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When my wife and I were still working, one of the things we worried about the most was our cat falling in the toilet and the frantic act of them trying to get out, might cause the lid to fall and hit them on the head and potentially getting injured or trapped in the toilet and drowning. Whoever was the last to leave the house would check to make sure all the lids were closed. Even though we are now retired and someone is always home, we installed soft close lids (closes slowly).We never had children, so all our cats have been our children and we love and protect them just as if they were human children. 😍
Sorry but how would your cat trying to get out of a toilet cause the lid to close? Think about it. It's like worrying about slipping in the shower. Not worth the worry. Like, first your cat has to fall into the toilet, (has that ever happened when you are home?), then they have to somehow get STUCK. Cats get away from water with superhuman efficiency. Sorry but this would never happen you're just worrying in my opinion.
Soon after my (ferral) cat moved into the house from the street, he started urinating in the toilet. We never showed him or tried to train him at all. he just taught himself. He still pooped in his poop box, though. I guess he did that so he could bury it. No matter, I was glad he urinated in the toilet, so that smell was never a problem.
One of my past cats trained himself to do this (r.i.p. Squeazle), he didn't have a litter box, he had a cat door, and he went somewhere in my extra large front or back yard. He generally only used the toilet when the weather was cold and wet in the winter, and he never learned to flush, altho he may have wanted to conserve water, we never discussed it, so I'm not sure.
Let me first say that I've written a book on training your cat to use the toilet, so I'm biased (: That being said, I've done it many times with great results. Here are a couple of my observations that aren't in alignment with your well-thought-out assessment. 1. Digging. Yep, the instinct is deep, but over time goes away. If you're around, and can flush frequently, that helps. They're covering their odors. They learn that flushing replaces the need to dig and cover over time. 2. Perching. The first time I trained a cat I used a padded toilet seat. Not necessary. I've never had a cat fall in the toilet. The balance is easy for them. As for sick and elderly cats, bring back the box. Many will choose the toilet over it. 3. Jumping to go. Not an issue, either. Again, if your cat is suffering from arthritis etc., yeah, get it a box so they have a choice. 4. Scent markers in the box...not sure it's an issue. Hasn't been for me. 5. Toxo. This is a valid concern, but I'm not sure it's much of a concern based on some of the research. I wanted to test my cats but my vet felt it wasn't an issue because they're indoor cats and aren't eating raw meat, etc. The benefits are pretty extreme...for example, reducing the ecological impact of clay litters. Going to bed and not having to deal with litter under the covers. CLEANLINESS...a lot of people are afraid that the cat will leave germs on the toilet seat. Toilet trained cats are SO MUCH cleaner. Cats using a litter box track germs all over your house, on your counters, etc. It can't be helped -- they're literally scraping through their waste each time they use a box. A toilet trained cat doesn't touch its waste. Even if it flicks the water in a covering attempt, it gets way less germs on its paws. You know that odor on your cat after it's just used the box? Gone. Seriously, if you train your cat slowly and lovingly, your cat will learn to use the toilet just like it's learned other aspects of living in a home, like scratching on appropriate surfaces even if the couch is more appealing. I currently have a cat with a neurological problem with its back legs, and as soon as I found out it was causing him discomfort, I brought back the boxes. My house immediately became dirtier. The windowsills became dirty for instance...I never had that problem at all when they were all using the toilet. Despite my experiential differences, I love, love, love your videos and the info you impart. Thank you.
Hey Clifford, I really appreciate you sharing a different experience and your observations on these points. Everything you said seems respectable and well-thought-out, and I think this adds a lot to the conversation. Is your book on Amazon? Would love to be able to check it out.
@@AllAboutCatsYT My book, Toilet Train Your Cat Plain and Simple, is available on Amazon. If you decide to give it a look, I hope it provides a different impression and a chuckle or two. One thing I've found in common with all of the negative assessments is that it appears the authors have never tried it, so I get why they assume it has issues. Cats tend to be much more malleable and trainable than many believe, and proper, loving training pays off in dividends. I have a cat that had a neurological problem with his back legs, so I immediately brought back the boxes. Within a few weeks, the window sill they love was FILTHY! I now have to clean it every week or so. When they were using the toilet, I never had to clean it. It was a shocking realization of how much dirt a litterbox using cat creates. As for my household, it turns out the cat with the neurological issues has recovered (Bengal neuropathy), so I'm going to be litter-free again one day in the future.
I appreciate that you put out a video on the cons after the pros list you wrote a week ago. I think this is the appropriate response to the obvious backlash.
Yes, that post was created as the result of a miscommunication (it was originally supposed to be on why NOT to toilet train), and it just so happened that it came out around the same time we were planning to put out this piece. I've deleted the post from the community page and our team is working on correcting it now. Thanks for the support in the meantime.
Good points! Glad I never bothered training mine to do this though we both often go to the bathroom at the same time! Setup his litterbox by my toilet 🚻 fan on 24/7 helps reduce odors
Several things CAN be done to modify the toilet bowl seat itself , such as buying a seat that designed wider and with little slope just for cats. You can also buy a floor model cat toilet that is plumbed in just like a toilet. It is pricey but is totally cat friendly and is a plus for multiple cats and the owners. Do your own research to find the best fit for you and your cats, makes all happy and stress free.
I had considered this a few times over the years but the only benefit seemed to indulge my laziness. I decided it was worth it to scoop the litter and sweep up then the one time I might come home to a misshap. Cat slips into poop and pee water, freaks out and slashes water all over bathroom. Poop and pee water soaked cat tracks all over the house. Cat decides to comfort itself by taking a nap on my bed and poop and pee water soak into the bed. Also ,I love my cats and this just seems like an uncomfortable task for them to do.
As someone who's lived with numerous toilet-trained cats, I've never experienced this. What I have experienced is a cat stepping on the edge of its litterbox and tipping it over on itself and spreading litter and feces about. During training, you will have an accident or two, no denial, but the money you save (donate it!), time you save, germs the cats are no longer tracking throughout the house and on countertops, well, for some of us, it's worth the time and love it takes to train them to do this. If you rush the training and do so without love as the foundation, you may create a level of stress in your cat that leads to accidents, but a little common sense, patience, and consideration goes a long way in ensuring this isn't your fate.
@@cliffordbrooks3355 Never in all my years of living with cats have I had one tip over a litter box. Either 1)you need to put that cat on a diet or 2) you need to put more litter in the box.
@@timothyneiswander3151 I've never had tip over litter box either. Someone experiences though. It really is personal preference and whether your cat is fine with it.
@@timothyneiswander3151maybe not but they do track litter all over the house and in your bed. It gets in between their toes. Not to mention the amount of waste that goes in the garbage. My garbage bags are so heavy because of cat litter.
We trained our 3 month old kittens to use the toilet. There is a solution to every point that you have brought up. 1.) Cat's do not forget how to bury their poo. It is indeed instinctive, and they do not forget how to use sand/litter, or how to bury it. If your cat can't get past the need for sand, you can leave the last training ring in the toilet so that they always have just enough sand to toss some into the toilet, yet still be using the toilet. 2. The positioning and balance haven't been an issue for us. We opted to leave that last ring in to help give them a wider platform, and sand if they choose to "bury". Most of the time, they stand on the seat, and don't care about sand. Occasionally, our little boy does. A big part of this process is adapting it to what you observe your kitty needing. 3. Jumping up to the toilet is also not an issue. We put a Childs stool next to our toilet so it's a tiny step and then onto the pot. When the babies had spay/neuter surgery, of course you want to adapt your plan to accommodate their health needs. We of course brought out a litter box so that it could be used if they wanted, or if it was easier. They really do not forget how to do so. If you sense they aren't themselves or aren't feeling well, put it out as an option. This is really about being very in-tune with your specific cats needs, because like humans, they are all unique. 4. The smell marker is still there. During the training process it's likely that there will be accidents or spills, especially in the early stages when the training device is essentially all but a tiny hole in the center. My cats haven't gotten lost, and don't seem confused about where home is - they pretty much own the place. LOL 5. Toxoplasma is often mistaken for a bacteria by some, and it's not. As you mentioned, it is a parasite. This parasite is picked up and carried by cats who are outdoors, with rare exception. If your cats never go outside and you don't have other pets who do either, the chances that your cat will have that parasite are slim to none. If you have an indoor/outdoor kitty, it's definitely something that should be considered. It's been a good experience, for us anyway. It can be tough at first. There will be accidents and there will be times where they'll find another place to go as they transition. But now, they gleefully run to the toilet, take care of business and then go about their play. What they really love is when we go in and find they've gone to the bathroom and suddenly we praise them and give them treats for "going potty in the toilet"....and they know exactly what those words mean!
Sure because they want to say $20 a month kitty litter for the next 15 to 20 years That’s $3600 for the next 15 years just in kitty litter, now let’s calculate the time it takes to clean the litter box clean up the cat litter that spread all over the floor all over your furniture the nasty odors and the poo poo paws that your cat tracks all over the house!
