Tips to Relieve Your Child’s ADHD Symptoms

When you think of your child having attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, do you automatically think of a lifetime of your child popping pills?

Medication isn’t always the answer to treating ADHD, a neurobehavioral disorder that causes problems with attention, impulsivity and overactivity, according to the National Resource Center on AD/HD. In fact, experts say that using medication to treat the chronic disorder that affects between 3 percent and 7 percent of school-age children is not necessary in all cases.

However, what is necessary – whether your child is on medication or not – is using other elements to control the effects of ADHD. The following tips can help your child become more successful in aspects of life, such as school and peer relationships, that are impaired by the condition:

* Create a daily schedule. Since organization is often a problem for children with ADHD, the National Institute of Mental Health recommends keeping your child on a routine. Post the schedule in your child’s room or other area in the house and try to make schedule changes far in advance.

* Provide a supplement. Some experts recommend ADHD sufferers take a supplement specifically designed to help relieve symptoms of the disorder, such as Focus from “The Spray” line of sublingual sprays, which is made with natural ingredients.

Clinical studies show that Focus is effective in reducing lapses in attention, poor concentration and the tendency to be easily distracted. This spray was developed by doctors and meets all Food and Drug Administration guidelines for good manufacturing practices.
* Help break down large assignments. Break projects or big tasks into smaller steps. This will make the assignments more manageable for your child.

* Encourage peer activities. To help your child alleviate pent-up hyperactivity and develop social skills, get your child involved in extracurricular activities, such as sports.

Tire Jump Foundation Training for your Dog

The Tire Jump seems like a relatively easy agility obstacle, at least from a persons perspective, but in the Novice Agility ring you see many dogs that refuse to go through it, many go under it, while others choose to go around it.  How can you prepare your beginning agility for success with the Tire Jump?

Let’s go back to foundation training. When introducing any new obstacle, you want to keep the difficulty low and emphasize the fun and ease that it can be for your dog.  If your dog has a sit stay, leave him about 2 feet in front of the tire, facing it, walk to the other side and call your dog, “Come Tire”.  If he won’t budge, put your hand with his treat or toy through the tire to coax him to follow your hand and jump through the tire.  Practice this several times until he willing is coming to you.  Keep him about 2 feet from the tire, you go to the other side and then move back about 6 feet, “Come Tire.  When your dog is able to jump through the tire when you are at different distances and angles from the tire, then it is time to move him further away from the tire.  Start him back 6 feet, you go to the other side about 6 feet away and call, “Come Tire”.  Place your dog at different distances and angles from the tire and call him to you.  When your dog can succeed 80% of the time, its time to progress to make the challenge a bit harder.

Now that your dog is coming to you, it is time to teach “Go Tire”.  Start close to the tire again, 3 feet away, this time both you and your dog are facing the tire. Tell him “Go Tire”.  If he jumps through, great, step to the side and reward him.  If you don’t get any movement from the dog, step forward and point to the tire, “Go Jump”.  For some dogs this motion on your part is enough to get them up and going through the tire.  If your dog still won’t move, take your treat container or toy and throw through the tire, saying, “Go Tire”.  Repeat this many times until your dog will successfully go through the tire without you having to step toward the tire or throw his toy through the tire. If you are using a toy quickly try to get your dog to go through the tire then reward with a throw of the toy or treat container.  Begin to back away from the tire, 3 feet, 6 feet, 9 feet work toward sending your dog from 30 feet away.

If you’ve started with a very young dog you should still have the tire height set low 8″ or 12″ for a good bit of your training.  If your dog is older and large, now begin to move the tire height up.  Go back and practice you “Come Tire” and “Go Tire” when you change the heights.  As you raise the height your dog may try to go under the tire.  At first you may want to setup some wire mesh or angled jump bars under the tire for your dog to realize he still needs to go through and not under the tire.  When you are getting ready for competition, raise the tire slightly higher than your dog would have in the agility ring.  Preparation and practice are the best training tips for succeeding in the competition ring.

