Toilet Training Kitty

I have been meaning for a while to write about the issue of kitty toilet training. And we don't mean box training, here, we mean toilet. As in your toilet.

The idea is, you get your cat to jump up on your toilet seat, place its little paws on either side, squat, and do its business in your toilet bowl. Then you come along and flush the stuff down. All gone! Neat and clean, right? Well, maybe, but I have to say, personally, I get some territory issues over this. I mean, that's MY toilet.

I first encountered kitty toilet training a few years back while browsing the racks at the library. At first, I thought the book meant box training. Then I realized they really meant toilet. I thought, do people actually do this? Apparently so. A blog for toilet training your cat (and some cute, but unrelated videos) can be found here. And here is a little step-by-step, if you're interested.

Arguments for it include cleanliness (your cat not stepping in dirty litter and tracking it all over the house), ease of maintenance, and saving on materials and cost of kitty litter. I hear that. And yet the idea of my cat using the same toilet that I use crosses a line that I prefer not to cross. I mean, I really do love my cat, but this is a little too much anthropomorphism for me, thank you.

I might possibly be in favor of one of these gizmos. Not that I have $300 to spend on one. But I say Kitty can have her own little toilet, box, or whatever, and I'll have mine.

Funny, I don't think anyone recommends teaching a cat to use toilet paper.

That's probably because if you give a cat some toilet paper, what you are likely to end up with is something like this:


Photo courtesy of Consumerist.com