DIY Cat Toilet / Potty Trainer Sturdy and Re-usable!

Intro: DIY Cat Toilet / Potty Trainer Sturdy and Re-usable!

I have two cats, I hate doing the litter box, and I have a spare toilet in the basement that no one uses. I tried the CitiKitty a few months back (it was gifted to me) and it didn't work out because at the time I was sharing the litter covered bathroom with the cats and lost patience. This time around, I didn't want to spend $30 on a one time use, flimsy vacuum formed solution and decided to make my own. I'm surprised there aren't any good DIY solutions out there. This requires either a laser cutter, or a router / bandsaw )

Total Project Cost: ~$10
Materials

- 5 Gallon Pail ($3 @ Home Depot)
- 8x 3/8x2-1/2” Bolts (<$3)
- 8x 3/8” Nuts (<$1)
- 16x 3/8” Washers (<$1)
- 2x Sheets of 1/8” 12x12 ABS ( I opted against wood because it would soak in urine ) ( 8 Pack @ $8 http://amzn.com/B00DCKGXKG )

- Plastic Weld / Plastic Glue

Instructions

- Cut bottom 2-3” off of pail (I used a table saw). This is your bowl.

- Cut 8” diameter hole out of bottom of bowl. I used a multitool

- drill 8 equidistant 3/8” holes around the perimeter of the bowl, 5/8” below the rim.

- Attach hardware as pictured with a washer on either side of the bowl rim.

- Cut out pattern from ABS. I used a 40w laser. (PDF attached)

- Glue matching pattern pieces to each other. I used Plastruct. This step is best performed with the pieces nested because the tolerances are so tight, just be careful not to glue the wrong pieces together.

- Let bonds cure, test by pressing. If it comes apart, re-glue. You don't want to chance your cat falling into the toilet and being traumatized. Thanks to the many points of contact (bolts) and the 1/4" of ABS sheets, there is no flex whatsoever. Cats are smart, I reckon they don't trust a flimsy platform over a known pool of water.

- Train your cat. Follow instructions for a commercial product like CitiKitty or Litter Kwitter. Gradually get cat to use toilet box without holes, then slowly remove a ring at a time. The nice thing about this design is the ability to go back a step or start over if things go awry. You want to use a "flushable" litter like Cat's Pride.

Comments

[craig3]

do you still put some litter in there once you take out the center hole?

[musiq021]

Yeah, you want to keep litter in it all the way to the end.

[shantinath1000]

If I had a cat and a spare bathroom - I would do this for sure.

[craig3]

See if it works for dogs.

[fre21]

yeah I like it!

[cdstudioNH]

"Shittin Kitten" I'm crying.. this is so good!

[seamster]

This is brilliant!