I have considered toilet training for my 2 girls, but one is older and not as sure footed as her younger mate. I won't risk injury just because some people want to pretend they don't have cats in the home.
Thank you so much for this video. I also recently covered that issue together with the toilet training instructions in my Substack Newsletter - Feline Heaven. Mentioned you there a couple of times as well.
i’m so scared of my cat falling in. i had to train my old roommate to close the lid after using the toilet. one of my other friends also leaves it up, so i always go in after her and close it right away
Very helpful. Thank you. I would add one more. If they go in the toilet, you won't be able to look for things that could indicate illness such as blood in the stool. I'm far from an expert though. In fact, I cringe that I used to put my cat's litter box in the basement, so she would need to walk down a hallway, climb through a cat door that installed in the basement door and walk down a flight of stairs just to poop or pee. She passed away 6 months ago and I cringe now that I did that. The door was too small as well, so she would have to scrouch down to get through it. The reason I put it in the basement was my cat never got the hang of covering it correctly. She would scratch the side of the tub or the wall. It not only stunk, but the scratching on the side of the tub would always wake me up at night. The great thing about RUclips is I have learned so much about what to do and not do next time, but I beat myself up for being so ignorant. I would leave my cat alone for 9-10 hours when I went to work thinking she was just fine. If I could do it over, I would have gotten her a sister or brother, but someone told me that getting a second cat would traumatize her. My advice -- don't believe everything you hear.
Wow, what an interesting point of view on why not to train a cat to use a toilet! Unfortunately too late for me and my five and a half year old cats who use the tub! Many years before I had trained a Balinese cat I owned to use the toilet because my house just doesn’t have any good place for a litter box. Really, it doesn’t. We used the toilet training device that is commonly sold and it worked for several years when suddenly my cat refused to continue using the toilet. I suspect she slipped and dipped her toes into the water and it frightened her. So I found a place for the cat box just outside my shower. Really, the only place in my small house. Every time I took a shower I had to sweep up any litter, step over the cat box to get in the shower and then out. Not much fun, especially if I missed some cat litter! So many years later two kittens came into my life and with the same litter box siting problem I decided to train my kittens to use the toilet. I went extra slowly through the process carefully enlarging the hole over the toilet bowl, but at some point both kittens decided to use the tub that sits right next to the toilet! Persistently! I think they chose the tub because that’s where I had the cat box almost from the time I first got them. This insistence on using the tub instead of the toilet persisted. I finally decided that using the tub represented a good enough solution. Maybe even better as there was no chance of slipping off the toilet seat. Both cats now pee in the drain and poop at the upper end. At the end of the day, if I don’t clean up earlier, I will find two widely separated sets of poop at the upper end of the tub. I often wonder if there is a his and hers preferred side of the tub but I’ve never tried to figure that out. I will say that they do scratch as though to cover their poop and also when they pee, so they have not lost their natural instincts to cover. They have never made a mistake in the five years that the tub has become their chosen cat box. Not once. I hope they are happy with it. I sure am! It does raise the question of how I would train another cat to do the same. In this case, both my kittens chose the tub in preference to the toilet. I still think that was fairly amazing. But it was a matter of luck rather than training so how could I expect to duplicate that with another cat?
I really appreciate your video. I admit that I get my kitty to love on . Not to turn it to become human like. So I love all of it without condition. You are thoughtful when you say, when cats are young they balance well, but when they gets older. They run a risk of falling into the toilet. Then there will be all kinds of trouble.
My cat just one day started using the toilet. I was in the kitchen alone in the house, and suddenly o heard a man peeing in my toilet it was horrifying! I tiptoed to the door and peeked in the bathroom and saw my boy sitting on the toilet. I was shocked!!! He still does it. But strangely he’s only done it to pee. Everything else he does in the litter boxes .
First off, I have a pro tip. I use a toddler toilet seat that makes the seat bigger and the hole smaller. They come in many styles, and the toddler/cat seat just folds up out of the way for human use. 1. After the training system, I put some shredded tissue on the seat for a while so he could get some satisfaction of scattering. 2. Toddler toilet seat 3. Toddler training steps. When my cat gets old there are mini steps designed for toddlers that I plan to get for him. I mostly notice older cats are just less sure of themselves when they jump, so they prefer climbing more as they age. 4. I'm anti-scent marking, but if he feels that the bathroom needs to smell a little bit like his piss, I'm not going to rub his nose in it. There are enough surfaces that I don't bleach for him to mark. 5. I'm skeptical that waste treatment facilities can't filter a protozoa out of the water. It's not very small relative to common filters. I always thought the issue was residual litter building up in sewer pipes.
I’m sorry respectfully but there are way to many benefits than cons for toilet training cats.. worried about falling in the bowl? What. You think they’re going to drown in a 1 inch depth of water or something? They can get out just fine. I agree when they are seniors go back to a liter box but for a solid 10 years.. be liter free
One of our cats sink trained herself a few years ago. We did nothing to encourage it nor were we aware it was happening. She just started peeing in the sink. The funny part is she is very social about it. She comes in to pee mostly when we are using the bathroom. She paws the rim of the sink when she’s finished often as if she’s burying it too. The only thing we can figure is that she worked out that water goes down the sink, and urine is water. She never poops in the sink.
In my last place, we had a bathroom with a tub we never used, so I put a litter box in it. One of my cats consistently peed in the box but pooped in the tub scratching before and after going even though there was no litter there. It was easy enough to clean, so I didn't worry about it. Luckily, she switched to using the litter box completely when we moved to a different place with only a shower and stopped putting a litter box in the bathroom.
Jumping up is a problem for cats?! Joint problems? This is what cats do, they jump, maybe stoped feed cats grains and inflamatory diet so they dont have hoint problems
All I keep thinking is that if I had to go to the bathroom and someone told me I had to jump first and then balance, it would be a no. Let them be cats.
I really get the feel that she tried and it didnt work. Some cats naturally go in sink holes, like baths, showers. My old cat did and I had never heard of toilet training. As a kitten she had a litterbox, then we moved and she woukd go outside. If she got locked inside she would use the sink hole. I feel the language used towards the start of the video was showing of some desperation to prove an unvalid point. Your going to have an issue for the rest of its life etc.
mine also did that. Now i wonder their logic to use the toilet so i can train my newly adopted cat. Did your cat watch you when you used the toilet and that somehow taught him/her?
And...think of the e coli and other bacteria the cat would have to lick off their coats, danger of cats bacteria to a pregnant woman, and if you forgot and closed the lid, the cat would suffer all day. 🐱
I have found out mixing a grass litter and one made from vegetable - very fine. Really help elininate cat poop and pee odor. If the odor come back, I add in a little the fine kind. or I can toss what is in the box and set it up again.
My savannah cat pees in the shower drain and I don’t know why! She has never pooped in it and is very discreet when doing it. I don’t think that not digging is detrimental as she chose the shower drain herself.
I have 1 toilet in my house and I don't want to contend for its use with the cat. Plus it's unhealthy for a toddler to use an adult toilet because they have to balance and potty at the same time which makes it harder to fully empty. I feel this maybe the same with cats.
One day, I just hear some on the bathroom. It was my cat, she learned how to do it by herself. Idk how, probably looking at us. Anyway, she doesn't flush. She schrates the toilet seat, annoying :)) Anyway, I am glad we have multiple bathrooms, but I was quite amazed she learned that all by herself, she doesn't really like to go outside, she was out wen she was little, than we saved her, now she just want to stay in the house, watch TV and sleep.
Thank you for the run down on this subject..Just a learning curve for you and your followers..hoping the rest of the World EVER catches on to this:We are NOT OWNERS! We who love our pets,furry or otherwise,are Guardians,Caregivers,Pet Parents. We Own things…furniture,wallets,cars…….It degrades our pets to use that word. We need to honour,respect and cherish our family members more than that. Thinking of them as things and possessions is one of the reasons,and we all Know there are many;that All animals are demoted in importance in our human world. It is such an honour and a privilege to have them with us and to know them for however short or long a time they have. I fully acknowledge and follow this concept and try my darnedest to pass it on,,it’s vital and important. This is NOT my idea,,,it is the brainchild concept of my Edmonton,Alberta,Canada’s Pet Planet Pet Stores and I’m grateful to them…Kudos to You Pet Planet
Your last reason is the most important reason and the only valid reason I can see for not toilet training. Where do you think all the litter and waste goes when it's dumped...... do you think it's any better for our world to fill the dump with plastic bags and animal waste, dog or cat. None of that is supposed to be disposed of in the regular garbage. Obviously if your cat is a senior or becomes a senior then you adjust to what's needed for them. I have three Bengals and they will all train to use the toilet. Not because I feel the need to hide the fact that we have cats or because of the litter box smell, as I clean it every time they use it. The cost of the litter I use is 30$ for 20lbs ( fresh 4life) and the amount of empty plastic bags that will go in the landfill and will not break down for 30 plus years is something to consider. Even though I am toilet training, they all have the option to use the two litter boxes in the house so ultimately they get choose each time. There's nothing wrong with training a cat to use the toilet unless it's a forced process. Everyone should know that during training there will be accidents if ypu completely take litter boxes away. Which may say that the cat does not prefer the toilet. I must say that unless encouraged with treats, it's not happening and I'd say they definitely prefer the litter Box but I think that's because it's easier. I think each cat is different so what one does may not be a shared preference to others. Thanks for the video and your opinion.
