My rescue Bengal Oberon either was toilet trained or self-taught. He was 9 at the time of neutering at the shelter, so I am guessing he was a retired breeder. As such, I can't imagine a household where an intact male would have run of the house. That I why I am thinking he may be self-taught.

Plus he also like to pee and poo in the shower. I put a tray in the shower for easy clean up.

He will pee and poo in the bathtub if I let him. I keep a couple inches of water with pepper, vinegar and citric acid in it to keep him out. I tried foil pans too, but that only worked for about a week. One night at 2am I heard him frolicking in the foil with another cat. Two days later he decided it was a good place to poo too.

He will pee on a closed toilet lid too, so I warn guests never to put the lid down. LOL.

And someone, probably Oberon, peed in a large plastic water dish too. So I mostly use small ceramic or metal water dishers around the house.

It has never seemed to be about the condition of the litter boxes. He uses them too. I think he just likes variety.

Anyone else have a toilet trained Bengal? Is it possible he is self-taught?

I would love to encourage him to swim in the tub and not use it like a giant toilet. Any thoughts or ideas as to how to get him to do that?

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Most cats have to be trained to use the toilet as a litter box. But it is possible a previous owner did the training. Most cats like to drink out of the toilet. I don't know that I have any advice for a cat that likes to pee and poop all over the bathroom. If there are no medical issues, then it is all behavioral. Not knowing what Oberon's previous life was like -- you don't know where this is coming from. It's nice he will use the shower and tub, both are much easier cleanup than carpet or the bed! LOL. I don't know that you will get him to "swim" in the bathtub. While bengals like water -- at least some of them -- they aren't swimmers, although I have seen pictures of bengals in swimming pools.

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The little monsters 3

Thanks for the suggestion on Jackson Galaxy's book. I aspire to understand cats half as much as much as he does. I just ordered a copy of Total Cat Mojo.

Oberon has all his claws. :) I perceive him as being genuinely happy and relaxed compared to when I got him. The first couple of days in the new place, he hid in the closet on the top shelf. He opened every cupboard in the kitchen and the bathrooms. He proved that he could open my lever handled doors, so I bolt doors that I want to keep closed. He would jump up and try to open them anyways. Nowadays he asks for food, play and cuddles and really just seems happy.

He coexists with 2 other cats in the household, and has become good friends with one of the cats, and tolerates the 3rd cat. We have 5 litter boxes with the 3 cats. I have seen him cheerfully using a litter box that was due to be cleaned. I have not seem him prefer any of the boxes. It really seems like a whim or a variety thing for him. He will use the shower a couple of days. Then he will use the upstairs toilet a couple of days. then I see no toilet activity for a while, which I take to mean that he is using the litter boxes. Then it might be the downstairs toilet for a day or two. But I am still watching to see if there is some other pattern. I don't really mind him using the tray in the shower, especially just for pee. A quick rinse and we are good to go. I will still try to get him to enjoy a bath sometime.

It sounds like it is a unlikely a possibility that he was self-taught for toilet training as I original thought it might be. Bengals have such an unusual set of traits, I thought I would ask to see if anyone else had a self-taught cat.

A Google search on the subject does show some claims of self-taught cats,so it may be possible.

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Oberon was just in the downstairs bathroom, and I went in to flush after him, but there was nothing in the toilet. I checked the litter box and realized he had left poo there, but unlike the other cats in the household (and every other cat I have ever owned) he made no attempt to bury it. Now that I think about it, he never buries his poop.

I am thinking he was caged for much of his life and was used to litterboxes with little or no litter in them, so has never developed the habit to cover and bury. That might also explain the attractiveness of bathtubs, showers and the large shallow water bowl.

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I think you have hit on something, especially because you think he was used as a breeding stud at some point in his life.