Tired Of The Mess? Tips To Keep Your Child’s Room Neat

Wanting your child to be organized and stay safe is an innate desire for parents. But sometimes, your kids don’t see it that way. All your kids want to do is play, play and play some more! If you’re having a hard time keeping your child’s room clean and organized, read on for some tips to help you achieve your goal.

Make the room efficient. Make use of small drawers and cabinets where you can put your child’s belongings. Utilize anything that fits the design or budget. The easier it to access, the better chance that it will be used.

For toddlers, hanging their clothes on small hangers on a low hung rod can help them choose their outfit and help them to feel like they are making their own decisions. These feelings help them to start to “like” how things work, and as they grow they will “like” having their clothes hung.

Organizing a baby’s room is mostly for the benefit of the parent. Grouping the essential things you need in one area will help you find things quicker and make the job of caring for your baby much easier and safer. For example, put all the items you need for changing your baby on or near your changing table. You never want to leave your baby on the table to move across the room to pick up something that’s out of place, and having to pick him up to do that is quite a pain as well. Likewise, arrange baby’s bath basics together including towels and washcloths. Keep them within easy reach when you are bathing your baby. After all, you cannot leave your baby in her tub while you look for the baby shampoo.

Place shelves at reaching height for your child in his or her room. Shelves can be used to put toys on and when your child wants to play, she can easily reach them without having to drag out all the other toys.

Place a limit on the toys that are used at one time. Teach your child to play with one toy at a time. Then before she can play with another toy, she must put the first one away. If it’s on a shelf that’s at a level where she can easily access it, this job should be an easy one, she just may have to be reminded that the first toy has to be put back before the second one can be taken out.

Make organizing and keeping the room clean fun. Make using special containers for toys with small pieces a fun part of playing with that toy. For example, use an old shoebox as a toy car garage. Another example of making organization fun would be to place a basketball hoop on top of your little boy’s laundry hamper. He’ll be able to practice some basketball moves every time he changes his clothes.

Teach your child how to clean his room. Ask your child to join you when you are cleaning his room. Point out that there is a place for everything and keeping the room clean is as easy as putting every item back in it’s place. As long as you don’t let the room get too out of hand, cleaning will be easy. Eventually, you can transition to sitting on the bed and telling your child what needs to be done. Then later, he will know what to do without you being there.

Keeping a child’s room clean can truly be a daunting task, but cleaning as you go and keeping organized makes it a lot easier. Follow the tips above and start to get in a habit, it takes practice and some time before you see results but it’s well worth the effort.

Titan In A Teacup — The Pomeranian Dog

Looking for a new canine pal and have one of the toy breeds in mind? Then be sure to give more than a glance to the stylish Pomeranian — that prancing little ringmaster who, just like a certain boy or girl from high school, knows exactly how good looking he is.

If you have the time to brush and comb his magnificent coat, the Pomeranian thoroughly deserves your consideration. A whole lot of dog in a small package, he fairly bursts with personality. When you walk him down the street, all eyes turn — and not because he’s blocking the light! — but because of his bright eyes, “look at me” stride and gorgeous coat.

Most dog lovers don’t know that the tiny Pom is related to the standoffish, handsome Chow, the lovely white Samoyed and others belonging to the group loosely known as “Northern dogs.” Europe and especially Germany boasts several near relatives of the Pomeranian, including the white and black Spitzes.

So, then, why are Poms so small? The fact is, when they first appeared in America they were heftier, weighing in at about 15-20 pounds on average. In fact, around the turn of the twentieth century, prize-winning American Poms could be found at 25 to 30 pounds.

But their pint-sized destiny had already been determined. In the late 1800s, Queen Victoria became known as a Pomeranian fan, and like many celebrities, preferred the smallest specimens. Sure enough, the breeders followed her lead, resulting in the tiny, mighty companions we have today.

Unsurprisingly, Poms are a special favorite of women, but they deserve real consideration in many homes thanks to their special mix of size, intelligence and beauty. Urban families without a fenced yard can greatly enjoy a Pom.

