MD
05-05-2005, 09:30 PM
CANBERRA (Reuters) - The line for the toilet is about to get longer.
Fed up with the mess created by kitty litter and inspired by the cat "Mr Jinks" in the Hollywood film "Meet the Fockers," an Australian woman has invented a toilet training system for cats called the "Litter-Kwitter."
Mother-of-two Jo Lapidge is flushed with success after teaching her family's Burmese cat, Doogal, to use the toilet.
"Doogal has fallen in, but he hasn't fallen in by accident, he has done it playing with the water," Lapidge told Reuters.
The Litter-Kwitter (http://litterkwitter.com.au/) is a three-step process, starting with a red toilet seat-shaped disc filled with cat litter and sitting on the floor next to the toilet, like a normal tray. Next the red disc is placed on the toilet so the cat can get used to jumping up onto the seat.
Then the red disc is replaced with an amber disc with a small hole. When the cat is accustomed to the water below, the amber disc is replaced with a green disc which has a larger hole.
The aim is that fastidious felines should eventually be able to use a normal toilet seat.
"Because the water covers the smell, it makes the burying or covering up instinct redundant ... To fully train Doogal it took about eight weeks," said Lapidge, adding that she hopes to start manufacturing the Litter-Kwitter soon.
But, unlike Mr Jinks, teaching cats to flush could be a little harder.
Fed up with the mess created by kitty litter and inspired by the cat "Mr Jinks" in the Hollywood film "Meet the Fockers," an Australian woman has invented a toilet training system for cats called the "Litter-Kwitter."
Mother-of-two Jo Lapidge is flushed with success after teaching her family's Burmese cat, Doogal, to use the toilet.
"Doogal has fallen in, but he hasn't fallen in by accident, he has done it playing with the water," Lapidge told Reuters.
The Litter-Kwitter (http://litterkwitter.com.au/) is a three-step process, starting with a red toilet seat-shaped disc filled with cat litter and sitting on the floor next to the toilet, like a normal tray. Next the red disc is placed on the toilet so the cat can get used to jumping up onto the seat.
Then the red disc is replaced with an amber disc with a small hole. When the cat is accustomed to the water below, the amber disc is replaced with a green disc which has a larger hole.
The aim is that fastidious felines should eventually be able to use a normal toilet seat.
"Because the water covers the smell, it makes the burying or covering up instinct redundant ... To fully train Doogal it took about eight weeks," said Lapidge, adding that she hopes to start manufacturing the Litter-Kwitter soon.
But, unlike Mr Jinks, teaching cats to flush could be a little harder.