Potty-Training Your Cat

You can do it yourself, with household items.

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Deterrents

From time to time our kitties thought it was good enough to use a spot close to the toilet to potty. We had to make and place some things to deter this behavior. The key was to make those spots undesirable to be in for the kitty. We turned a plastic carpet traffic-way/runner/protector thing bottom (spiked-side) up and placed it on the floor, near the toilet. They could and did still jump up to the toilet without having to step on the runner. We tried to remember to lift this off the floor when we used the toilet. . . . It's uncomfortable for kitties and barefoot humans. We also observed that kitties seem to avoid citrus and pine-smelling things. Pouring a little pine cleaner on the popular spots on the linoleum worked for a little while. The problem was that cleaner would evaporate and it's aroma would go away. I decided to try and make something that would release the odor slowly but continuously for a longer time. I cleaned out a cottage-cheese container and poured in 1/2 pine cleaner (the cheap stuff) and 1/2 water. Then I poked some small holes in the lid and covered it. These worked well. We could cheaply make as many as we needed and place them in the problem spots. Often it would just take the addition of a little water to "refresh" them. My wife calls these "pine-mines." Of course any way to make an area inaccessable will help. Aside from closing doors, we've blocked areas with gates and simply placed objects like laundry baskets over favorite spots. It's also good to remind your kitty with a "No!" when you see him/her nosing around an off-limits zone.