It may hardly tip the scales, but the Pom is a distinctive pocket pup with an alert expression, incredibly acute hearing, and almost limitless intelligence and eagerness to learn. What’s more, Poms have more backbone than you might think (you may have to protect them from their own bravado if a large, aggressive dog approaches).

If you’re almost set on a Pom, just don’t forget that being a Pom owner means devoting time and care to its coat. They’re so attractive and proud that their thick, showy coats deserve special attention, and that means more than a lick-and-a-promise brushing.

To Buy Or Adopt A Dog – That Is The Question

You’re happy at home, but there just seems to be something missing. Ah, it’s a dog. Remember when you were a child, the fun you had with your dog.

Whilst you can’t recapture your youth, you can fill the void. And for those of you who have children they will get to enjoy the love and attention of their very own dog. It will also help teach them ‘some’ responsibility. Hey, every kid will commit to taking the dog for walks before you get one, but when the chips are down! Teaching a love for animals and responsibility are only small side benefits of owning a dog.

So the first question you ask yourself – do you buy or to adopt a new dog. Both methods have their pros and cons. Most people head out to the breeders and pick up a purebred dog – sometimes paying large sums of money. That’s fine if you’re going to dog shows and competitions but some of the nicest and best tempered dogs can be found at the pound, or in foster care. It’s a much cheaper route and it gives a dog a much needed home.

But beware! You need to decide what type of dog, its age and size before you head out the door and then stick to it! Once you’re at the pound meeting the dogs you’ll see so many cute dogs that your heart can run away with you. So make a decision and stick to it, no matter how much pressure your children place on you!. Talk to your local rescue groups, go and see the fostered dogs. This is a great way to find a dog that suits your needs because you can ask the foster family about the dog before you commit, as well as seeing him in a family surrounding.

Consider an older dog, not just a puppy. While puppies are really cute and fun, once a dog reaches 3 or 4 its temperament and behavior is pretty well set. It’s also probably been spayed or neutered and it will be full grown. You will know exactly what you’re getting and be able to provide a loving home for a long time to come.

When you get your dog home there will be a period of adjustment. Depending on the dog’s circumstances it may have been in a foster home, it may have been abused and it will have spent some time in the cages at the pound. This is a difficult time for your dog so extra understanding is needed. Your dog may bark, chew, scratch and even have ‘accidents’ while trying to adjust to a new life. It’s stressful so make a safe haven for your dog and give him some space and time to adjust.

Exercise is important so take your dog out and give it all the exercise it needs as soon as you can after taking it home. This will give you a good indication of how much exercise your dog requires and how well behaved it is. Training is important, no matter what the history of the dog is. This will give you valuable insights into your dogs behavior, (as well as your own!), and it’s great bonding time too. Make sure that you’re consistent so that your dog learns how to behave correctly.
Follow this simple advice and you’ll have a happy, healthy, loving, well behaved dog for you and your family to enjoy for a long time to come.

To prepare the cage for the budgie

From the smallest parrots with great popularity among the lovers have budgies – their weight reaches up to 40 grams, and the length of their body is no more than 20 – 23 cm. Usually cages for budgies are sold equipped with perches, made of wood or hard plastics. But after that the owner of the feathery ones has to complete the interior with several real, rough, unattractive twigs, because if the budgie never changes the position of its toes and always holds tight to the flat and smooth surface of standard sick, its toes start swelling, rubbing sore and there start to appear wounds and scabs. If you don’t have fine sandpaper to cover the floor, you can spread out under the layer of very fine ballast (or very coarse sand ) and an ordinary newspaper, which must not have colored illustrations. Most printing inks are poisonous for budgies. Something more that can threaten your birds is using twigs from the coniferous tree – yew, whose wood is also poisonous for birds. It is best for this purpose to use twigs from orchard trees.

WHAT DO THEY NEED?

My recommendation is to use transparent feeders – thus it will be easier for the budgie to find its food, when it sees the food. Feeders must be two types – one for seeds and sand with stones and another bigger one for the vegetation and fruit. The sand could be from the sea, mixed with crashed shells and mussels ( but not from the white one that is sold for the canaries), and the stones should be from granite or flint. Budgies get bored with the same toys, so it is better to change or to take turns of them into the cage. It is considered that a mirror makes the loneliness of the bird more endurable – looking into the mirror the bird start imagining that it is not alone, but I consider that constant looking in the mirror is not recommendable because of danger of inhibition.

