Cat Toilet Habits

[natalie_1982]

Seems to be a lot of cat toilet Q's at the mo! If my cat is stuck indoors and needs to go to the toilet or has a dicky tummy, he goes in the bath. He has done this since he was a kitten and he has never been trained to do this! Anyone else's cat do it as I've heard of othe's doing it and wondered if anyone knew why?

[mrs.pudding]

I had one the same (sadly, long dead now).  She also used to perch on the dog's bowl of water and pee in there!  I have no idea why but  doesn't it make clearing up after them easy?

[thewillow]

My parents had a cat who used to perch on the toilet and use it.  He came to them as a stray and they never knew if he had been trained to do this.

[Rock Mommy]

My first and sadly now deceased cat Paris used to use my shower tray, which was great for cleaning up after.  He was a rescue cat and was extreemly odd.  After much experimenting we discovered he would only eat the 3 fish flavours in the Choosey range, but prefered to eat any human food - grapes, bread, crisps, apple pie ... loads of stuff, which was handy, as I used to take him on a collar and lead on the train between Leeds and Bournemouth every few months. 

[Dougal169]

my female cat Rocco perches on the side of her litter tray and wont step in it if my male cat Sparky has been in it.. we are obviously a 2 litter tray family.

If Rocco is sick she does it in the bath, if Sparky is sick he does it next to my bed !! Seems he likes me know when he is ill....

Sparky has also taken to playing fetch !

Such strange creatures, but most enjoyable at the same time

[alan.barnes]

my male cat kevin took a dump in the bath when i moved into my new house. i think it may have been because he was in a new house and he has always liked sittingin the bath.  he is also obsessed with the taps in the sink.

[Rainbow]

One of my cats Mia, a bumese uses the toilet, she has never been taught to do this but it can be very off putting when your the only one in the house & you hear someone using the toilet!

[Pythoness]

From a behavioral standpoint, most experts would agree that your cat avoids the litter box when ill with GI upsets probably because he does not realize that it isn't the litter box that makes him hurt.

Cats with FUS typically display this behavior of urinating outside the litter box, because urinating hurts them, and they think the litter box is the cause of all their pain.  Ergo, they will try to go somewhere else.  As that obviously does not help the problem, they try somewhere else again.. and so on and so forth.

As for going at other times (when not ill), it could be that since your bath is always clean, it is a perferred bathroom spot for your feline (who are sticklers for cleanliness if nothing else).  Cat urine has so much ammonia in it that sometimes even a little in what seems (to us) to be a clean box offends them.  (Remember, they're a lot closer to the source and have a much better sense of smell than we do!)  Some cats also object to cat box filler that is perfumed.

[peachy_puss]

well sometimes when our cats are locked in door 4 long periods of time yes 1 of them pees in the bath or shower...or sometimes down the drain in the bath..? and i have know idia why he does it..?