Deb D’Andrea, Nederland. Years ago, my friends decided they were going to train their Siamese cats to ‘do their business’ in the toilet. They chose their upstairs bathroom overlooking the staircase leading to the front door as the cat’s bathroom. My friends spent months training their cats to use the toilet, and success was near. I’ll never forget the day I knocked on their front door, looked through the side entrance window up the stairs to see their cat on the toilet looking down at me, an expression of disgust that I had caught them in the act. I laughed, a lot.

It was a short time later they decided to stop the training as they had started to train their cats to flush. It turned out the cats loved the idea of flushing the toilet and would grab the handle over and over again. They were fascinated by the flushing action, the whoosh of water as it whirled away down to who knew where. This fascination turned out to be the downfall of the training, and now the cats are kept outside a closed bathroom door for fear they will run the well dry.

Training a cat to use the toilet at first blush would seem like an interesting idea, removing the need for a litter box and all associated with that. It turns out, however, that a cat’s natural behavior is to bury their waste by digging and covering it. Removing this natural ability could add stress to a cat’s life, not to mention the stress of potentially falling into the toilet while straddling it. Water is not typically a cat’s best friend. As with dogs and humans, poop is a good indicator of health or potential illnesses; so keeping an eye on poop health is much easier with a kitty litter scooper in hand.

Till next time. Deb D’Andrea, founder of 4TheLuvOfDogz & the Caribou Dog Ranch is recognized by the State of Colorado as a Certified Canine Massage Therapist and will visit your home or Vet’s office to work with your dog. Canine Agility may be offered at the Caribou Dog Ranch in 2017 if there is interest. Deb currently has limited availability for new Petz Nanny Clients; and she bakes up fresh dog treats & doggy birthday cakes per order.  For information contact Deb at 720-675-7078 or email: info@4theluvofdogz.com.