Choose the most spacious cage, which you can afford and which you can dispose at home. It is considered that the ideal size of cage for a couple of budgies is 91/45/45 cm, and when only one bird is going to live in the cage its size could be 2/3 from the stated one. Don’t be in a hurry with you purchase – many cages are sold in the zoo shops, but you can have the chance to buy a suitable already used one. Different constructions exist, so it is sensible not to hurry so that you can buy something really good. You buy a home for your budgies, where their life will pass, so do your best to choose such, where they will feel best. Choosing a cage it is not bad to think about some things. Is it spacious enough ? Is its shape proper – you might like a high circular cage, but in “ lodgings ” birds very often don’t have enough room to move and to outspread their wings. It can seem less important, but closing the door must be secure. There should be a mobile plastic bottom in the cage, which to ease cleaning it. The sticks of the cage can be chromium plated or glazed and it is good to have horizontal not only vertical sticks on the sides of the cage so that the budgies can climb easily. The p erches must be located so that birds can reach all feeders and watering troughs and place one higher than the other ones. Don’t install them near the sides of the cage, because staying on them, budgies will constantly rub there tails on the metal sticks. Prepare the cage before buying your feathery friend. And when you take it from the shop, put it in a cardboard box, handle it with care and quickly take it home. If it is cold outside wrap the box, but so that you don’t reduce air flow. At hoe wash the whole cage with very hot water, but neither use soap nor washing detergents, use only special disinfection means, that are intended for birds’cages. This is absolutely compulsory if you have obtained a used cage. Dry very well the new home of the bird. Place a sheet of very fine sandpaper on the bottom and spread fine ballast. After that, install the perches, feeders and water troughs.

Birds don’t like the location of the cage to be often changed, that is why choose the most proper place for them in your flat right in the beginning. The place should be lighted up enough, but not to be lit up directly by sunlight. If you have a glassed balcony from late spring to early autumn you can keep your birds there. You can put pots with big – leaved plants around the cage. Thus birds will feel well. The balcony should not be facing south, because during the hot summer days the bird can die of overheating. When temperatures get lower you should bring the bird inside the flat Watch out not to put it near the central-heating or other heating devices because air is drier there. When you bring the birds in be careful because the make lots of mess around especially when they start flying in the cage.

It is known that budgies like to have company – your feathery pet will feel best in the room where the whole family gathers. Choose a room, where you can let the bird fly free –this is very important for its education. Budgies also need fresh air – that it why the room should not be stifling. Exactly because of this reason the cage of the birds should not be put in the kitchen as some beginners do. The steam that appears when cooking is harmful for birds. Except for that, it is very dangerous when flying in the kitchen the budgie to have a tragic end. The cage should not be put in front of the window – there the sensitive feathery creatures very sensibly feel the atmosphere changes – the cold in winter and the burning sunrays in summer. The cage should not be exposed to draughts, very close to the radiator of the central heating or near the fire place. Whether the cage is placed on a special for this purpose rack is not very important – it could be placed on every solid table or shelf. But on a special rack the cage takes less space, it can be put higher, which the birds will like and it will be easier to move it.

Budgies suffer if the don’t sleep enough. That is why you should cover their cage with a light material – it reduces light, but birds don’t stay in full darkness.

To Stay Happy And Healthy Your Kitten Will Need Vaccinations

As a cat owner, you have a responsibility to protect the cat.  One of the things you’ll need to do is to have the cat vaccinated.

6-8 weeks old

The first vaccination will need to happen when he is about six to eight weeks old.  Before now, his mother’s antibodies are helping to protect him.  But, once he is weaned from the mother, he needs his own antibodies to protect him.