I need advice. I really want a cat but I'm leaving as an exchange student in 1.5-2 years. I really want to adopt a cat, I've spent hundreds of hours (literally) researching and watching videos because if I ever become a cat owner I'd like to be a great one. I'm highly considering adopting a cat but I'm just now entering college. Part of my college's requirements is to complete at least 1 semester abroad, but my plan would be to complete a year and I'd be doing this in about 3 or 4 semesters (1.5 to 2 years). Would it still be appropriate to adopt a cat now? Despite my wishes, is it better for me to simply hold off on owning a cat until I am settled at a home? Whenever it would be time for me to leave to study a year abroad, I'd be leaving the cat with my parents, both of whom have expressed If I adopt a kitty they would not partake in its care. It is of my belief if I adopt and leave in 1.5-2 years for a whole year, by then I would have the cat obviously litter box trained and with regular feeding schedules, as well as a preferred vet. So effort from my parents to take care of the cat while I'm gone would be minimal. I genuinely am at a crossroads, and I don't want to be selfish in wanting to adopt a cat so I'd like to do what would be best for the cat, not myself. Should I hold off until I'm settled in a few years and live alone?
First of all I don't see how it's done. I know either of my cats you even bring them close to the toilet they're not having it. Plus as you said Mallory, you shouldn't try to take away the natural instinct of what's a natural predator that loves digging, covering their scents and the urge to be in the wild. I know my indoor cats I'm sure would love to be outdoors in the grass so I'm surely not going to put them on porcelain
My cat started using the toilet completely by himself. It was totally his idea. I guess he was mimicking his people. The other cats use the litter boxes, which are cleaned daily. Not him.
We can't have our toilets open because my cat will try to drink from the toilet (we give her plenty of water and she has multiple water sources) so I can't imagine how difficult this would be for her lol
This makes me sad. Please don't try to toilet train your cats. They are cats, let them be cats. I had to stop watching the video, the drenched kitty made me too sad to keep watching.
No way I’m only one going to use my toilet my cats will use their litter! Germs from them and waiting for a cat if I have to use my toilet. Than they won’t flush the toilet you might be outside than it will stink!
i honestly find disgusting the fact that people sit in the same area that their cat just took a dump or peed on, is like the smell of cat pee, the amonia, what if they spray on the seat and your behind door or your baby making area gets touch by the pee recidue, this screams genitals infection for me.
I think it is unsanitary to use your own toilet. They should have their own. Like a camping toilet or what's called a traveling toilet it looks exactly like a toilet there are two kinds one that you can flush with water and one that you can put letter at the bottom when the letters full you throw it away so those are two excellent options if you're going to toilet train your cat.... ❤️
Well, I suppose this video has been made, and there's not much we can do about it now. There are plenty of people in the comments giving richer insights, so hopefully that will be more useful than the video. Thanks for the feedback.
My first cat named brownie (looked like puss in boots 🥾) toilet trained himself, and was an indoor outdoor cat 🐈. He was so sweet 🥲 but he ended up leaving us for a girlfriend
I have adopted 24 kittens over the past 3 years,bottle fed them etc. Cat litter is costing me 5000.00 a year. I wish they could learn to use the toilet
Same. There’s actually a survival instinct explanation that has to do with the smell not attracting predators. Cats like to avoid using the bathroom in their leisure space
I support this message. I offer my kitties all the comforts in life to give them their best life possible, not to live to please me. If you are so offended about a litter box, you really shouldn't have taken a cat into your home, and also please don't visit me. =) Your conditional love sucks, we don't bend felines into becoming humans, they are beautiful creatures just being them. =p
I hear this argument against toilet training a lot, and I respect it, and have considered it before making my own decision. My cats are arguably among the most spoiled cats on the planet, but they are living in a house, so I have to teach them the difference between living in a house and living in the wild. For instance, despite the natural and healthy cat activity of territorial marking and spraying, I don't allow it. I know it's natural and important for their overall happiness, but call me a cad if you'd like, but I can't live that way. The desire to procreate -- which all living things are hard-wired for -- is also something I deny by having my cats spayed and neutered. Also, I buy multiple scratching surfaces and train my cats to use those rather than the furniture. And I discourage fighting among the cats, even though I know full well that it too has its place in the wild. My point is that very few of us are really allowing their cats to fully be themselves in our homes, so when I hear this argument, I feel like no one should be allowed to own a cat. Let them live out the lives as they were meant to live them out. I find that a very sad proposition, as my life would be so much emptier without their particular charm. Training a cat to use a toilet requires the same amount of love and patience as training them to scratch the things you want them to scratch -- not necessarily the things they want to scratch. We may never clearly understand the magnetic appeal of the couch, but I'm sure there's a reason it is such a common target . It could simply be the fact that we sit on it all the time and have left our own scent markers...so why shouldn't they? Maybe they consider it a means of bonding with us, as if saying, this is our shared territory. I'm currently using a clumping clay litter because it's the one that works best for us. In the Fall, I'm going to train my new cat to use the toilet and move back to a litterbox-free home. I've decided that the approximately $50 a month I currently spend on litter and deodorizers will be donated to a local rescue and I'll benefit by no longer contributing to the mining of clay litter and its disposal in landfills. And in the end, I'll continue to train my cats to use scratching poles, fix them, break up fights, and teach them to use the toilet .
I agree 100%! Well said in so many ways. They weren’t made to live indoors with us, but adapt. It would be great to live in the wild and climb trees and kills prey to eat, and pee and poop in the woods, but when we take a cat in to be with us, they adapt. If they take to using the toilet, that is not a huge change. They don’t pee and poop in a little box with weird stuff in the wild, so why is this such an issue?
We're raising cats in our homes that aren't even part of their nature so how different is a toilet anyway. Unless your cat is paralyzed or a total couch potato, they jump and balance themselves everyday if not several times a day! Cat towers, beds, countertops etc. For the toilet issues, it’s easily remedied by placing steps beside it if it’s inconvenient for the non-jumping cats. Falling into the toilet…simply attach a child toilet seat which flips up when you’re using it. The child seat has a smaller hole and therefore also wider ledge for cats to “balance” on. As for scent marking, sorry, they will scent-mark not just the toilet but all the various places around the home. They think they own you and your whole house anyway. LOL! As for introducing the parasites to the water that the local filtration doesn’t clean out, there’s a level of standard cleaning for public health to kill microbes so I don’t know if what you described happens in certain countries/cities where they can’t or don’t filter the cat parasites. Having said all that, I’d agree that it depends on individual lifestyles. Maybe as you say an indoor cat may unlearn their digging/covering instinct but I’m no cat behaviourist so I’ll take your word for it. If it also spends time outdoors or if you have an outdoorsy lifestyle, there’s plenty chance for them go the “traditional” method. Just my take as it may not apply to other people though!
100% agree, cats don't have fancy litter boxes with silica crystals sand, multiple meals a day with all the nutrients they require, traits, clean fresh water, shade, AC, toys, etc.. Cats pooping on a human toilet scares humans cause ots not usual but I don't see anything wrong in that, domestic cats are pets not wild animals that need their instincts to survive
Exactly. A cat being toilet trained is literally a non issue. It feels like some people are making dumb videos either for attention or so more cat litter sells, which I learned the dust of can cause issues in certain cats and people. I’m someone who doesn’t do well around a litter box. Anyways if someone’s upset over the cat being unable to dig in dirt, they probably shouldn’t be handing it cat food and water in a bowl since that’s also unnatural. Let the cat run outside to catch its own food and drink from puddles. She appears to have forgotten how good cats are at jumping and balancing, though as you said it’s helpful to have steps and a child seat. And you’re right, poop and pee in one spot isn’t all they do for marking. They will mark around the house by rubbing or scratching the scratching posts. And their waste is removed when the litter is changed, cats don’t like a dirty litter box. Neutered and spayed cats don’t feel the desperate desire to establish territory anyway, which is why they don’t spray pee. You would think her cats weren’t neutered if they cared that much about territory. The last part is dumb too, of course. If it’s safe when we use a toilet, it’s logically safe when cats do. Not that this video has logic in mind.
@@LlamadeusMozarttIt doesn't "scare" humans. That's just a dumb thing to claim. Respect your animal and its natural instincts. Using the toilet removes all natural instincts and scents which are integral to a cats space.
Melanie, finally the truth! I've seen parents try to toilet train a new born by holding up him above a bowl and making pee-ing sounds! I wonder how that experiment went. We love cats bc they're cats! Wessie is so adorable today!
