter smell in the house.

This book is good in that it gives you an idea about how to train your cat, but it misses some things. The last thing you want to do is take the chance that your cat will fall into the toilet. If that happens, your chances of success drop dramatically! With the method used in this book, that chance is raised. If you really want to know how to best toilet train your cat, there is a y-a-h-o-o group you can join for free. In addition to learning the best method, there are hundreds of folks that can give you advice for every problem you may encounter... like not keeping a rug in the bathroom because the cat will use that when the litter box is taken away. Also, if you want a residential automatic flusher, that information is in the group too. Good luck!

Bought my boyfriend a Maine Coon kitten for his birthday, so when he suggested toilet training the Precious Angel I felt obligated to find the right book. This one is very entertaining reading, easy to read, interestingly informative, and the steps towards toilet training clearly explained and humorously illustrated (loved the drawings!). I confess, the book had me psyched about toilet training! However, we've been stuck for almost a month a the pivotal "Day 17". Now two of three bathrooms at my boyfriend's place have clear plastic wrap stretched over the bowls and sprinklings of litter just about everywhere. We know the Precious Angel can do it as he has experienced success once or twice, but we've found "presents" on the floor as well. To make this book a five-star for me we need a help line/800#/email address to the author! I read all nine other reviews and truly believe that with Mr. Kunkel's intervention, guidance and assistance we could all be litter free, right now I'm feeling abandoned! PAUL KUNKEL PLEASE WRITE - YOUR FANS NEED YOU!

I bought this book recently after being fed up with cleaning the cat box, stepping on litter that had fallen out, and lugging a ginormous amount of litter up stairs.
The majority (2/3) of this book is about cat behavior, even to what your cat's meows mean. In essence, why cats do what they do and how they have the potential to be toilet trained.
I did more research on the internet before I began Kunkel's method. His method, for me at least, would involve more money being spent than I was inclined to spend (new box that fit the size specifications, undeoderized litter to wean my cats off of the deoderized kind, etc.). Plus, his last few steps involve saran wrap and tape that goes over the bowl of the toilet. In other words, I feel there is a lot of potential for psychological damage for the cat - and maybe the owner, too!
Instead, I purchased a CITIKITTY (www.citikitty.com). My cats used it immediately - 20 minutes out of the box - and I am highly satisfied with the results so far. It is filled with litter and fits over the bowl of the toilet, under the seat. It is durable enough that the cats can stand in it and it is easy enough to take off when I need to use the toilet (no adhesives or other mess). A hole is made in the center that gradually gets larger so that the cat is forced to stand on the seat itself.
Toilet training your cat is an exercise in classical conditioning, whatever methodology you use. Go slow and with the pace of your cat. Good luck!

i just bought this book last night and i read it cover to cover. granted i already did a few hours of preliminary research on cat toilet training methods and available training products online, the book was overly simplistic and i was appalled by some of the methods the author suggests.

first of all, only 33 pages of the book are actually dedicated to the training process itself which is 27% of the book. the majority of the remaining pages covers litter box training, a subject that i can probably safely assume that most of us have already addressed. the author does not address questions related to correct toilet seat posture, training multiple cats, getting your cat to use other toilets, and traveling with your cat.

the 33 pages of applicable material covers a 21 day process: the first 16 days consist of moving the litter box to the bathroom (1 day), gradually elevating the litter box to toilet seat height (12 days),and gradually moving the litter box from the stack of newspapers directly onto the toilet seat (3 days). on the 17th day, the author instructs you to remove the litter box altogether and give your cat the next 4 days to use the toilet seat itself. equipment needed? just heavy duty plastic wrap, adhesive tape, and newspapers. wow! lift the toilet seat, take a sheet of plastic wrap and attach the plastic across the toilet's porcelain rim leaving a slight indention in the middle. fill the middle with a cup of kitty litter and lower the toilet seat. the last 3 days instruct us to cut a small hole and then larger holes each day in the middle of the plastic wrap while at the same time using less and less kitty litter. on day 20, voila, get rid of the plastic wrap and litter! day 21, congratulate yourself. so in actuality, this is a 20 day training process.