The vet will give your kitten a physical exam which will likely include a fecal exam to insure that the cat doesn’t have worms.  Before vaccinating them, they will do a blood test to insure that the does not already have Feline Leukemia or Feline Infectius Peritonitis.  These tests don’t take long to be done, likely only minutes.  The first vaccine to be received will likely be Feline Leukemia and FIP vaccines.  Cats that never leave their home may not need these vaccines.

But, all cats are likely to receive FVRCPC vaccine even if he never leaves home.  This vaccine is actually a combination of several vaccines. FVRCPC protects kittens from rhinotracheitis, calicivirus, panleudopenia and chlamydia.

10-12 weeks old

Two to four weeks later, you cat will need to visit the vet again.  This time he will get his second FVRCPC vaccine and his second FIP and feline Leukemia vaccines as well.  He may get a second worming too if he had one at his first visit.  When they reach twelve weeks old, those cats that spend time outdoors will also need their first rabies vaccine.

The next visit will happen at ten to sixteen weeks old.  The third FVRCPC vaccine will be given.  And some cats will get their rabies shot now too.

1 year old

At one year old, the cat will need Rabies and FVRCPC vaccines again.  If the rabies shot is given within one year of the first one, it will be good for up to three years.  The cat will return though for FVRCPC vaccines each year.  He’ll also receive boosters of FIP and Feline Leukemia as well.

Your pet needs these vaccines to stay healthy.  Although they are meant to help your pet stay healthy, the cat may develop a reaction to the injection itself.  Although rare, the cat can develop a cancer from the Leukemia vaccines and that is why they are not recommended for cats that do not need them.  Also, cats can develop lumps or tumors as well.  It is important that you make sure to let the vet know if there are any signs of these things with your pet.

When you follow these simple steps your kitten should be assured a happy and healthy future.

Toddler Skills for Personal Responsibility

There are three skills that are very important for our little ones to learn early in their lives.

1) Children need to be able to fall asleep on their own. Infants and toddlers who are always rocked to sleep, or breastfed or bottle fed to sleep, learn to depend upon others for falling asleep and do not develop their own falling asleep mechanism. This can cause much distress for parents who go through the nightly nightmare of trying to get their infant or toddler to sleep. Instead of always picking up and rocking a crying little one, which only reinforces the child’s dependency on you putting him or her to sleep, try patting the child and then leaving for a few minutes. If you keep coming in, patting your child and reassuring him or her that you are here, eventually your child will stop depending upon you to rock, hold or feed him or her to sleep.

2) Children need to learn very young to play by themselves and amuse themselves. It is not healthy for children to be constantly dependent upon others, or upon the TV, to amuse them. I work with many adults who never learned to “play by themselves.” These adults feel lost when they are alone, having no idea what to do with themselves. Instead of turning to creative or learning opportunities, they may participate in addictions such as eating, drinking, drugs, TV, work, spending, and so on. When children learn to play by themselves at a young age, they tend to be more self-sufficient and creative as adult.

3) Children need to learn how to self-nurture. This means that they need to learn how to take some responsibility for their own feelings. Infants often self-soothe with their blanket, thumb, or pacifier. But as they grow older, they need to learn other ways of self-nurturing because they will not be taking their blanket or pacifier to school.

Even children as young as 2 1/2 years old can learn to attend to their own feelings. You can help your young children start to take responsibility for their feelings by giving them a doll or stuffed animal that represents their emotions. You can tell them that the doll or stuffed animal is the baby inside them that has a lot of different emotions. When they are feeling sad or angry, they can learn to talk to the baby inside and find out what that baby needs from them or from you. As they get older, they can learn to connect their thoughts with their feelings. They can learn that if they judge themselves by telling themselves that they are bad or stupid or ugly, they will feel very badly.

It is vitally important for all of us to connect our thoughts with our feelings. Most of us grew up believing that others caused all our good and painful feelings. If someone yelled at us or told us we were bad or stupid or ugly, we certainly felt badly, and if someone approved of us, we felt good. So we learned to believe that all our feelings are being caused by others. It is important for children to learn that their feelings are also affected by what they tell themselves and how they treat themselves. For example, if an older brother tells his younger brother that he is stupid, the younger child might start to tell himself he is stupid, without realizing that he is causing himself to feel very badly. By talking with his “baby”, he might realize he is treating himself in a way that is hurting him.
He also might also be able to understand that his brother is not telling him the truth. The way he can learn to realize this is by learning to access his “Source of Love and Truth.”

