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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