My Cat Plays Fetch-Now Only If I Can Teach Him to Use the Toilet

Cats are known for their enduring independent attitude. Most people falsely believe that cats are not able to be trained to the degree of dogs. Granted most cats do not suffer from the co-depend neediness as their canine counterparts, but they are much more trainable then perceived.

Pumpkin, a ten month old orange American Short hair has mastered the task of playing fetch. To most of Pumpkin’s admirers, namely my friends, his skill is nothing more then a parlor trick and is purely entertaining. For Pumpkin and myself, it is a bonding game we play to re-enforce our human to feline relationship.

Most Cats can be taught how to play fetch. I learned that Pumpkin had the ability when he was 10 weeks old and picked a ball up in his mouth. Pumpkin was a natural. He chased the ball, picked it up, and dropped it after moving it to another location. I only needed to encourage him to bring the ball all the way back to me. With the introduction of treat re-enforcement, Pumpkin is now a fetcher that can give Spot a run for the money. You may wonder if this is a testament to a cat’s ability or a result of his owner’s laziness to not want to get up to play, honestly, it’s both.

I am now considering embarking on a new frontier for both Pumpkin and myself: Toilet Training. It has come to my attention that some cats can be taught to abandon their litter pans and use the toilet just like you and me. This revelation cures the only down side to feline ownership: Poop scooping a litter pan daily. Hallelujah! I’m ready to sign Pumpkin up.

During my research, I have found there are two ways to go about toilet training a cat. The first way is to buy a commercially available kit or for the more adventurous sole, you can fashion an at home version. Both systems work on the same principles: There are three stages. Stage one is to make your cat think the toilet is a litter pan. Stage two is to remove the litter. Stage three is your cat using the toilet with no apparatus attached.