Small children can easily learn to open to a powerful Source of Love and Truth. You can ask them to imagine a wonderful friend, a guardian angel, or a fairy godmother. It is very easy for most children to imagine a wonderful being who is here to love them and guide them. They can be encouraged to ask questions of this loving being, such as “Is it true that I am stupid?” They can learn to bring through true and loving statements to themselves when they open to learning with their spiritual Guidance.

These skills, learned early in life, will do much to foster personal responsibility in our children.

Toddlers Who Stutter

Some parents have the shock of hearing their young child start to stutter as a toddler. I am somebody who runs a speech centre in Birmingham, England, I now help people to achieve fluency.

I met a lady who was thirty and her little boy aged four had been stuttering for quite a while. She had taken him to speech therapy and was extremely anxious as to why he was stuttering. It had possibly started because the toddlers father had quite a severe stutter, the boy may of picked up the bad habits this way.

Many other people contact me asking why their toddler has developed a stutter and asking what forms of stuttering treatments are available.

I always suggest that they keep as patient as they can and try to play games, speech games with their child. They can challenge the child to say the word fluently, they show their child how it should be said and then bet them that they can’t do it themselves. When they do manage to say that particular word fluently they then heap lots of praise onto the child, telling them how clever they are and how proud mommy and daddy are of them. I even advise giving them an award like a small chocolate bar.

If instead of being patient parents or relatives are aggressive, saying things like: “Get your words boy” “Spit it out!” These types of comments can have a very negative effect and make that child withdraw into their shell. This may to some people seem very obvious to say, however you would not believe the amount of people who have told me this is what they were told as an infant.

Toilet training a cat – pros, cons & guide

Cat toilet training in easy steps:

Toilet training your cat is an easier task than you might think.  Several techniques can be used for training your cat to use the toilet, and you can even buy products that will assist you in toilet training a cat.

The advantages of cat toilet training:
Teaching your cat to use the toilet can hold several advantages for any cat owner.  The biggest advantage of having your cat use a toilet is that eliminates most of the disadvantages that using cat litter holds.  Cat litter is expensive.  After toilet training your cat, you won’t ever need to buy cat litter again.  Cat litter boxes needs to be cleaned regularly or they will become smelly.  With cat toilet training, the water in the toilet masks most of the offending smell and all you need to do is flush regularly – much simpler and easier than cleaning a litter box.  Going away for weekends or holidays also becomes easier for your neighbor – instead of asking someone to clean out the litter box,  all they need to do is flush your toilet once in a while (when they come around to water your plants and feed your cat).

How to toilet train a cat (do it yourself):
Toilet training your cat depends entirely on the cat’s personality.  Toilet training sociable cats that love being praised make the training task much easier.  You might want to adapt the toilet training technique described below to fit your cat’s personality.  Training your cat to use the toilet can take anything between 2 weeks up to 3 months, depending on the individual cat’s personality.

Cat toilet training basically consists of a simple procedure: gradually moving your cat’s litter box closer and closer to the toilet, finally placing a bowl with cat litter inside the toilet, and removing it altogether when your cat is comfortable and used to it.  Toilet training a cat is a gradual, step-by-step process, consisting of making small changes to the location of the litter box and only continuing to the next step when your cat is entirely comfortable with its current situation.  You might have to wait anything between 2 days or 3 weeks before moving on a next step in cat toilet training.  You might even have to go back a step once or twice when it turns out that your cat wasn’t ready to move on to the next toilet training step.  Beware – cat toilet training takes a lot of patience!

