This page will be a compilation of stories from some of our list members. It's meant to be kind of an introduction to some of the folks you'll meet on the list. As more members send me more stories, I'll post them here - so check back from time to time!

(Dee-O-Gee and Say-Dee)

I got DOG two years ago when his mommy was poisoned. He was only 5weeks. I wanted a dog but the apartment complex didn't allow them. (I thought cats were stinkie :-)) But I really wanted a pet. So I took poor little DOG and aptly named him for my dilemma.

Well, I fell in love and this is where CAT comes in. I just had to get DOG a mate to play with and love as much as I loved him. It was love at first site for him............well when he wasn't sitting on her. :-)

TOILET TRAINING

At present, we are not training. Always thinking about it but I just don't have the time when I am away from the house 9 hours a day. But I have tried it with much success and will be doing it again real soon. The litter free life still calls!! We do the sitz method, a tiny hole and newspaper pellets when we do get around to training. (usually weekends when I can be around to coach them to the toilet)

I really enjoy the toilet E-mail list that we all share in. Particularly because the group respects each other and their individual opinions. We discuss toilet training and every aspect that comes with owning cats and even a few off topic discussions. I count these people among my friends.

Lori Wissinger

"What do you mean Barks has bite?"-Johnny

Phoebe Marie is a tiger-striped tabby with charcoal gray and black stripes. And, as she's gotten older... it seems she's gotten a touch of brown... for good measure. *smiles* She's 'about' 10 or 11 months old. I don't know her 'exact' age... owing to the fact that I adopted her from the Orange County Animal Shelter... and she was part of an abandoned litter.

I started my quest in toilet-training her about 2 weeks after I got her, last September. I didn't relish the idea of having to go backwards, if I rushed her too quickly... so I didn't! Rush her, that is. I gave her between a week to two weeks in between steps. We just took it easy. She's just a kitten, so I thought, "What's the hurry?" The best news (for me) is that she hardly ever has any 'accidents.' *beaming proudly* Her only 'accidents' have occurred when the bowl has fallen into the toilet. Didn't know about duct tape, back then. *blushes*

She's so spoiled... the only place her 'mommy' could find a decent size bowl was at that fancy gourmet shoppe, Williams-Sonoma. Yeah, that's right... this knuckle-headed (and indulgent) broad spent $15 bucks on a silly metal bowl... all so her cat could pee and poop in it! *laughs at herself*

Presently, we're at the phase where she's using the stainless steel bowl with only about 2 tbls. of litter. She whines a little, but she goes (for both functions) there... just the same. I'd like to thank the person who suggested leaving the bowl a little wet, after rinsing it out, in order to spread the litter about and make it SEEM like more. It works like a charm! *smiles gratefully*

Felicia

So I moved back one step, and then went back at it. This time I used two baking pans (aluminum).

It worked very well for a few days, so I started making the hole. She refused again. Backed up. Used a sitz bath.

Right now (March 20th), I have a hole of a couple of millimeters, I have been there for a while, but I plan to make it bigger after a week of my move.

(more later)
Odile

We discovered Karawynn's toilet training web page and started on our own adventures in September of '96 when Phoebe was 6 months old and had just been neutered. Had no trouble raising the litter box and switching to a metal mixing bowl in the toilet with litter, but we went VERY slowly to avoid setbacks. I joined Susan's toilet training list in January of '97 and soon switched to using the plastic Sitz Bath. Within months, Phoebe no longer used litter; he went both functions right into the sitz bath.

I cut small drainage holes around the outer edge of the sitz bath and began with a very small hole in the center. This is where we are now, except the hole in the center of the sitz bath is a bit larger. I make very small changes in the hole size every couple of weeks to make sure Phoebe has accepted and adjusted to everything. As things are now, Phoebe's waste usually falls through the holes in the sitz bath, making cleanup minimal for me.

Eventually, we hope to complete the training, but in the meantime things are going great the way they are. This is the first list I've been on and everyone seems very friendly and helpful. Toilet training your cat can be a frustrating experience at times and the list is a great resource for advice and encouragement while we're all heading toward the same goal!

Jennifer

I'm B.J. Jones. My husband, Chuck bought me an 8-week-old all black male kitten in July of 97. I named him Bobby Darin, giving him my father-in-law's first name and husband's middle name. Since there are celebrities in my husband's family tree, I thought the name was fitting for that reason, too!

