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Toilet training successes?

Nitro

and his servant, Paul
Has anyone successfully trained their SV to use a toilet? The litter is the one thing I hate most about felines, but I did manage to get both of my Bengals trained, and I hope to do the same with the SV I'm getting soon. Any luck?
 

Brigitte Cowell

Moderator
Staff member
I imagine a Savannah should be similar to Bengals. We started years and years ago to try to toilet train our Savannahs... the first two were well on their way and seemed to take to it easily, but then our third Savannah thought an open toilet bowl was a wading pool...and now all our toilet lids remain down :-(
 

Nitro

and his servant, Paul
Haha, well maybe I just won't flush as often so he knows it's not a pool.

The good news is I have two bathrooms in my apartment, so I can start fresh with the new guy without starting over with the old'ns.
 

admin

Paige
Staff member
I believe there are a few people on the forum who have toilet trained their savannah cats.
 
I haven't tried yet with my SV, but I did train a DSH I had years ago. It was really easy with that kit they sell which consists of a clear plastic tray that gets sandwiched between the lid and bowl. You scatter a tiny bit of litter in the tray and slowly decrease it over time. Then remove the tray. I think it only took about a week. Never could teach him to flush, though! I wouldn't think an SV would be any harder to train.
 

Brigitte Cowell

Moderator
Staff member
That reminds me, one of the first F3 kittens I produced went to a home that contacted me the next year telling me how she was worried when her water bill tripled...until she worked out what was happening. Her F3 had worked out that flush and was fascinated with it, so she also had to keep her toilet lids down...oops!
 

Nitro

and his servant, Paul
Oh man, I hope that doesn't happen...surely cat-proof plunger systems exist? My Bengals will sometimes jiggle the handle, but they never have been able to flush on their own.
 

Medesha

Savannah Super Cat
I'm working on training Vakai to use the toilet.

So far so good- I've already cut the first ring out of the trainer, because he transitioned from the floor litter box to the Citti Kitty so quickly. The only issues I've had so far is that he enjoys pushing most of the flush-able litter down the little hole and a few days ago, for some reason, Vakai used the mini trash bin instead of the cittikity.

I'm still trying to figure out how he managed to go into the trash bin without knocking it over! He must have some floating power or something...
 

Nitro

and his servant, Paul
Wow, that's fast progress! It took a long time and many accidents on the road to letterbox freedom for me, but keep at it! If you don't want to rush him, I suggest cutting rings half the size of what they perforate at. It's a big jump between holes 1 and 2.

What brand of flushable are you using? It seems that almost nobody sells it since I quit buying litter, so I bought Swheat from Amazon. I don't know how well that will go over with a kitten that uses Tidy Cats (which doesn't come in a flushable variety).
 

Medesha

Savannah Super Cat
"Better way" flushable cat litter. I don't think there's any flush-able cat litter in the stores around here (then again, I didn't really know there was flushable cat litter at all till now, so I haven't exactly been looking) so I'll have to look around a bit more carefully.

He seems to be doing alright at this phase. I'll keep him here a bit longer than I did before I cut the hole into the Citti Kitty. I don't want to rush it- a future without buying, scooping and disposing of litter is definitely worth some mess and effort!


I haven't had any issues with Vakai desperately trying to reach the water or playing with it- he's curious about it, but very cautious. I was taking a shower and closed him in the bathroom with me, just to see if he had an affinity for water. He kept meowing at me, and climbing on the edge of the tub and looking in at me, as if to say, "what're you on about?"

My only concern is if Vakai (or any cat for that matter) is being... deprived of something by being toilet-trained. It's instinctual for them, to dig and bury. He's not going to need Cat Therapy is he?

I'll update this post if there's any complications/when Vakai goes litter-free.
 
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