Ridiculous that people humanize to the detriment of animals. These are all great points, definitely sharing. If litter box smell is an issue, DIET is 95% the cause, I’d say medicines & other medical issues are the other 5%. I have 7 cats & litter boxes, & by scent no one can tell I even have 1. I have found a raw diet pretty much eliminates all of these reasons. With a healthy diet, there’s no need for medicines because there’s no internally preventable medical issues. Also..scoop litter boxes. I scoop every single day; apparently some people seem to think litter doesn’t need to be switched out for 3 months, & boxes scooped 1x per week!?! Crazy humans!
I think its something the cats want to do. It's more like some cats want to Humanize themselves... That's were you get the term CopyCat from. They are quite brilliant at times.. My Samantha, had a nickname Double OOooo. Because she picked up on things often before they happened.. She also often wanted to do what I was doing...
@@TheTinyTimmyTimTim Hello, We Invented the Toilet... Unless there's something that has not been discovered Yet. Him..Who invented the litter box.. I think cats use it naturally?
@@karenbrandwein8245 Cats use dirt and soil naturally, not plastic boxes with synthetic litter we created. We’ve been pooping long before we had toilets, it was a behavior we had to adapt to and you have to potty train children. It doesn’t come instinctively to them either.
@@TheTinyTimmyTimTim But Cats seem to know what a litterbox is..and for.. My first cat was barley 3 months old when I found her and she already knew a litterbox. Not to say she went through a phase were she wanted to use the bathroom. Had to take the litterbox out of the bathroom. But gave a place with a view. And much more room. (LOL).. But that's another story...And my Abigal, well she was older.. Of course knew. In fact when she was I'll.She mixed getting to the litterbox.and was very upset.. I had to reassure her it was OK. Come to think of it your right about people. But someone had to invent the toilet. Duh.
Your reasons are not problem. 1. They cannot forget how to dig. 2. 99% cat are good at balance. 3.4.5. I am not agree with you about this. I think you make this video for sale toilet for cat
If the cat is toilet trained as it for the rest of the cat's life why would I be concerned the digging & covering instinct? The cat will no longer need to do it.
Had a cat named Samson who trained himself to use the toilet. Never pooped in the toilet only peed. Never left a drop on the seat. Who is the expert now???
My cat literally never covers his shit Lmaoo, he digs at the walls but never the litter so it never gets covered, I’m thinking of training him to use the toilet as a solution for that but idk
Some cats are like that! An automatic litter box might be a good option for you-it would cycle after each use and do away with the poop as soon as it lands there.
wow extremely informative my first sphinx cat i toilet trained him and now i feel like i deprive him of his natural instinct to dig, on the opposite side it was definitely wonderful when he got it down no litter no smell but i will definitely stick to little with my new cats it may be a chore but that it just part of being a cat owner. thank you for all the knowledge!
hello Mallory...Agree, not suitable specially for senior cats. Yup the idea is cool but No cats thinks that way once it's time to do its business there 😅 11:20 the sleepy head after the video takes!
my cat is tripawed. I was given this elaborate 8 week training set to teach my cat to go on the toilet. I have been considering it but wondered if she would fall inside the toilet. Since that is a real possibility I am hesitant. Now you tell me about polluting the water supply with a germ that often slips past pollution control... it is a definite no. seriously if cleaning the litter daily or every other day is that much of an issue for someone an automatic cleaner is the far better option. I will just continue to scoop and remember how blessed I am that I live in Canada where we can complain about such a trivial inconvenience of pet ownership.
When I mentioned this I was talk ng about a cat who wanted to use the bathroom.. she was very curious, in many cases and wanted to do what I would do. There was a litterbo problem at one point after I had to remove her litter box from my tiny bathroom. It was also before she was spayed. She was doing #1 in the bathroom. It stopped after she was spayed.. it was a long time ago. Samantha went to the vet regularly.. but they never helped her with anything... Even the spaying didn't go well. It cost alot of money, as an older Cat and my Precious cat she was to have the best treatment and care. Well the incision was a mess. And it was a fight getting her antibiotics. Which really not enough was given.. after her operation, my poor girl would not go back into the carrier to go to the vet.. I don't know who did this to her. Because I made it clear that I wanted the senior vet to to the surgery.. She lived about 7 years after this. But it did not go well. Samantha was a awesome cat... I could have written a book. Abigail's big sister. Now Abigail is gone too. My beautiful Girl. I'll never get a pet again.
@@madashell7224 She gave me a great deal of JOY...SHE WAS A FANTASIC SUPERNATURAL CAT... SHE CAME THROUGH THE SPAYING INCIDENT OK.. SHE WAS ABOUT 7..and lived another 7 years.. though she could have used the antibiotics . Won't go into it.. But when Samantha got sick in the end it was Totally devistating... Improper care. The same happened with her little sister. Abigail, who I just lost.. Poor girl, couldn't get what she needed .A special Beautiful Girl.. I've failed my furry loved ones in the end due to a horriable situation. With or without money and health there is no guarantee your will get proper treatment.. It's horrifying, sickening.. Unfair to the furry little Angels. Why is you name Mad As Hell.
Seems like a lot of people have a misconception about treating animals well? It's not "cats should be treated like humans" it's "cats should be treated like cats" while you might benefit from using a toliet and it may seem like the litter box is a downgrade, the fact is that toilets are not designed with cats in mind, they don't support their natural behavior, and honestly there's no benefit to humans/cats using the same place to go. Nice video, helped me to specify my thoughts on this for sure!
I toilet-trained my first cat and she did great with it. I didn't know about any of these things, and I mostly just did it because I didn't want my tiny student flat covered in litter carried around in her very fluffy paws. But she developed kidney problems, and I wonder if I might have noticed that sooner* if I'd been better able to monitor her urine output. So yeah, I'll not toilet train any more cats. Litter tracking is a small price to pay for a healthy friend! *) Although when I first noticed, the vet said I'd caught it early, because her creatinine and stuff wasn't super high. "Not everyone is that in tune with their cats!" she told me. I just noticed that she was in pain, and using the toilet more often but the splashes didn't last as long as normal. Also, the ultrasound showed that one of her kidneys was underdeveloped, probably from birth, leaving the other one extra vulnerable to trouble. Still, she lived another two years post-diagnosis, even though they gave me a prognosis of a few months to a year. So well done, Timjan!
Holy crap (literally) why would anyone toilet train their cat, how freaking awkward and possibly dangerous for the cat. My cat had a fall and tore her ACL and needed an operation, she has had trouble with the leg ever since, if a cat only knows to use a toilet and then suddenly can't then that could cause huge problems too. And finally, eewww!
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Ofc you had to sell something
Hoomin: I would never allow my cat such an indignity!
Cat: (begins licking its own butt)
When my wife and I were still working, one of the things we worried about the most was our cat falling in the toilet and the frantic act of them trying to get out, might cause the lid to fall and hit them on the head and potentially getting injured or trapped in the toilet and drowning. Whoever was the last to leave the house would check to make sure all the lids were closed. Even though we are now retired and someone is always home, we installed soft close lids (closes slowly).We never had children, so all our cats have been our children and we love and protect them just as if they were human children. 😍
We taped our lid open. Problem solved.
Sorry but how would your cat trying to get out of a toilet cause the lid to close? Think about it. It's like worrying about slipping in the shower. Not worth the worry. Like, first your cat has to fall into the toilet, (has that ever happened when you are home?), then they have to somehow get STUCK. Cats get away from water with superhuman efficiency. Sorry but this would never happen you're just worrying in my opinion.
Soon after my (ferral) cat moved into the house from the street, he started urinating in the toilet. We never showed him or tried to train him at all. he just taught himself. He still pooped in his poop box, though. I guess he did that so he could bury it. No matter, I was glad he urinated in the toilet, so that smell was never a problem.
One of my past cats trained himself to do this (r.i.p. Squeazle), he didn't have a litter box, he had a cat door, and he went somewhere in my extra large front or back yard. He generally only used the toilet when the weather was cold and wet in the winter, and he never learned to flush, altho he may have wanted to conserve water, we never discussed it, so I'm not sure.
He never left a drop on the seat.
Let me first say that I've written a book on training your cat to use the toilet, so I'm biased (: That being said, I've done it many times with great results. Here are a couple of my observations that aren't in alignment with your well-thought-out assessment. 1. Digging. Yep, the instinct is deep, but over time goes away. If you're around, and can flush frequently, that helps. They're covering their odors. They learn that flushing replaces the need to dig and cover over time. 2. Perching. The first time I trained a cat I used a padded toilet seat. Not necessary. I've never had a cat fall in the toilet. The balance is easy for them. As for sick and elderly cats, bring back the box. Many will choose the toilet over it. 3. Jumping to go. Not an issue, either. Again, if your cat is suffering from arthritis etc., yeah, get it a box so they have a choice. 4. Scent markers in the box...not sure it's an issue. Hasn't been for me. 5. Toxo. This is a valid concern, but I'm not sure it's much of a concern based on some of the research. I wanted to test my cats but my vet felt it wasn't an issue because they're indoor cats and aren't eating raw meat, etc. The benefits are pretty extreme...for example, reducing the ecological impact of clay litters. Going to bed and not having to deal with litter under the covers. CLEANLINESS...a lot of people are afraid that the cat will leave germs on the toilet seat. Toilet trained cats are SO MUCH cleaner. Cats using a litter box track germs all over your house, on your counters, etc. It can't be helped -- they're literally scraping through their waste each time they use a box. A toilet trained cat doesn't touch its waste. Even if it flicks the water in a covering attempt, it gets way less germs on its paws. You know that odor on your cat after it's just used the box? Gone. Seriously, if you train your cat slowly and lovingly, your cat will learn to use the toilet just like it's learned other aspects of living in a home, like scratching on appropriate surfaces even if the couch is more appealing. I currently have a cat with a neurological problem with its back legs, and as soon as I found out it was causing him discomfort, I brought back the boxes. My house immediately became dirtier. The windowsills became dirty for instance...I never had that problem at all when they were all using the toilet. Despite my experiential differences, I love, love, love your videos and the info you impart. Thank you.