Anyhow, I'd heard of toilet training cats when I was a teenager--eons ago! I went to PETCO and bought a toilet training kit, you know, the plastic forms? Anyhow, I discovered not all cats train in 2 weeks. I started Bobby at 12 weeks. I put the form on with flushable litter on top. I did take a photo of him, but he was very vindictive about the shoot. What I found worked with Bobby was to cut a small hole, but keep putting litter on the areas not cut. During his regression stages, (he seemed to get scared of the hole till he was used to it), I'd replace the hole with aluminum foil and let him scatter litter over the hole. Eventually, I had a large hole cut out with litter on the inner edges. I then started to decrease the litter. Sometimes, Bobby would get confused. He'd pee in the toilet, poop in the tub or poop in the toilet, pee in the tub. Dumb ole me finally figured out that if Bobby could poop in the tub without litter, he certainly could do fine without it on the toilet. Finally, I had all the holes cut, but left the plastic form on top--for a while, anyway.

If I remember right, Bobby was about 9-mos old when I finally took the plastic form off the toilet. He still would poop in toilet/pee in tub or vice versa. I had been using Simple Green and having Bobby assist me in cleaning out his messes in the tub, but it wasn't cutting the odor and Bobby would still do his "thing". I bought Pine Sol from the BX. My husband doused the tub with it, and Bobby was "cured". He now does both poop and pee in the toilet.

My husband and I are both active duty Air Force. I work from 7a to 4p, Monday-Friday. My husband works from 3p to 1130p Monday-Friday and sometimes has "weekend" standby. We also go off on deployments, he about 200 days per year, and I 45-60 days per year. We live 25 miles from the base and have one vehicle. That means, I have to go to work, come pick up Chuck at noon, go home, go back to work at 11p and pick him up. Anyhow, I read the message from Lori about training a cat when working full time. I'd like to pass on that it can be done.

What we did was to make the bathroom Bobby's bedroom. He stays in there when we're gone and when we go to bed. It keeps him from spraying all over the house, too. When we come home, he is let out, he gets held and fussed over, gets to run around, and play with his toys or watch TV (he loves Hogan's Heroes!) He also has a nice window in the bathroom to look out. I leave him one of my sweatshirts or nightshirts to sleep on.

One thing a cat may seem to have to relearn in toilet training is bladder and bowel control. One way I taught Bobby was by feeding him very little in the morning, and giving him a meal in the afternoon. I would watch to see if he needed to go potty. If his stomach felt taut, I put him on the toilet and ordered him to "go potty". Now, he tells me when he needs to go. If he seems to strain, I squeeze his stomach and it seems to help. Hairball medicine also helps as will a small bowel of milk if the cat gets constipated.

Bobby will circle the seat several times and go back and forth before he finds the "right" position. After he finishes, he'll scrape the seat as though scraping invisible litter into the toilet. We used to have 2 toilets, but our German Shepherd puppy knocked over a water softener and broke the basement toilet in thousands of pieces. Now, my husband gripes about having to "fight the cat for the toilet", but he's happy about Bobby's being toilet trained. He is allergic to cat fluids, and Bobby's being toilet trained has meant less irritation for him. Once, I had to fight Bobby for the toilet. He jumped on the seat, did his circling around. I had to go real bad, so I pushed him off the toilet and told him he'd get his turn. After I got done, Bobby jumped on the toilet and scraped fake "litter" into the toilet as though trying to clean up after mama!

Anyhow, Lori, take heart--you can toilet train your cat while working full time. Don't expect it to take 2 weeks or just a "few" months. Bobby took 6 months, but I'd rather spend 2 years training as to buy litter for 15 years or more. If the cat regresses, don't quit. Just make allowances for it and keep on. It can be done.

B.J. Jones

My name on the list is 3M and I'm also known as Dave. We hail from Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. The 3M comes from the names of our cats (all short-hair):

Mistoffelees: a greybrown/black/white leopard male tabby with leg warmers (dark splotches on his white legs), about 11-12lbs, 5 years old (July 15th) and recovered from a nasty near-fatal bout with liver disease last year. He was always a "let me down!" type cat, but after 6 weeks of force feedings and desperate my-kitty-is-dying cuddles he's turned into much more of a suck.

