Last night, as my roommate was dutifully scooping out her cat’s litter box, she mentioned briefly contemplating buying a cat toilet training seat. I laughed it off initially, but now that I’ve done some research on feline potty training, I might encourage her to go for it. Aside from the laborious scooping, she’d save a bundle of cash if successful; the New York Times City Room blog estimated that litter costs about $165 per cat each year. On top of that, I can think of no better novelty fact than being able to say that your cat uses the toilet.

Apparently, potty training a cat isn’t all that difficult. There are a variety of different training seat that you can use for the transition process, including CitiKitty Cat Toilet Training Kit and the Litter Kwitter Toilet Training System.

Or, according to this YouTube video, you can make your own training seat out of a plastic deli tray or thick piece of cardboard:

Of course you can’t just toss your cat on a toilet and expect it to get the hint. Toilet training takes several weeks of gradually getting your feline accustomed to balancing on the seat, aiming into the bowl and not having to cover up the odor with litter. At first, you’ll use some type of cat litter receptacle in the toilet bowl to acquaint the cat with its new rest area. Then, you cover up all but a small hole to teach the cat to aim into the bowl. Gradually, you widen the hole until kitty can hop up onto the seat and go on its own.

I’m guessing this is can be a messy process that requires a bit of patience. I’ve owned my fair share of wonderful cats but I don’t know if I have the wherewithal to toilet train them.  Prevention magazine also says success hinges on a cat’s personality; “confident and dominant” ones who might already leave their mess uncovered in a litter box are prime candidates. And don’t try it with kittens; cats should be at least six months old before potty training.