Cats and their litter pans; it’s either a dream or a nightmare. Most kitties take right to the box. Just one or two visits to the litter, and it’s away they go. Others prove to be picky about their pan, their litter, and the pan’s location. You get it; some cats can be difficult where the litter box is concerned. But not a 5-month-old kitten, Kit. This County Mayo, Ireland, kitten just skipped the pan altogether and headed straight for a porcelain throne. Usually, that takes training, but Kit decided he would use a toilet like his people all on his own.
Marvelous as his poop proclivities are, Kit forgot to tell his family he’d settled on using the facilities, leaving them to argue about who had a problem with remembering to flush. Until one trip to the potty solved the mystery behind the full bowl.
Surprise Pooper
As a mom to kids and cats, Caroline Grufferty is used to dealing with bodily functions of all sorts, poop included. But when she would walk into the bathroom and find a toilet full of floating surprises, she suspected her seven-year-old Julian was the non-flushing culprit and called him out.
But Julian swore innocence and accused his mom of being the household dump-and-run perpetrator. The mystery persisted until Caroline spied paw prints on the toilet, and her suspicions turned to Kit.
As Caroline told the Irish Examiner, “I started watching him and one night when we were watching TV, I noticed him sneaking upstairs by himself and I followed him.”
What she saw broke the mystery wide open and left her surprised.
“I saw him go into the bathroom, hop up on a baby step, and then jump up onto the toilet,” Caroline explained. “He did his thing where he dips himself down to smell and make sure the bowl is clean, then he turned and started to relieve himself.”
Almost Got the Flush
It’s not just the depositing Kit understands either. His mom has watched him touch the flush lever upon completion, but “his little paws are too light, so he can’t push down hard enough to make it flush.”
Not too shabby, little tabby! Now, there’s just one thing left for this good kitty to learn.
“We’ve yet to teach him to wash his paws after he’s finished, but I’m sure we could train him to do the whole lot – he’s a very clever little guy.”
Indeed, he is! Want to watch a cat use a toilet? Check out this video of Kit hard at work. Or, if you want to see your kitty on the loo, check out Teaching Your Cat To Use A Toilet.