Macavity: his brother, a gray&white pinto cat, still underweight at barely 8 lbs and the healthiest, whiniest, wailiest, and suckiest of the lot.

Mocha: is 2 months shy of 3 years and very plump for an undersized female calico (14 lbs) with the most adorable tummy.

We've been training since New Year's and have been sitting at the stage of "we know how to use the toilet, and we'll pee regularly, but we don't really like pooping in it" for several months now. Mocha has been making a partial breakthrough in performing the second chore by herself occasionally, but has also had accidents the next day..

We started out with a metal bowl and everything was going along nicely until the end of March. After we had removed most of the litter from the bowl (February-ish) we got tired of cleaning out the extremely over saturated litter and put a network of holes in the bottom of the bowl. This was done easily using a hammer and nail, and the cats didn't mind it a bit. This also solved the yellow-paw syndrome. We tried correcting their paw placement, but achieved little success and discovered that while for one cat it was ok, disturbing another cat doing his business would always make him stop performing and leave.

I was giving them lots of time to get used to the nearly/fully empty bowl and things were going along well when all of the sudden they all started to rebel for the first time outside of the bathroom, and regularly. I wasn't pleased, but at least they always peed in the toilet. Shortly after this I gave way to the pressure of having to use a toilet-brush to clean the hole-speckled bowl and simply cut them out, leaving one big hole. I hadn't wanted to start with a hole that big, but cutting a metal bowl and leaving safe edges for the cats didn't leave many options. Misty and Mocha were fascinated with the hole, being able to see the water. Mocha had never been interested in the water works of a toilet (Misty was, is, and always will be fascinated) but she would run to come see the water swirling beneath the bowl.

I pressed on, getting them back to the toilet and the rebellion mostly subsided. I started scrubbing it with soap more regularly, and wondered if the accumulating rust (very little) was starting to bother them. Eventually, I decided to switch to Yesterday's News pellet newspaper litter to make cleanups easier and the bathroom and toilet cleaner. This it does, and also provoked our stubborn cats to assume a better posture (anywhere from 3/1 to 4/0 to poop, but usually still 2/2 to pee) because they didn't like stepping on the hard pellets. They didn't like the litter much, but they've been getting used to it. After a while, we could even be gone for long periods of time without any surprises.

By July, I was getting fed up with our lack of progress, the eternal stubbornness of all of them to poop in the toilet, and the rust growing on the metal bowl, so I decided to switch to the aluminum roasting pans. I found a pack of two large oval pans at my supermarket ($3.99 CAN, as much as I paid for the bowl at Canadian Tire (1/2 price due to a defect)) which fit our toilet almost perfectly. They are 9 3/4" X 12 1/2" oval I believe. They looked too big in the store but fit almost exactly with no warping.

I put them in as a pair to support our cats' weight. I switched to get rid of the rusty bowl, provide an easier replacement, and get something that was much more amenable to being cut. I started out with a bunch of 3/8" holes and plan to start creating a big hole in the back soon. I've staggered the holes so that if necessary, I can flip the orientation of the top pan such that all/some of the holes no longer overlap and the hole can be hidden if it offends the cats.

We've been using it now for 2-3 weeks and it is working well. They like it better than the bowl (there's no big hole, that's probably why) but aside from Mocha are still very reluctant to poop in it.

We've also been battling our cats' weight for several months. Mocha has been overweight ever since outgrowing kittenhood, and Misty has gained a lot of weight following his illness. Prior to getting sick, he was always underweight like his brother, which makes his disease somewhat puzzling as it generally affects overweight cats (fatty degeneration of the liver: the liver starts turning itself into fat).

We switched to the Light blend of Hill's Science Diet Maintenance, but found that the cats liked it more and simply ate more. This was good for Macavity, since we were worried about his weight with diet food but he has actually GAINED weight with the new food. Misty has lost some weight (his weight had doubled from 7 to 14lbs in 4-6 months following his illness!) but Mocha has hit a plateau at 14-15 lbs. Recently we've started restricting access to their food more to try and counter the overeating problem.

