IS TOILET TRAINING RIGHT FOR YOUR CAT?: 10 FACTORS TO CONSIDER
What if I told you that you would never have to clean the litter box again if you toilet trained your cat? Toilet training your cat in and of itself is not particularly hard, it is a bit time consuming but so is cleaning the litter box every day. It sounds like a pretty sweet deal. Yet if you were to walk into a room full of cat owners and ask them their opinion on toilet training you would get many impassioned answers from “yes, it's fantastic and I will never go back to litter boxes!” to “it is unethical and I would never toilet train my cat!” to “I tried to but my cat scratched up my toilet!”. There is a spectrum of answers and feelings to the question “should I toilet train my cat?” and rightly so, as there are many conflicting factors that make a clear answer difficult.
Let's take a look at the different components of toilet training.
THE HANDS OFF APPROACH
One of the main reasons why people want to toilet train their cat is to decrease handling of their waste. The idea is to lower chances of coming into contact with and contracting a zoonotic disease, a disease that is transmittable between animals and humans. The most commonly discussed one is toxoplasmosis, an alarming disease that can cause serious symptoms in both adults and unborn children if they come into contact with it through cat feces. Its existence is well advertised, almost all cat owners have heard about it, but there are a few details about the disease that are critical in deciding between toilet training and sticking with the litter box.
Toxoplasmosis is caused by a parasite called toxoplasma gondii. This parasite lives in your cat’s body for two weeks, during which your cat will shed oocytes, basically eggs for the parasite. These oocytes are what can infect others, however they are not immediately infective once they leave the cat’s body, they need to incubate for between 1-5 days before you are in any danger of contracting the parasite. This means that your best defense against the disease is to scoop the litter box more often. If the litter box is cleaned every day then the feces, where the parasite lives, will not sit for long enough to be a danger. However, if your schedule does not support cleaning the litter box every day than toilet training could be a safer option.
Another important detail about toxoplasmosis is that cats get this parasite from eating an infected animal outside, so if your cats are inside-only and have been for two weeks, the amount of time it takes for the parasite to leave their system, then the chances of them having his parasite are very low.
IT’S YOUR TOILET TOO
There is another concern with sharing a toilet with your cat. Not all cats, for lack of a better term, have good aim. You could find that your cat defecated or urinated on the lid rather than in the toilet. That could put you and the rest of the house hold in danger of contacting the disease. Especially if you are not aware that they did so, the best place for a disease is where you know where it is. If your cat uses the litter box you know where potential infectious agents are, with your toilet shared with your cat there is more uncertainty whether it is clean or not.
WASTE AS A MEASUREMENT OF HEALTH
As for your cat’s health, the litter box is a useful tool for telling you when your cat has something wrong. What leaves the body is useful in telling what is happening within. Many people take their cat to the vet because they have noticed that they have stopped peeing, or started having diarrhea. Their waste tells a lot about their health, which is why urine and fecal samples are commonly used by veterinarians. Many serious conditions manifest early as too much or too little urination and catching them early is critical for your cat. If your cat is using a toilet then it will be much harder to keep tabs on their urine. It is possible for you to familiarize yourself with the normal color of their urine in the bowl but much harder to determine the amount.
WHO DIDN’T FLUSH!
While it is possible to train your cat to flush the toilet it is not recommended. Some cats find flushing the toilet much too fun and will flush even when they didn’t use it. It also, quite literally, flushes the evidence of your cat’s health down the toilet. As a result there will be waste in the toilet which may potentially make your bathroom smelly.
YOU, YOUR CAT, AND THE FAMILY
If you want to toilet train your cat you will also need to make sure that your whole household is on board. You will want them to tell you if the cat has an accident on the toilet seat so you can clean it properly, to be able to tell if the urine looks off and, most importantly, make sure the toilet seat is down and the lid up at all times! If your cat does not have access to the toilet they may choose an alternative surface, such as your carpet or sofa, instead.
IMPACT ON YOUR CAT
Let’s take your cat’s health into account. The dusty clay and crystal litters have been linked to upper respiratory issues in cats as well as being labeled as carcinogens for both humans and felines. This alone makes a good argument to move towards toilet training or alternative litter. However, while planning for the future of your cat you will need to be ready for if your cat ages and reaches a point where they will be unable to comfortably jump on to the toilet to do their business. If this becomes a barrier for them then they may start finding alternative places to pee, similar to if they lose access to the toilet due to the lid being down.
OUTSIDE THE HOME
The impact of your use and choice of litter not only affects your home, but also the environment. The types of litter available today have vastly different effects. The traditional clumping clay litter is not biodegradable and just takes up space in landfills. Also, the strip mining that is used to collect the materials for clay and crystal litters tears up land and vegetation. This causes massive environmental damage.
On the other hand, forgoing litter and washing your cat’s waste down the toilet impacts the local wildlife. Currently sewage is not treated for toxoplasmosis which leads it to be released into the water where it can infect aquatic life in local water systems. However, as mentioned earlier, inside only house cats have very low chances of hosting toxoplasma gondii so flushing their waste should be okay.
There are biodegradable litters made from corn or recycled paper that can serve as the best option in terms of environmental impact and health of your cat. Without the need for strip mining to gain the materials, less space in the landfills as they will degrade, and no silica dust that is bad for cats and humans alike.
THE FINANCIAL QUESTION
Another common concern with kitty litter is the financial cost. Generally, the mass market litters you buy can cost between 1-3.75$ per pound of litter. Water costs up to 1.50$ per 1000 gallons of water, and with 1-5 gallons used per flush of a toilet, depending on your toilet. Toilet training is cheaper especially if you would choose to buy the more environmentally safe litter options which tend to be more expensive.
BEHAVIORAL SIDE EFFECTS
Speaking of behavioral issues there are other ones that pop up over the course of toilet training. Some cats develop the habit of burying their poop pretty intently. This may manifest as scratching at the toilet bowl or pushing things into the toilet. Cats that may excessively bury their poop or even bury other cat’s poop may not be the best candidates for toilet training.
WHAT YOU LOSE
We use litter boxes because they are effective. They appeal to a cat’s natural instincts to bury their poop and to make their surroundings smell like them. As scent spots, places that smell like them, litter boxes make your cat feel at home. If you toilet train your cat you are not only asking them to do something that is relatively strange to them but also taking away some of the comforts of the litter box. For this reason, you may see other behaviors appear after you start toilet training. Some common side effects are spraying, scratching at the toilet, pushing objects into the toilet or even peeing in other places in the house.
MAKING YOUR DECISION
Ultimately your decision to toilet train your cat is entirely dependent on your lifestyle and your cat’s personality. The amount of time that you have to spend on your cat’s litter box, the resources available to you and if your cat would take to toilet training well. If you have a toilet in your house that is rarely used by humans then that can be your cat’s toilet, if you do not have the money to spend on the biodegradable litter or if the litter box is always full then it may be worth considering the toilet. But if your cat is nervous, or doesn’t like change then it is probably better to stick with the comforts of the litter box.
You do not have to fully choose between one or the other however. You can toilet train your cat to teach them how to use the toilet but leave the litter box out as an option for them. It may be a good way to lessen the use of the litter box, lessening the amount you clean from it, while keeping the comforts a litter box provides.
A WORD OF ADVICE
If you decide that toilet training would fit your cat and your lifestyle you will need to take your time and make sure that your cat will not fall into the toilet! If they do then they will most likely not want to continue toilet training and you will have an extremely hard time convincing then to try again.
If you are interested in toilet training or have other litter issues check out our litter box course or book a consult! We will help troubleshoot your litter problems and will give you a hand with toilet training as well!
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