Hey Clifford, I really appreciate you sharing a different experience and your observations on these points. Everything you said seems respectable and well-thought-out, and I think this adds a lot to the conversation. Is your book on Amazon? Would love to be able to check it out.
@@AllAboutCatsYT My book, Toilet Train Your Cat Plain and Simple, is available on Amazon. If you decide to give it a look, I hope it provides a different impression and a chuckle or two. One thing I've found in common with all of the negative assessments is that it appears the authors have never tried it, so I get why they assume it has issues. Cats tend to be much more malleable and trainable than many believe, and proper, loving training pays off in dividends. I have a cat that had a neurological problem with his back legs, so I immediately brought back the boxes. Within a few weeks, the window sill they love was FILTHY! I now have to clean it every week or so. When they were using the toilet, I never had to clean it. It was a shocking realization of how much dirt a litterbox using cat creates. As for my household, it turns out the cat with the neurological issues has recovered (Bengal neuropathy), so I'm going to be litter-free again one day in the future.
If I raw feed my cat is it not safe to toilet train them?
I appreciate that you put out a video on the cons after the pros list you wrote a week ago. I think this is the appropriate response to the obvious backlash.
Yes, that post was created as the result of a miscommunication (it was originally supposed to be on why NOT to toilet train), and it just so happened that it came out around the same time we were planning to put out this piece. I've deleted the post from the community page and our team is working on correcting it now. Thanks for the support in the meantime.
Good points! Glad I never bothered training mine to do this though we both often go to the bathroom at the same time! Setup his litterbox by my toilet 🚻 fan on 24/7 helps reduce odors
I agree with you completely on this issue! Thank you for airing this issue. 😻
Several things CAN be done to modify the toilet bowl seat itself , such as buying a seat that designed wider and with little slope just for cats. You can also buy a floor model cat toilet that is plumbed in just like a toilet. It is pricey but is totally cat friendly and is a plus for multiple cats and the owners. Do your own research to find the best fit for you and your cats, makes all happy and stress free.
Thanks for sharing. Yes, the CatGenie is a similar but more cat-appropriate alternative-glad you suggested that.
I had considered this a few times over the years but the only benefit seemed to indulge my laziness. I decided it was worth it to scoop the litter and sweep up then the one time I might come home to a misshap. Cat slips into poop and pee water, freaks out and slashes water all over bathroom. Poop and pee water soaked cat tracks all over the house. Cat decides to comfort itself by taking a nap on my bed and poop and pee water soak into the bed.
Also ,I love my cats and this just seems like an uncomfortable task for them to do.
As someone who's lived with numerous toilet-trained cats, I've never experienced this. What I have experienced is a cat stepping on the edge of its litterbox and tipping it over on itself and spreading litter and feces about. During training, you will have an accident or two, no denial, but the money you save (donate it!), time you save, germs the cats are no longer tracking throughout the house and on countertops, well, for some of us, it's worth the time and love it takes to train them to do this. If you rush the training and do so without love as the foundation, you may create a level of stress in your cat that leads to accidents, but a little common sense, patience, and consideration goes a long way in ensuring this isn't your fate.
@@cliffordbrooks3355 Never in all my years of living with cats have I had one tip over a litter box. Either 1)you need to put that cat on a diet or 2) you need to put more litter in the box.
@@timothyneiswander3151 I've never had tip over litter box either. Someone experiences though. It really is personal preference and whether your cat is fine with it.
@@timothyneiswander3151maybe not but they do track litter all over the house and in your bed. It gets in between their toes. Not to mention the amount of waste that goes in the garbage. My garbage bags are so heavy because of cat litter.
The 5th point is interesting. I want to know what about cat’s waste from the litter? Does the parasite die or can still spread?
I've never watched a video about the pros and cons of toilet training your cat. Thank you again for another informative video! So helpful!
Rachel, glad to hear it was something new and informative for you!
This is the best video! I freaking love cats but people humanize them too much. Let’s love and respect cats for cats 🐈 💕
We trained our 3 month old kittens to use the toilet. There is a solution to every point that you have brought up. 1.) Cat's do not forget how to bury their poo. It is indeed instinctive, and they do not forget how to use sand/litter, or how to bury it. If your cat can't get past the need for sand, you can leave the last training ring in the toilet so that they always have just enough sand to toss some into the toilet, yet still be using the toilet. 2. The positioning and balance haven't been an issue for us. We opted to leave that last ring in to help give them a wider platform, and sand if they choose to "bury". Most of the time, they stand on the seat, and don't care about sand. Occasionally, our little boy does. A big part of this process is adapting it to what you observe your kitty needing. 3. Jumping up to the toilet is also not an issue. We put a Childs stool next to our toilet so it's a tiny step and then onto the pot. When the babies had spay/neuter surgery, of course you want to adapt your plan to accommodate their health needs. We of course brought out a litter box so that it could be used if they wanted, or if it was easier. They really do not forget how to do so. If you sense they aren't themselves or aren't feeling well, put it out as an option. This is really about being very in-tune with your specific cats needs, because like humans, they are all unique. 4. The smell marker is still there. During the training process it's likely that there will be accidents or spills, especially in the early stages when the training device is essentially all but a tiny hole in the center. My cats haven't gotten lost, and don't seem confused about where home is - they pretty much own the place. LOL 5. Toxoplasma is often mistaken for a bacteria by some, and it's not. As you mentioned, it is a parasite. This parasite is picked up and carried by cats who are outdoors, with rare exception. If your cats never go outside and you don't have other pets who do either, the chances that your cat will have that parasite are slim to none. If you have an indoor/outdoor kitty, it's definitely something that should be considered. It's been a good experience, for us anyway. It can be tough at first. There will be accidents and there will be times where they'll find another place to go as they transition. But now, they gleefully run to the toilet, take care of business and then go about their play. What they really love is when we go in and find they've gone to the bathroom and suddenly we praise them and give them treats for "going potty in the toilet"....and they know exactly what those words mean!
Sure because they want to say $20 a month kitty litter for the next 15 to 20 years
That’s $3600 for the next 15 years just in kitty litter, now let’s calculate the time it takes to clean the litter box clean up the cat litter that spread all over the floor all over your furniture the nasty odors and the poo poo paws that your cat tracks all over the house!
I have considered toilet training for my 2 girls, but one is older and not as sure footed as her younger mate. I won't risk injury just because some people want to pretend they don't have cats in the home.
It was hard enough to teach my cat to sh!t on the neighbor's porch.
:p
@@AllAboutCatsYT
Great stuff as always M, thanks a bunch!!!
Thank you so much for this video.
I also recently covered that issue together with the toilet training instructions in my Substack Newsletter - Feline Heaven. Mentioned you there a couple of times as well.
Nice! Thanks for doing that, and I'm glad you're sharing this information.
It is the only way to go to keep your home clean! Cats love it too!😊
if no toilet training, then my cat doesnt have to balance/jump?!
One of my cats already uses his over the top litter box as a type of toilet 😂. He does his business from up top!
Fun!
i’m so scared of my cat falling in. i had to train my old roommate to close the lid after using the toilet. one of my other friends also leaves it up, so i always go in after her and close it right away
Another reason why you should not toilet train your cat is because they like to flush the toilet - a LOT - and your water bill could skyrocket.
Very helpful. Thank you. I would add one more. If they go in the toilet, you won't be able to look for things that could indicate illness such as blood in the stool. I'm far from an expert though. In fact, I cringe that I used to put my cat's litter box in the basement, so she would need to walk down a hallway, climb through a cat door that installed in the basement door and walk down a flight of stairs just to poop or pee. She passed away 6 months ago and I cringe now that I did that. The door was too small as well, so she would have to scrouch down to get through it. The reason I put it in the basement was my cat never got the hang of covering it correctly. She would scratch the side of the tub or the wall. It not only stunk, but the scratching on the side of the tub would always wake me up at night. The great thing about RUclips is I have learned so much about what to do and not do next time, but I beat myself up for being so ignorant. I would leave my cat alone for 9-10 hours when I went to work thinking she was just fine. If I could do it over, I would have gotten her a sister or brother, but someone told me that getting a second cat would traumatize her. My advice -- don't believe everything you hear.