3M

Lucy has successfully displayed the characteristics of a fully toilet trained kitty, those being:

• all four paws on seat
• only doing her "business" on the toilet
• no complaining about going potty

I came across the Kitty Wiz Transfer Device...two pieces of plastic that fit in the toilet. Well, with some cardboard reinforcements to this flimsy contraption, I thought it might work. Lucy used it...reluctantly...and with messes on the floor from pee pee getting between the plastic layers...just did not work well at all. Out came the litter box again...

Still determined to toilet train my cat and rid my house of litter once and for all, I searched the Web. I figured, I can find just about anything else out there, why not info on toilet training my cat? Came across Misha's page... hmmm...a metal mixing bowl might just work. Came across Susan's page....hmmm... one year and counting!! Oh no!! I joined the mailing list...what a Godsend! So many fabulous ideas floating around!! I bought a mixing bowl that fit the toilet just right, filled it with litter, and away we went!! Lucy took to it with no problems. Reduced the litter...still no complaints from the trainee, but the SMELL!! And adding water to the bowl really just wasn't an option as there wasn't an entire weekend I could devote to it. So we were stuck with a metal bowl in the toilet with little or no litter and me following Lucy around to catch her when she peed so I could move her back two paws to the seat and avoid "yellow foot syndrome".

I needed to get Lucy to place her feet on the seat. Someone on the list suggested using a sitzbath since you can cut drain holes in it and also put larger holes in eventually cutting the entire thing away. I bought one, drilled some drain holes, and in the toilet it went. Lucy had no problems, so I started drilling more holes in the center. She still wasn't putting all of her feet on the seat, but I'd move them when I caught her. We got as far as having only two inches or so left of the floor of the sitz when Lucy decided one day that she didn't like to poop in it (I think she didn't like the water splashing her bottom) and started using the floor instead. This was unacceptable, so I put the metal bowl back in.

Well, someone else on the list had suggested using a colander since it already had holes. I found one at Wal-Mart and decided to try it. Lucy didn't seem to mind. I kept moving her feet and noticed one day that all four were on the seat when she pooped. Cool! I saw a consistent three on the seat for peeing. Even better! What happens if I remove the colander?? She poops without it! What a breakthrough! Ok, now if we could only get that last foot for peeing.... Well, I finally just got sick of waiting and took the colander out one evening. She jumped up and looked at me and cried. Not happy. I walked away and a few minutes later found her digging around in the living room. I told her to get in the bathroom and go potty and she followed me in, jumped up, and peed! Oh what joy! Later that evening she also pooped, but I already knew she could do that. The next day I put the colander back while I was at work "just in case" Came home, took it out, and found that she would go as long as I was in the bathroom encouraging her. Ok, progress...she's not complaining. Next day colander went back in while I was at work again. Came home, removed it, and she went WITHOUT encouragement! Ok, this is VERY good! Next day I didn't put the colander in while I was gone. Came home to YELLOW WATER! What a sight!! I decided that was her final exam and she had passed with flying colors! She was a graduate! I guess the reason it took us so long (one year and two months) is that I was afraid to make any changes for fear she'd find other places to go. We had the metal bowl in the toilet for what seemed like FOREVER, then the sitz for FOREVER, and finally the colander for a couple months until I got brave enough to remove it. I just didn't need her going elsewhere since I live in an apartment and paid $300 to have her there in the first place. I want to get back as much of that as I can.

That's our story. I'm still afraid she's going to fall in someday, especially when she pees. Her butt hangs so low into the toilet! I also have to pour vinegar in the toilet after every flush or else she'll try to drink the water. I hope she gets over this someday, but figure vinegar is a heck of a lot cheaper (and easier to deal with) than litter! She still goes through her "poop routine": digs at the carpet, gets on the toilet in position, jumps down and digs, on the toilet in position, down digging at the carpet, and finally on the toilet and going. Don't know if she'll EVER get over that!

