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

~ (Author) "As any cat owner will tell you, the bond between cats and humans is as strong as it is enduring..." (more)
Key Phrases: spare toilet seat, scent barrier, territorial stress, Standard Method, New York, Edward Lowe (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

Last year Americans spent $400 million on 1.8 million tons of cat litter--enough to fill the Empire State Building two and a half times! Now, Paul Kunkel presents a foolproof, 21-Day Program for teaching any litter-trained cat between the ages of six months and ten years to use a toilet instead of a litterbox. Illustrations.

From the Back Cover

THIS BOOK ADDRESSES AN IMPORTANT ISSUE . . . and offers an easy solution to one of the most troublesome problems any cat owner will ever face.

(Roger Caras, author of A Cat Is Watching)

Now There's a Better Way.

No more scoop, no more box, no more heavy, soggy, bags. And no more "accidents." Using Paul Kunkel's foolproof 21-day program you can break your cat of the litter habit and teach him the clean, healthy, viable alternative of using the toilet.

Along with illustrated day-by-day instructions, Paul Kunkel provides eight case studies.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 96 pages
• Publisher: Workman Publishing Company; illustrated edition edition (January 6, 1991)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0894808281
• ISBN-13: 978-0894808289
• Product Dimensions: 6.7 x 5.2 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (26 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #70,012 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

44 of 47 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Get a Citikitty Instead!, January 27, 2006

By	Beatrix Comet (Richardson, TX) - See all my reviews

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!

24 of 24 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars It does work!, April 22, 2000

By A Customer

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.

31 of 33 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Not all there, September 13, 2004

By	T.J. (Texas) - See all my reviews

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!