I used to have a roommate whose cat I found standing on the toilet seat and drinking out of the toilet many times. I thought only dogs did that!
My friend has a cat whose front paws are declawed. If the toilet lid isn’t down, and she jumps up onto the seat, she’ll sometimes slip and fall into the water.
I can’t imagine a cat drowning in a toilet unless it was a tiny tiny kitten. And then it would have to be big enough to jump up into the toilet first.
We keep the lid up - and the door closed 
We keep the toilet lid down to stop the cats falling in - not because we imagine that they might drown in there but as a hygiene issue (totally ignoring the fact that they use a litter tray and so probably already have all the nasties they need on their feet). At least this way I don’t have to mop up toilet water-y footprints in the bathroom all the time.
IMHO (hint, hint), a little water never hurt a cat.
I had been keeping the toilet lid down to keep my two kittens from falling in, but the other night I was sitting around fiddling with one of them and heard a loud splash from the direction of the bathroom, shortly followed by the other kitten running out of there, soaking wet. I then let the first kitten go, and she proceeded into the bathroom, hopped on the tub, and from there performed a mightly leap into the toilet, afterwards performing much the same actions as the other kitten. They were used to the lid being down, I guess. They were able to get out quick enough, and were none the worse for wear, though understandably annoyed, so I’m not bothering to leave the lid down anymore.
I realize that people can drown in three inches of water, but I’m having a hard time figuring out why the water in the toilet would pose any more of a drowning risk for an adult cat that say, the cat’s own water bowl.
We keep the seat up. I am a paranoid freak when it comes to our cat, and I read that the toilet water can serve as an emergency source of drinking water for the cat if something were to happen to prevent the owner from returning home for an extended period of time. This was in a report about the rescue efforts for pets whose owners couldn’t return to their apartments after 9/11. We’re lucky that the cat has never expressed any interest in the toilet water, probably because we always leave it up. If it were down, he would be all over it like white on rice, I’m sure.
Mine will drink it and play in it. Since drinking toilet water isn’t safe- I’d rather they not be allowed to do so, so i* try* and keep the lid closed. No big deal.
yes they can i found my cat gasping for air in the bathroom floor she had never drank out of the toilet but my other cats do and she followed siut and bout killed her my son was smart enough to know when one of my other cats was acting very strange and making unusual sounds tgat something wasnt right and thats when he found her in the bathroom floor dying and he then woke me up thank god and this cat is about two years old so even an adult cat can drown trust me keep the toilet seat down
Moved from General Questions to IMHO. Note that this thread was started in 2005.
Colibri
General Questions Moderator
The only time I kept it down re the cat was when she was a wee kitten. Now that she’s an adult no.
I’ve been the property of assorted cats for the past 36 years. Never bothered to keep the lid down. Never had a cat fall in, though a few liked to drink from the toilet.
I think there’s some good in leaving the water accessible and flushed, so that if something goes wrong and there are no humans around for many days there is extra water available for drinking. But there’s enough traffic in my house that I don’t worry about that. I leave the lid down so things I accidentally drop don’t wind up in there.
I’ve never heard of a cat drowning in a toilet, though I’ve certainly heard of them falling in and creating quite a wet ruckus. Jeez, you’d think toilets flushed up…
I never have worried about that. My male Siamese uses the toilet occasionally. So the lids are up. As far as drinking the water in the pot, I don’t think I’ve ever seen that. They love the faucet running, though. I am gonna wake up to flood one morning. They try to turn the water on. No, no they aren’t thirsty. They like playing in the running water.
This all seems like a ploy to get men to put the toilet seat down.
My cat likes to jump on the lid so I keep it closed for him, and to avoid him falling in if he thinks it’s open.
Dog owner here and male. I do keep the lid down so my dog doesn’t drink from the toilet. He does show an interest in the toilet, so he knows there’s water in it.
I keep the lid down, not for my cat’s safety, but because I believe it’s more sanitary.
I sure wish I could potty-train my cat, or better yet, teach her to barf in the litterbox and not on the couch like she did overnight. :rolleyes:
Not a cat, but my ex-brother-in-law’s parrot drowned in the toilet. He said he and his parents had gone out and couldn’t the parrot, until…yeah! 
I don’t remember if he said the seat was down or not, but I can see that trying to get out of a slippery bowl with a heavy wooden toilet seat blocking the edge could be hazard.
Having lived with two sisters, toilet seat down (dry please!) good. Toilet lid down when they’re in a rush in the middle of the night, not good! You think getting yelled at for leaving the seat up is bad, being yelled at for discovering the lid was down seconds after they’ve started, WAY WORSE! :eek::eek:
well when fat moose kitten was alive he thought he could jump from the sink to the tub un fortunately his height was not greater than his mass and we heard a splash and some frenzied little mews and a very upset long haired tubby kitten … we had to use cat wipes and a hair dryer to clean him up …
When he did get bigger and stronger he loved to show us "why yes I can do that now " ……
No, I keep the toiilet lid down because I don’t want the dog to drink out of it and I don’t want other things in the bathroom, for instance my contact lenses, to fall in.
If you go online and look you can find a method for training cats to use the toilet, developed by jazz musician Charles Mingus (or else the internet is lying to me again). I once had a cat who just did this. We (my roommate and I) did not teach him to do this, but some previous owner might have.