You’ve likely found this blog because you’re considering toilet training your cat. It’s becoming increasingly popular to teach cats to use the toilet instead of their litter box, but you need to understand what you might be setting yourself and your cat up for first.
Someone once gave us a book about how to toilet train your cat. We thought it was kind of weird and, well, people often give us weird sh*t. However, upon doing a quick online search we found out that this is a thing. There are toilet training contraptions, video tutorials, blogs, etc. all around this subject!
Other than showing off your cat, why would one want to toilet train their kitty? So as to avoid cleaning a litter box?
I admit that if I saw one of my cats using the toilet I would grab my camera and show off the video. It’s pretty cool to see your cat do tricks, but we want to be sure we aren’t causing them harm in the process. Here are a few reasons I don’t promote toilet training your cat.
- Cats weren’t designed to sit the same way we sit when using the restroom. Cats can be super flexible but even they have mobility limits. Hovering and perching on the side of a toilet takes quite the balance. Once your kitty’s limit is reached she may fall into the toilet. That’s no bueno.
- It’s difficult to keep an eye on the health of your cat if you are unable to see their elimination. Excessive urination and runny stools can be signs of serious illnesses and disease and if your cat is using the toilet you likely won’t be able to catch these symptoms. Because cats are stoic beings, they often won’t show you their pain until it’s too late. 🙁
- Older cats have less tolerance. If your senior cat is toilet trained and not litter trained eventually you will end up with him doing his business elsewhere. 90% of cats over 12 deal with some sort of arthritis. Making them jump on a toilet with arthritis is just mean.
Please take into consideration what your cats may want or not want before toilet training them.
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