A five-month-old kitten has astounded its owners by teaching itself to use the toilet like a human.
Julian Grufferty, seven, and mum Caroline had been blaming each other for forgetting to flush the loo.
That was until the Co Mayo pair walked in on the toilet-trained tabby as he was doing his business.
Video footage of the prodigious pussycatshows him perched on the toilet seat, looking relaxed as he urinates into the toilet bowl.
Some 20 seconds later, a twitch of the tail brings the substantial stream to an end before the kitten turns to examine his deposit.
He then paws the seat gently and dismounts using a baby step.
Caroline first began to suspect the moggy, named Kit, was responsible for the mysterious floaters when she spotted paw prints on the toilet a few weeks ago.
She explained: “I started watching him and one night when we were watching TV I noticed him sneaking upstairs by himself and I followed him.
“I saw him go into the bathroom, hop up on a baby step, and then jump up onto the toilet.
“He did his thing where he dips himself down to smell and make sure the bowl is clean, then he turned and started to relieve himself.”
Kit has since been allocated his own toilet and Caroline is saving a fortune on kitty litter.
She added: “He always does his number ones in the toilet, and sometimes his number twos – I think he prefers to do his number twos outside if he has a choice. But if he’s stuck, he’ll go in the loo.”
Kit has also started to paw the flusher but has yet to master the mechanics.
Caroline added: “His little paws are too light, so he can’t push down hard enough to make it flush.
“If it was one of those sensor flushers, he’d definitely be flushing his pees and poops. Maybe when he’s a bit older.
“We’ve yet to teach him to wash his paws after he’s finished, but I’m sure we could train him to do the whole lot – he’s a very clever little guy.”
