Tuesday 12 February 2013

Why I Decided to Toilet Train my Devon Rex Cats

I'm talking toilet training, not house training here. My Devon Rex kittens were already 100% litter box trained when I got them. As I've mentioned before, my previous moggie was an indoor-outdoor cat so litter boxes weren't part of the deal and I hate the damn things. Before I even chose my Devon Rex kittens I already knew that they were going to be indoor only cats and that I wanted to train them to use the human toilet or "big boy potty" (yes, this is what I call it when talking to them... attempting to toilet train kittens will make you lose your mind a little).

There's several reasons I've decided to train my cats to use the toilet:

1. It's better for the Environment 
2.54 million tonnes of clay are strip mined in the USA every year, 85% of which goes into kitty litter. That's a mind boggling amount of resources and environmental damage just going into sopping up cat pee. Add processing and transport and the effect on Mother Earth is significant. In the USA alone an estimated 2 million tonnes of cat litter ends up in landfill every year and as it's not biodegradable that's where it stays for all eternity. Silica gel litter is slightly better as it lasts longer meaning a lower volume heading for landfill but as it's made from sand there's a mining component to it too and sand (unlike clay) seems to be mainly mined abroad so there's a lot more transport miles involved than with clay. It's also not biodegradable. I was shocked to find out the supposedly eco-friendly plant-based or "biodegradable" cat litters are only actually biodegradable in home compost heaps... if it goes to landfill (as most of it does) the conditions there actually prevent it from biodegrading. You can't recycle it in your organic waste either as most councils refuse to collect cat litter so it's not the eco-friendly option the manufacturers would have you believe.

2. It's much cheaper in the long run 
Citi Kitty claims you save an average of $2,000 over a cat's lifetime. Double that for two cats. If someone handed you $4,000 tomorrow I'm sure you could think of a million things you'd rather spend it on than cat litter and so can I.

3. Your house won't smell of cat pee
Unfortunately, no matter how anal (pun intended) you are about cleaning litter boxes, you can tell when there's a cat in the house the second you walk in and much as I love my boys, it's not the nicest smell in the world

4. It's more hygenic
My other half was dead against toilet training the cats as he thought it would be unhygenic to have them use our toilet. This is the argument that finally won him over to the great Toilet Training Experiment. Think about it, even the cleanest cat is going to end up with tiny bits of cat pee and poop on their paws after digging through a litter box. Sometimes they get it wrong too and I've had a couple of poopy paw prints on the floor round the box. Then they jump on your bed and kitchen counters. Yuck.

5. Cat litters are carcinogenic
But they don't tell you that on the box do they? Both silica gel and clumping clay litters (the two most popular types) contain silica dust which is a known carcinogen. If I'm having to pick between cancer and a toilet trained cat it's kind of a no-brainer

6. Dogs like litter trays too
Thankfully this isn't an issue with my dog, but I remember pet sitting for a friend whose dog ate cat poop from the litter box. Revolting and not great for the dog either I'd imagine...

7. Novelty value
I'm little ashamed to admit it but a part of me also thinks it's pretty damn cool to have a cat that pees in the toilet.

So toilet training it is... you can find out how we're getting on my reading our "Poop Diaries" here.

1 comment:

  1. Pet's litter training is one of the most important issue for those who keep pet is their home.
    Kitten litter training

    ReplyDelete

About Me

I'm not a Devon Rex expert nor am I a breeder. In fact, when I set up this blog (early Feb 2013) I'd had Devon Rexes for just 9 days. I'm just blogging about my life with my Devons and writing the kind of blog I wish I'd had access to when I was researching the breed. I hope you find it useful and/or entertaining. I'm already head over heels in love with the Devon Rex Breed and especially with my two beautiful boys, Blue and Bowie