Cat toilet training steps:
1. Start gradually moving your cat’s litter box nearer to the toilet until finally it should be next to the toilet.  Ensure that your cat is always comfortable and sure of its litter box’s location.
2. Now start elevating the cat’s litter box.  Put something non-slippery like newspapers or cardboard underneath the litter box.  A normal rate to increase the height of the litter box would be about 5cm a day, but be very attentive to signs that your cat is not comfortable with the current height, and adjust the pace of raising the litter box accordingly.  The cat litter box should be raised until it is at a level height with the toilet bowl.  Throughout this process it is very important to keep the toilet lid open and the seat down, because your cat will get used to it and might even start climbing on the toilet seat in order to reach its litter box.
3. Move the litter box to rest on the open toilet seat.  Keep it there until your cat seems comfortable with this arrangement.
4. Buy a metal bowl or tray that will fit snugly inside the toilet bowl.  It would be advisable for the metal bowl to have small draining holes.  Fill the bowl with cat litter (preferably the flushable type).  Now remove your cat’s litter box entirely.  If you have reached this step successfully you are very close to having a toilet trained cat!
5. While your cat is using the metal bowl inside the toilet, be attentive to where its paws are.  The goal is teaching him to squat with all four paws on the toilet seat rim.  You can move the cat while it is using the toilet and praise it (or reward it) when it is sitting in the correct position.  Normally the cat will first sit entirely inside the metal bowl, then with front paws on the toilet seat, and finally it should sit with all four paws on the toilet.
6. Start using less and less cat litter.  This can get smelly, so be sure to clean the bowl after every time your cat uses it.  Cats scratch in sand or cat litter to cover up the smell (this is out of instinct), so if the bowl becomes too smelly your cat won’t be comfortable using it (and you probably wouldn’t be comfortable with using your toilet either).  Using flushable cat litter makes cleaning the bowl very easy – just throw out the contents in the toilet and flush down, rinse out the bowl, refill with correct amount of cat litter and replace.  A handy tip is to place newspaper on the floor around the toilet to help keep the room clean should your cat scratch in the cat litter.  Decrease the amount of cat litter in a pace that your cat feels comfortable with.
7. When you basically don’t use any cat litter inside the bowl anymore, start gradually filling the bowl with water.  The water will also help mask the smell so your cat will be more comfortable using the toilet.  Be attentive to your cat’s behavior through this whole process – if your cat stops using the bowl inside the toilet, you may be moving on too fast and might need to go back a couple of steps.
8. When the water level in the bowl has reached about 4cm and your cat has no problem using it, it is time to remove the bowl entirely.  Your cat should now be toilet trained.  Remember to always leave the toilet seat up and flush regularly!

Products to assist you in toilet training your cat:
There are several cat toilet training kits available on the market.  They basically consist of a tray that fits inside the toilet, and with a hole in the middle that you can gradually make bigger.  When choosing a cat toilet training kit, ensure that you buy quality.  The cat training kit should not be flimsy and should be able to support your cat’s weight even when the hole becomes large.  Be aware of cheap, flimsy products you buy at toy stores or pet stores, because if your cat falls in, it might loose interest in toilet training completely.

The disadvantages in toilet training your cat:
Not everyone agrees that cat toilet training is such a great idea.  They argue that it is unnatural for a cat to use a toilet, as it goes against their natural instincts to cover up their smell.  Toilet seats can also be slippery and there might be the risk of your cat injuring itself.  Even if your cat doesn’t fall in at all, he may become anxious whenever he uses the toilet and going to the toilet can become an unpleasant task.

A litter box also has the health benefit in that it’s easier to monitor your cat’s urine for signs of infections or sickness.

Moving locations will also be harder for the cat, because a litter box can be moved easily but the cat will first need to get used to using the new toilet.  With some cats this is no problem and they can become comfortable with the new toilet very fast, while other cats might be less adaptable.

Things to remember when toilet training a cat:
The most important thing to remember is that the toilet training should be done gradually.  Be very patient and never rush to the next step until you are sure that you cat is completely comfortable with the current setup.
Make using the toilet as easy as you can for the cat.  Always remember to keep the toilet seat up and the bathroom door open.  When you have guests, ensure that they also know about considering your cat.  Flush the toilet regularly as cats do not like using smelly toilets.