I just bought those same mice! I'm surprised they don't actually like them very much. My eldest has been loving these little plastic rings with edges.
Wow, what an interesting point of view on why not to train a cat to use a toilet! Unfortunately too late for me and my five and a half year old cats who use the tub!
Many years before I had trained a Balinese cat I owned to use the toilet because my house just doesn’t have any good place for a litter box. Really, it doesn’t. We used the toilet training device that is commonly sold and it worked for several years when suddenly my cat refused to continue using the toilet. I suspect she slipped and dipped her toes into the water and it frightened her. So I found a place for the cat box just outside my shower. Really, the only place in my small house. Every time I took a shower I had to sweep up any litter, step over the cat box to get in the shower and then out. Not much fun, especially if I missed some cat litter! So many years later two kittens came into my life and with the same litter box siting problem I decided to train my kittens to use the toilet. I went extra slowly through the process carefully enlarging the hole over the toilet bowl, but at some point both kittens decided to use the tub that sits right next to the toilet! Persistently! I think they chose the tub because that’s where I had the cat box almost from the time I first got them. This insistence on using the tub instead of the toilet persisted. I finally decided that using the tub represented a good enough solution. Maybe even better as there was no chance of slipping off the toilet seat. Both cats now pee in the drain and poop at the upper end.
At the end of the day, if I don’t clean up earlier, I will find two widely separated sets of poop at the upper end of the tub. I often wonder if there is a his and hers preferred side of the tub but I’ve never tried to figure that out. I will say that they do scratch as though to cover their poop and also when they pee, so they have not lost their natural instincts to cover. They have never made a mistake in the five years that the tub has become their chosen cat box. Not once. I hope they are happy with it. I sure am!
It does raise the question of how I would train another cat to do the same. In this case, both my kittens chose the tub in preference to the toilet. I still think that was fairly amazing. But it was a matter of luck rather than training so how could I expect to duplicate that with another cat?
Why don't you just put the box inside the tube that they are even scratching? Because it is all about you, not the cat.
I really appreciate your video. I admit that I get my kitty to love on . Not to turn it to become human like. So I love all of it without condition. You are thoughtful when you say, when cats are young they balance well, but when they gets older. They run a risk of falling into the toilet. Then there will be all kinds of trouble.
The oval tan litter box looked old, too small and worn out. Someone needs to go shopping.
My cat just one day started using the toilet. I was in the kitchen alone in the house, and suddenly o heard a man peeing in my toilet it was horrifying! I tiptoed to the door and peeked in the bathroom and saw my boy sitting on the toilet. I was shocked!!!
He still does it. But strangely he’s only done it to pee. Everything else he does in the litter boxes .
First off, I have a pro tip. I use a toddler toilet seat that makes the seat bigger and the hole smaller. They come in many styles, and the toddler/cat seat just folds up out of the way for human use.
1. After the training system, I put some shredded tissue on the seat for a while so he could get some satisfaction of scattering.
2. Toddler toilet seat
3. Toddler training steps. When my cat gets old there are mini steps designed for toddlers that I plan to get for him. I mostly notice older cats are just less sure of themselves when they jump, so they prefer climbing more as they age.
4. I'm anti-scent marking, but if he feels that the bathroom needs to smell a little bit like his piss, I'm not going to rub his nose in it. There are enough surfaces that I don't bleach for him to mark.
5. I'm skeptical that waste treatment facilities can't filter a protozoa out of the water. It's not very small relative to common filters. I always thought the issue was residual litter building up in sewer pipes.
So using the toilet for cat is good or not? I still confuse about it. tks a lot
I’m sorry respectfully but there are way to many benefits than cons for toilet training cats.. worried about falling in the bowl? What. You think they’re going to drown in a 1 inch depth of water or something? They can get out just fine. I agree when they are seniors go back to a liter box but for a solid 10 years.. be liter free
My cat’s getting her automatic litter box back soon, once when she’s reliably pooping on the toilet. Win, win.
One of our cats sink trained herself a few years ago. We did nothing to encourage it nor were we aware it was happening. She just started peeing in the sink.
The funny part is she is very social about it. She comes in to pee mostly when we are using the bathroom. She paws the rim of the sink when she’s finished often as if she’s burying it too.
The only thing we can figure is that she worked out that water goes down the sink, and urine is water. She never poops in the sink.
In my last place, we had a bathroom with a tub we never used, so I put a litter box in it. One of my cats consistently peed in the box but pooped in the tub scratching before and after going even though there was no litter there. It was easy enough to clean, so I didn't worry about it. Luckily, she switched to using the litter box completely when we moved to a different place with only a shower and stopped putting a litter box in the bathroom.
Awww, so cute
Our old cat did this too. I think he learned the behavior by observing us. It was wonderful! Best kitty ever. 😊
Jumping up is a problem for cats?! Joint problems?
This is what cats do, they jump, maybe stoped feed cats grains and inflamatory diet so they dont have hoint problems
Can you do types of people that should not get a cat
Plz plz
All I keep thinking is that if I had to go to the bathroom and someone told me I had to jump first and then balance, it would be a no. Let them be cats.
I really get the feel that she tried and it didnt work.
Some cats naturally go in sink holes, like baths, showers. My old cat did and I had never heard of toilet training. As a kitten she had a litterbox, then we moved and she woukd go outside. If she got locked inside she would use the sink hole.
I feel the language used towards the start of the video was showing of some desperation to prove an unvalid point. Your going to have an issue for the rest of its life etc.
We had a cat that started using the toilet all by himself. We had never heard of that before. He did it all on his own… naturally
mine also did that. Now i wonder their logic to use the toilet so i can train my newly adopted cat. Did your cat watch you when you used the toilet and that somehow taught him/her?
I don't see how using all this litter is sustainable. 😳
And...think of the e coli and other bacteria the cat would have to lick off their coats, danger of cats bacteria to a pregnant woman, and if you forgot and closed the lid, the cat would suffer all day. 🐱
I have found out mixing a grass litter and one made from vegetable - very fine. Really help elininate cat poop and pee odor. If the odor come back, I add in a little the fine kind. or I can toss what is in the box and set it up again.
Nice!
My savannah cat pees in the shower drain and I don’t know why! She has never pooped in it and is very discreet when doing it. I don’t think that not digging is detrimental as she chose the shower drain herself.
What's next, they're going to tell us to not train our cats to smoke cigarettes?
If your cat needs to be hospitalized for any reason, they will not have a toilet in their kennel set up, they will be offered a litterbox.
Are those silicon nail caps easier/better or even bad for cats than clipping their nails every week or so?
I have 1 toilet in my house and I don't want to contend for its use with the cat. Plus it's unhealthy for a toddler to use an adult toilet because they have to balance and potty at the same time which makes it harder to fully empty. I feel this maybe the same with cats.
I noticed some people in other countries toilet training their cats with squat toilets on the floor.
my cat perches on the side of his litter box. 😂😂😂
One day, I just hear some on the bathroom. It was my cat, she learned how to do it by herself. Idk how, probably looking at us. Anyway, she doesn't flush. She schrates the toilet seat, annoying :))
Anyway, I am glad we have multiple bathrooms, but I was quite amazed she learned that all by herself, she doesn't really like to go outside, she was out wen she was little, than we saved her, now she just want to stay in the house, watch TV and sleep.
Thank you for the run down on this subject..Just a learning curve for you and your followers..hoping the rest of the World EVER catches on to this:We are NOT OWNERS! We who love our pets,furry or otherwise,are Guardians,Caregivers,Pet Parents. We Own things…furniture,wallets,cars…….It degrades our pets to use that word. We need to honour,respect and cherish our family members more than that. Thinking of them as things and possessions is one of the reasons,and we all Know there are many;that All animals are demoted in importance in our human world. It is such an honour and a privilege to have them with us and to know them for however short or long a time they have. I fully acknowledge and follow this concept and try my darnedest to pass it on,,it’s vital and important. This is NOT my idea,,,it is the brainchild concept of my Edmonton,Alberta,Canada’s Pet Planet Pet Stores and I’m grateful to them…Kudos to You Pet Planet
Well I guess the 1 Like thumbs up is a start in your group… it’s sad how people actually think of their supposedly beloved pets.
Your last reason is the most important reason and the only valid reason I can see for not toilet training.
Where do you think all the litter and waste goes when it's dumped...... do you think it's any better for our world to fill the dump with plastic bags and animal waste, dog or cat. None of that is supposed to be disposed of in the regular garbage.
Obviously if your cat is a senior or becomes a senior then you adjust to what's needed for them.
I have three Bengals and they will all train to use the toilet. Not because I feel the need to hide the fact that we have cats or because of the litter box smell, as I clean it every time they use it. The cost of the litter I use is 30$ for 20lbs ( fresh 4life) and the amount of empty plastic bags that will go in the landfill and will not break down for 30 plus years is something to consider.