the author's instructions are much too simplistic and give more weight to the height adjustment the cat will have to make (jumping up to use the bathroom) than the changes associated with posture and balance on the toilet seat, the removal of kitty litter, and the water in the toilet being exposed as the barrier disappears. most importantly, i'd like to know how many cats the author has actually toilet trained using his methods b/c i don't understand how heavy duty plastic wrap and adhesive tape can support the weight of anything larger than a 3 lb kitten. if the cat doesn't feel safe on the training contraption, it is probably going to refuse to use it. if the cat were to actually fall in, i'm pretty sure the cat will rebel against any other attempts at toilet training.

also, unless you have a spare bathroom, you may give up on toilet training before the cat. i imagine it will get really annoying removing, repositioning, and reattaching flimsy plastic wrap to your toilet everytime someone in the household needs to use it. or reinstalling and cutting holes in plastic wrap each time the cat soils the plastic wrap. i suggest buying one of the commercially available toilet training plastic pans, such as citikitty or litter kwitter, or just finding a metal bowl with the same diameter as the inside of your toilet bowl or aluminum baking pan that will sit securely under the toilet seat.

in all fairness, the book does address two topics that were completely new to me. in the first, the author states that you should not even attempt to train an unaltered cat. however, he does not address why this is true. secondly, he suggests that many cats can be "hooked" on the smell of chemically treated litter, so they should be slowly weaned off the scent by mixing the old litter with a new unscented (flushable) version.

i bought this book at half price books for $2.98. it wasn't even worth that.

Well, the book got made, and I bought it. Maybe I'm the dumb one!

We are still (months later) trying, as we really want to eliminate the litter, but have had to research other books and the internet for more, MUCH more info. This author doesn't even offer info for more questions. It's as if he's covered every possible scenario in the world, now it's up to you, the reader, to do it.

All you have to do is read the other reviews of this book to see that he's left out A LOT of possibilities. The reader is left to his own devices to fill in the numerous blanks. And as much time and energy as it takes, I find it almost impossible to believe the author has spent time training his friends' cats, too. It is time consuming, messy, and so far, extremely frustrating for both me and my cat.

We have followed, word for word, every instruction in the book, and have still been unsuccessful. The Saran Wrap? Bad idea - the cat falls through, every time (even with heavy duty wrap & very light Siamese cat ) which causes MUCH consternation on the part of the cat. We finally rig it so he can go again - he'll go, but doesn't like it. He has to be contained in the bathroom, and even still, will go on the floor rather than in the pot.

The pace of the training is entirely too fast, and offers no other options. Note to publisher: if you reprint this book, it needs some serious revisions.

I think some kitties might be able to be trained in 21 days, but not all. The most important part of this book is praise and patience! I trained my three kitties but it took longer than 21 days, more like 2 months. If your kitties don't like it you have to go slower. I agree that this book could really use a web site or 800 number or _something_ for when you have questions. Maybe we should start a support group? :> Anyway, after reading how awful kitty litter is for cats (not to mention the environment) almost anything is better than changing the litter every day. Even occasional setbacks.

While this book is very detailed, well-researched, and well-illustrated, this toilet-training method just didn't work on my cats.

I have two cats. Both are siamese, born on the same day about 15 months ago. They've lived their entire lives indoors in the company of people. Before we tried toilet-training them, they were perfectly box-trained. As soon as we started lifting the litter box up off the floor, cat poops began appearing on the floor now and then instead of in the box. We tried giving them a couple low steps to help them climb up to the box -- no help. We tried scouring the floor with all sorts of chemicals, sprinkled it with red pepper, we even covered it with a big potted plant and some cinder blocks. Each time we'd end up finding piles of poop between the obstacles.

We ended up with a thoroughly stinky bathroom, a scraped-up floor, a dead plant (not much sunlight in the bathroom), and diappointment. (sigh) I guess you can't win 'em all.

I have three longhaired cats and followed the book's instructions to the letter but I now have a Persian peeing on the floor and none of us are happy. I think the book was well written but it raised false hopes claiming it would work for all cats. I even did it the alternative method. Maybe my cats are just dumb, but they wouldn't balance on the edge of the seat. Oh, well. I'd still like it to work out but I think I would need direct advice from the author.

I followed the book and my cat was trained (it took more than 21 days) -- it is a wonderful method!

But praise is important, even to cats -- when I went in the hospital for a couple weeks and she was left alone alot, she backslid and has never accepted the idea again. Now we use the electric cat box -- another great idea!