Do you think it is unsanitary to train a cat to go on the person's toilet?

I think it would be a lot more sanitary than dealing with a litterbox. In fact I have seen self cleaning litterboxes designed to empty into the toilet.

edit: Found the link

@WestRiverrat Just to warn I don’t have any actual experience with litterboxes or cats, so forgive me. But, even though litterboxes must be disgusting and dirty, they aren’t exactly touching your butt and being dumped in your toilet. When I asked the question, I meant is it sanitary for the human? For example, if their butts touch whatever trace amount of feces the cat left behind from its paws and stuff. I think as long as the litterbox is regularly cleaned and is kept in the basement it could be better for the human’s heath? I think my germaphobia brought me to ask this question…

Is it any more unsanitary than teaching humans to use the toilet? You’re still touching your butt to a place that someone’s poo might have been. I’d think it wouldn’t really be that much more unsanitary, especially if you have a toilet that’s the cat’s toilet.

I think I could live with it if our cats knew had to use the toilet. No more cleaning litter boxes and buying cat litter? That would be handy, and cute.

@woodcutter You would save a lot of money on litter and it is probably better for the environment. This video shows you how to do it and how much money you will save. Maybe it is a good idea.

My cat Elway is toilet trained. He’s a brilliant cat and very, very clean. However, he also uses the spare bathroom (because I’d rather not use it after him)

@desiree333 That was an interesting vid, thanks

@JessicaRTBH That’s probably best that he uses a different toilet lol.

@woodcutter No problem (:

I imagine it would be pretty unsanitary if the cat fell in, which I can’t figure how it would turn out anything but because I was under the impression that toilet training a cat was just a gimmick used in Meet The Parents.

@JessicaRTBH

“However, he also uses the spare bathroom (because I’d rather not use it after him)”

Is that because of cat hairs on the seat or something else, like inaccurate aiming?

It is easier and neater to wipe a toilet seat than it is to sanitize a litterbox.

I would love to train my cats to use the toilet. Both my kitties are over 10 years old, though, so that’ll have to wait until my next round of kittens. It’d also help if I had a second bathroom for them to use, at least while the training was happening.

I don’t think it’s unsanitary or gross at all. No more than sharing a toilet with another person, anyway. Unless you live alone and never have visitors, or unless you sanitize the seat before every bathroom visit, you’re always risking touching other people’s pee or poop, or at the very least, touching places where their germs have travelled to.

I don’t know about anyone else, but I’d rather clean up my cats’ poop than people poop.

Wow, I just got an idea! A cute teeny weeny toilet just for cats! I better start on my plumbing design…

@desiree333 – indeed :)

@Brian1946 – it’s more just my phobias of germs. He doesn’t miss too often and rarely leaves hair behind – it’s more in my head than anything

Another note is that I do leave a children’s potty seat in that bathroom so the hole is a bit smaller for him. Luckily he hasn’t fallen in yet. That wouldn’t be sanitary at all.

@JessicaRTBH

“it’s more just my phobias of germs.”

Same here, which is why I keep a spray bottle containing isopropyl alcohol in my house.

Some people simply have no faith in their immune system.

I think having a parent with a compromised immune system helped shape me into quite the germphobic

@Brian1946 – I use Lysol wipes on everything

I can understand that.

For me it’s just my desire to reduce the frequency of my illnesses.

I definitely think that if such a miracle were to occur, it would be way more sanitary than cleaning out the damn box every day.

@mazingerz88 I was just about to post that people should use toddler pottys beside the human toilet. It would be so cute, and probably more clean and less chance of them falling in or falling off completely!

@martianspringtime It’s not a miracle, apparently it’s quite easy.(: You buy a kit with these training rings in which the hole gets bigger and bigger until they can use the seat. I posted a video somewhere in this thread explaining it.