Even though I am toilet training, they all have the option to use the two litter boxes in the house so ultimately they get choose each time.
There's nothing wrong with training a cat to use the toilet unless it's a forced process.
Everyone should know that during training there will be accidents if ypu completely take litter boxes away.
Which may say that the cat does not prefer the toilet.
I must say that unless encouraged with treats, it's not happening and I'd say they definitely prefer the litter Box but I think that's because it's easier.
I think each cat is different so what one does may not be a shared preference to others.
Thanks for the video and your opinion.
I need advice. I really want a cat but I'm leaving as an exchange student in 1.5-2 years. I really want to adopt a cat, I've spent hundreds of hours (literally) researching and watching videos because if I ever become a cat owner I'd like to be a great one. I'm highly considering adopting a cat but I'm just now entering college. Part of my college's requirements is to complete at least 1 semester abroad, but my plan would be to complete a year and I'd be doing this in about 3 or 4 semesters (1.5 to 2 years). Would it still be appropriate to adopt a cat now? Despite my wishes, is it better for me to simply hold off on owning a cat until I am settled at a home? Whenever it would be time for me to leave to study a year abroad, I'd be leaving the cat with my parents, both of whom have expressed If I adopt a kitty they would not partake in its care. It is of my belief if I adopt and leave in 1.5-2 years for a whole year, by then I would have the cat obviously litter box trained and with regular feeding schedules, as well as a preferred vet. So effort from my parents to take care of the cat while I'm gone would be minimal. I genuinely am at a crossroads, and I don't want to be selfish in wanting to adopt a cat so I'd like to do what would be best for the cat, not myself. Should I hold off until I'm settled in a few years and live alone?
First of all I don't see how it's done. I know either of my cats you even bring them close to the toilet they're not having it. Plus as you said Mallory, you shouldn't try to take away the natural instinct of what's a natural predator that loves digging, covering their scents and the urge to be in the wild. I know my indoor cats I'm sure would love to be outdoors in the grass so I'm surely not going to put them on porcelain
I didn't toilet train my cat, she did it all on her own. She only urinates in the toilet and poops outside always.
My cat started using the toilet completely by himself. It was totally his idea. I guess he was mimicking his people. The other cats use the litter boxes, which are cleaned daily. Not him.
Fascinating! I love that. Thanks for sharing!
We can't have our toilets open because my cat will try to drink from the toilet (we give her plenty of water and she has multiple water sources) so I can't imagine how difficult this would be for her lol
Yes, but my cat is dumb and barely moves any sand before leaving the litter box. He's lazy AF and makes me want to do it.
Don't toilet train your cat! I did, and now my wife makes me use the litter box!
Why would you…….what?!!
I would Never Toilet my Cat.
I'm sure Peanut appreciates that. :)
This makes me sad. Please don't try to toilet train your cats. They are cats, let them be cats. I had to stop watching the video, the drenched kitty made me too sad to keep watching.
No way I’m only one going to use my toilet my cats will use their litter! Germs from them and waiting for a cat if I have to use my toilet. Than they won’t flush the toilet you might be outside than it will stink!
👍👍👍👍👍
Super
i honestly find disgusting the fact that people sit in the same area that their cat just took a dump or peed on, is like the smell of cat pee, the amonia, what if they spray on the seat and your behind door or your baby making area gets touch by the pee recidue, this screams genitals infection for me.
I think it is unsanitary to use your own toilet. They should have their own. Like a camping toilet or what's called a traveling toilet it looks exactly like a toilet there are two kinds one that you can flush with water and one that you can put letter at the bottom when the letters full you throw it away so those are two excellent options if you're going to toilet train your cat.... ❤️
Camping toilets are like a litter tray but possibly cleaner paws? Hummmm
Your video is 11 minutes. Would be e much better if it was 5
Thank you for the advice.
Your 5 reasons so weak, stop giving this advice to people ! Make some money from others products!! You so funny! Sorry!
Well, I suppose this video has been made, and there's not much we can do about it now. There are plenty of people in the comments giving richer insights, so hopefully that will be more useful than the video. Thanks for the feedback.
you are very beautiful ❤️
My first cat named brownie (looked like puss in boots 🥾) toilet trained himself, and was an indoor outdoor cat 🐈. He was so sweet 🥲 but he ended up leaving us for a girlfriend
I have adopted 24 kittens over the past 3 years,bottle fed them etc. Cat litter is costing me 5000.00 a year. I wish they could learn to use the toilet
My cat jumped up and peed in the toilet all on his on. I was shocked! No training, but he’s watched me do it several times.
That's amazing!
Okay, sure buddy...
Same. There’s actually a survival instinct explanation that has to do with the smell not attracting predators. Cats like to avoid using the bathroom in their leisure space
I totally agree with you. I prefer to see my cats happy than to do something, concerning them, only thinking about myself.
4 lame reasons only 1 good reason
I support this message. I offer my kitties all the comforts in life to give them their best life possible, not to live to please me. If you are so offended about a litter box, you really shouldn't have taken a cat into your home, and also please don't visit me. =) Your conditional love sucks, we don't bend felines into becoming humans, they are beautiful creatures just being them. =p
I Accept my Peanut the way he is.
Where is the love button? Meow
I hear this argument against toilet training a lot, and I respect it, and have considered it before making my own decision. My cats are arguably among the most spoiled cats on the planet, but they are living in a house, so I have to teach them the difference between living in a house and living in the wild. For instance, despite the natural and healthy cat activity of territorial marking and spraying, I don't allow it. I know it's natural and important for their overall happiness, but call me a cad if you'd like, but I can't live that way. The desire to procreate -- which all living things are hard-wired for -- is also something I deny by having my cats spayed and neutered. Also, I buy multiple scratching surfaces and train my cats to use those rather than the furniture. And I discourage fighting among the cats, even though I know full well that it too has its place in the wild. My point is that very few of us are really allowing their cats to fully be themselves in our homes, so when I hear this argument, I feel like no one should be allowed to own a cat. Let them live out the lives as they were meant to live them out. I find that a very sad proposition, as my life would be so much emptier without their particular charm. Training a cat to use a toilet requires the same amount of love and patience as training them to scratch the things you want them to scratch -- not necessarily the things they want to scratch. We may never clearly understand the magnetic appeal of the couch, but I'm sure there's a reason it is such a common target . It could simply be the fact that we sit on it all the time and have left our own scent markers...so why shouldn't they? Maybe they consider it a means of bonding with us, as if saying, this is our shared territory. I'm currently using a clumping clay litter because it's the one that works best for us. In the Fall, I'm going to train my new cat to use the toilet and move back to a litterbox-free home. I've decided that the approximately $50 a month I currently spend on litter and deodorizers will be donated to a local rescue and I'll benefit by no longer contributing to the mining of clay litter and its disposal in landfills. And in the end, I'll continue to train my cats to use scratching poles, fix them, break up fights, and teach them to use the toilet
.
I agree 100%! Well said in so many ways. They weren’t made to live indoors with us, but adapt. It would be great to live in the wild and climb trees and kills prey to eat, and pee and poop in the woods, but when we take a cat in to be with us, they adapt. If they take to using the toilet, that is not a huge change. They don’t pee and poop in a little box with weird stuff in the wild, so why is this such an issue?
We're raising cats in our homes that aren't even part of their nature so how different is a toilet anyway. Unless your cat is paralyzed or a total couch potato, they jump and balance themselves everyday if not several times a day! Cat towers, beds, countertops etc. For the toilet issues, it’s easily remedied by placing steps beside it if it’s inconvenient for the non-jumping cats. Falling into the toilet…simply attach a child toilet seat which flips up when you’re using it. The child seat has a smaller hole and therefore also wider ledge for cats to “balance” on. As for scent marking, sorry, they will scent-mark not just the toilet but all the various places around the home. They think they own you and your whole house anyway. LOL! As for introducing the parasites to the water that the local filtration doesn’t clean out, there’s a level of standard cleaning for public health to kill microbes so I don’t know if what you described happens in certain countries/cities where they can’t or don’t filter the cat parasites. Having said all that, I’d agree that it depends on individual lifestyles. Maybe as you say an indoor cat may unlearn their digging/covering instinct but I’m no cat behaviourist so I’ll take your word for it. If it also spends time outdoors or if you have an outdoorsy lifestyle, there’s plenty chance for them go the “traditional” method. Just my take as it may not apply to other people though!
Agree.
100% agree, cats don't have fancy litter boxes with silica crystals sand, multiple meals a day with all the nutrients they require, traits, clean fresh water, shade, AC, toys, etc.. Cats pooping on a human toilet scares humans cause ots not usual but I don't see anything wrong in that, domestic cats are pets not wild animals that need their instincts to survive
My cat for some reason pisses in the bathroom sink anyway so I’m going to teach her to do it I’m the toilet. Thank you for this comment.
