I'm probably just a sucker...

... but I've decided to pay $35 for a couple of pieces of plastic, a little bag of catnip, and absolutely no guarantee that I will end up with a toilet-trained cat in 4-8 weeks (or more).  And I'm not even starting with the recommended prerequisite of a litter-trained kitty.  Does the fact that he chooses to go near to or in the box some of the time count?

Aside from the obvious benefits of not having to deal with litter boxes, which would be pretty cool in itself, my hope is that maybe Costello's issue with using the box is that it's just not clean and sophisticated enough for him.  Perhaps his wayward sprays and excretions are simply a manifestation of his frustrations with the current toileting opportunities.  This and the fact that he already does seem to like prancing about on the toilet seat give me hope that I might have some success here.

Well, it's night one, the seat is installed, and I'm hoping for the best.  This may be a mistake, but I have decided to leave the existing litter box as an alternative (and hopefully, to Costello, inferior) option for the first little while.  So the first question is whether he'll even understand that an additional cache of litter in a new and exotic location is meant to be an invitation.  As recommended, I have stirred in a dash of tantalizing "CitiNip" to the toilet-top offering.

And now we wait...