Exactly. A cat being toilet trained is literally a non issue. It feels like some people are making dumb videos either for attention or so more cat litter sells, which I learned the dust of can cause issues in certain cats and people. I’m someone who doesn’t do well around a litter box. Anyways if someone’s upset over the cat being unable to dig in dirt, they probably shouldn’t be handing it cat food and water in a bowl since that’s also unnatural. Let the cat run outside to catch its own food and drink from puddles. She appears to have forgotten how good cats are at jumping and balancing, though as you said it’s helpful to have steps and a child seat. And you’re right, poop and pee in one spot isn’t all they do for marking. They will mark around the house by rubbing or scratching the scratching posts. And their waste is removed when the litter is changed, cats don’t like a dirty litter box. Neutered and spayed cats don’t feel the desperate desire to establish territory anyway, which is why they don’t spray pee. You would think her cats weren’t neutered if they cared that much about territory. The last part is dumb too, of course. If it’s safe when we use a toilet, it’s logically safe when cats do. Not that this video has logic in mind.
@@LlamadeusMozarttIt doesn't "scare" humans. That's just a dumb thing to claim. Respect your animal and its natural instincts. Using the toilet removes all natural instincts and scents which are integral to a cats space.
Would you be able to do another cat litter review soon? I’m having issues with the dust and would love an updated review from you guys 😭
Melanie, finally the truth! I've seen parents try to toilet train a new born by holding up him above a bowl and making pee-ing sounds! I wonder how that experiment went. We love cats bc they're cats! Wessie is so adorable today!
Glad you appreciated the video!
Ridiculous that people humanize to the detriment of animals.
These are all great points, definitely sharing.
If litter box smell is an issue, DIET is 95% the cause, I’d say medicines & other medical issues are the other 5%.
I have 7 cats & litter boxes, & by scent no one can tell I even have 1.
I have found a raw diet pretty much eliminates all of these reasons. With a healthy diet, there’s no need for medicines because there’s no internally preventable medical issues.
Also..scoop litter boxes. I scoop every single day; apparently some people seem to think litter doesn’t need to be switched out for 3 months, & boxes scooped 1x per week!?!
Crazy humans!
I think its something the cats want to do.
It's more like some cats want to Humanize themselves...
That's were you get the term CopyCat from.
They are quite brilliant at times..
My Samantha, had a nickname Double OOooo. Because she picked up on things often before they happened.. She also often wanted to do what I was doing...
WE were animals that learned to use a toilet.
@@TheTinyTimmyTimTim Hello, We Invented the Toilet...
Unless there's something that has not been discovered Yet.
Him..Who invented the litter box.. I think cats use it naturally?
@@karenbrandwein8245 Cats use dirt and soil naturally, not plastic boxes with synthetic litter we created. We’ve been pooping long before we had toilets, it was a behavior we had to adapt to and you have to potty train children. It doesn’t come instinctively to them either.
@@TheTinyTimmyTimTim But Cats seem to know what a litterbox is..and for.. My first cat was barley 3 months old when I found her and she already knew a litterbox. Not to say she went through a phase were she wanted to use the bathroom. Had to take the litterbox out of the bathroom. But gave a place with a view. And much more room. (LOL).. But that's another story...And my Abigal, well she was older.. Of course knew. In fact when she was I'll.She mixed getting to the litterbox.and was very upset.. I had to reassure her it was OK.
Come to think of it your right about people. But someone had to invent the toilet. Duh.
I don’t know how I could train a cat to use the toilet. Even at my age I’m still trying to do it right! Lol
Your reasons are not problem.
1. They cannot forget how to dig.
2. 99% cat are good at balance.
3.4.5. I am not agree with you about this.
I think you make this video for sale toilet for cat
If the cat is toilet trained as it for the rest of the cat's life why would I be concerned the digging & covering instinct? The cat will no longer need to do it.
My cat would never cover her shit, Sh would run out immediately after, mind you I never train her for this
Most cats will cover their urine, but leaving poop uncovered is pretty common.
The sponsored litter box is 200$ USD btw, dont waste your time looking it up. Sometimes things just make no sense :/
Had a cat named Samson who trained himself to use the toilet. Never pooped in the toilet only peed. Never left a drop on the seat. Who is the expert now???
Samson is. :)
My cat literally never covers his shit Lmaoo, he digs at the walls but never the litter so it never gets covered, I’m thinking of training him to use the toilet as a solution for that but idk
Some cats are like that! An automatic litter box might be a good option for you-it would cycle after each use and do away with the poop as soon as it lands there.
wow extremely informative my first sphinx cat i toilet trained him and now i feel like i deprive him of his natural instinct to dig, on the opposite side it was definitely wonderful when he got it down no litter no smell but i will definitely stick to little with my new cats it may be a chore but that it just part of being a cat owner. thank you for all the knowledge!
I also thought videos talking about this (especially JGs!) were really vague about the subject. Thank you for explaining this so thoroughly.
hello Mallory...Agree, not suitable specially for senior cats.
Yup the idea is cool but No cats thinks that way once it's time to do its business there 😅
11:20 the sleepy head after the video takes!
my cat is tripawed. I was given this elaborate 8 week training set to teach my cat to go on the toilet. I have been considering it but wondered if she would fall inside the toilet. Since that is a real possibility I am hesitant. Now you tell me about polluting the water supply with a germ that often slips past pollution control... it is a definite no. seriously if cleaning the litter daily or every other day is that much of an issue for someone an automatic cleaner is the far better option. I will just continue to scoop and remember how blessed I am that I live in Canada where we can complain about such a trivial inconvenience of pet ownership.
I have switched to pine pellets but I didn't know that I was not supposed to flush the poop. Thanks.
When I mentioned this I was talk ng about a cat who wanted to use the bathroom.. she was very curious, in many cases and wanted to do what I would do.
There was a litterbo problem at one point after I had to remove her litter box from my tiny bathroom. It was also before she was spayed. She was doing #1 in the bathroom. It stopped after she was spayed.. it was a long time ago. Samantha went to the vet regularly.. but they never helped her with anything... Even the spaying didn't go well. It cost alot of money, as an older Cat and my Precious cat she was to have the best treatment and care. Well the incision was a mess. And it was a fight getting her antibiotics. Which really not enough was given.. after her operation, my poor girl would not go back into the carrier to go to the vet.. I don't know who did this to her. Because I made it clear that I wanted the senior vet to to the surgery..
She lived about 7 years after this. But it did not go well.
Samantha was a awesome cat... I could have written a book. Abigail's big sister.
Now Abigail is gone too. My beautiful Girl.
I'll never get a pet again.
@@madashell7224 She gave me a great deal of JOY...SHE WAS A FANTASIC SUPERNATURAL CAT... SHE CAME THROUGH THE SPAYING INCIDENT OK.. SHE WAS ABOUT 7..and lived another 7 years.. though she could have used the antibiotics . Won't go into it.. But when Samantha got sick in the end it was Totally devistating... Improper care.
The same happened with her little sister. Abigail, who I just lost..
Poor girl, couldn't get what she needed .A special Beautiful Girl..
I've failed my furry loved ones in the end due to a horriable situation.
With or without money and health there is no guarantee your will get proper treatment..
It's horrifying, sickening.. Unfair to the furry little Angels.
Why is you name Mad As Hell.
Big problem is u cannot monitoring cat stool to know cat health through it, if there is 1 cat, is ok, but multiple cats is another story
Seems like a lot of people have a misconception about treating animals well? It's not "cats should be treated like humans" it's "cats should be treated like cats" while you might benefit from using a toliet and it may seem like the litter box is a downgrade, the fact is that toilets are not designed with cats in mind, they don't support their natural behavior, and honestly there's no benefit to humans/cats using the same place to go. Nice video, helped me to specify my thoughts on this for sure!
Do you Think taht situation Cansel HUGENT problem for human?
It’s detrimental to all the litter box and litter supply companies- they lose money. This will not harm them peeps. Lol
I toilet-trained my first cat and she did great with it. I didn't know about any of these things, and I mostly just did it because I didn't want my tiny student flat covered in litter carried around in her very fluffy paws. But she developed kidney problems, and I wonder if I might have noticed that sooner* if I'd been better able to monitor her urine output. So yeah, I'll not toilet train any more cats. Litter tracking is a small price to pay for a healthy friend!
*) Although when I first noticed, the vet said I'd caught it early, because her creatinine and stuff wasn't super high. "Not everyone is that in tune with their cats!" she told me. I just noticed that she was in pain, and using the toilet more often but the splashes didn't last as long as normal. Also, the ultrasound showed that one of her kidneys was underdeveloped, probably from birth, leaving the other one extra vulnerable to trouble. Still, she lived another two years post-diagnosis, even though they gave me a prognosis of a few months to a year. So well done, Timjan!
toilet training ur cat is very abnormal, if you dont want to scoop out the litter box everyday get a dog instead
Holy crap (literally) why would anyone toilet train their cat, how freaking awkward and possibly dangerous for the cat. My cat had a fall and tore her ACL and needed an operation, she has had trouble with the leg ever since, if a cat only knows to use a toilet and then suddenly can't then that could cause huge problems too. And finally, eewww!