As for tips/hints: just go with the flow. Don't push - I never pushed Lucy at all and let weeks pass without making a change. It was easy to do it that way since I live alone and don't have too much company. We only ever had a few poop accidents (no peeing) - mostly because she was mad at me for not being home on time. If a method doesn't seem to be working, try something else. We went through five different apparatus in the toilet! Don't give up!! A number of times I almost said to heck with it all this is taking TOO long, but stuck it out. Treats for correct position, etc. kind of work. I'm not sure Lucy REALLY understands WHY she's getting the treat. She just likes them and goes snooping in the cupboard every time I open it. Talking to your cat does work. I've found Lucy really understands me when I tell her to "go potty" Just the other evening I was getting concerned 'cause she hadn't gone. I didn't want her to go elsewhere. I called her into the bathroom and asked her to "please go potty for mommy so she doesn't have to worry" and she jumped up and peed a tiny bit to show me I had nothing to worry about. What a cat! I tell her to go potty all the time and most of the time she just meows "I'll go when I need to mom, geeze!" Last bit of advice: join the mailing list. There are SO many great people/cats/ideas/etc. on the list. I don't think we would have had success without it!! Good luck with your toilet training endeavors!!

Kristy and Lucy

For those of you new to the group, my name is Linda. I live in Texas w/my husband, Jim, and our 3 cats - Ashka (7), Sophie (2-1/2), and Molly (1-1/2). We've just recently completed an 8 month 'adventure' in toilet training. Actually, we've been in the process for 2 years, with several breaks during that time, but I'll concentrate on these past 8 months since I was able to complete the training during this session.

In January I became a brand new Internet user! While trying to learn how to get around this new world, I stumbled onto Misha's page and from there I went to Susan's toilet-training diary, and it led me to the mailing list. I was immediately re-energized for toilet training. We had been on a 2 - 3 month break and I was getting really sick of sifting through litter, vacuuming litter from my carpet, and breathing litter dust! Not to mention the odor - and I cleaned the litter box several times a day. My daughter dubbed me the "Poop/Pee Patrol" (P.P.P.), because I was Johnny-On-The-Spot as soon as one of the cats used the l.b. No matter how quickly I cleaned it out or which litter I used, the odor would persist - especially the urine odor. So I was primed by January, and all it took was reading about other people's efforts and some successes.

First I followed Misha's owner's method and bought a stainless steel bowl that fit inside of my toilet. Even though the cats accepted the bowl, within a week or two, I realized I wasn't going to be able to follow that particular method (adding water), but by then I'd gotten other ideas - namely, using a sitz bath and cutting a hole. I thought this would be better since it was plastic (easy to cut drainage holes in it), shallow, and still fit inside the toilet. I put the sitz in the toilet, filled it about 1/3 full of flushable, scoopable litter and the cats still had no problem w/it. I continued to be the P.P.P. - more for me than for the cats, so they almost always had a clean potty. All 3 easily used the toilet w/the sitz and litter in it. Once I was sure they were comfortable with this arrangement, I began reducing the litter. I did this by just scooping out the used and not refilling it unless I saw reluctance on their part. When that occurred, I only added a small amount of litter - just enough to offset their objection. I also began cutting a drainage hole at the back of the sitz. I think it took us about 5 or 6 weeks to get to this point. Several people place a lot of emphasis on their cats having all 4 paws on the seat before advancing too far, but I never did work much w/their paws. I just let the process take them there - and it did. By the time the litter was reduced to the point that it wouldn't soak up the urine, the 2 younger cats already had all 4 paws on the seat for that function. My oldest cat has a different stance for peeing - front paws on the front of the seat and back feet sort of stretched out behind her. She stands this way 100% of the time, so therefore placing the drainage hole at the back allowed for almost immediate drainage, thus avoiding wet, yellow paws! (very important!!)

Over the next few weeks I just consistently reduced the litter until there was none, and at the same time, I very slowly enlarged the hole - moving toward the front of the sitz. About 2 months into the training, I decided the sitz was too much of an object to work with and decided to try to find something smaller that I could use. I found a plastic colander that has holes around the sides, about a 2" solid ring around the perimeter of the bottom, and the bottom is full of holes. It has 2 flat handles on both sides and it fits perfectly in the toilet bowl w/the handles resting on the rim and the bottom of the colander clears the water in the bowl by about an inch. Perfect! And it only cost $1 compared to the $15 I paid for the sitz. Which means that if I encountered major rebellion and had to back up, I would only have to spend another dollar or two instead of $15. I liked that idea! :) So I replaced the sitz w/the colander and held my breath to see if the cats would accept it. Amazingly they just checked it out real good and then it was business as usual! They really didn't care, as long as there was something 'there'! Molly is my little digger and as long as there was something solid there for her to dig on, she would dig. I think the holes in the bottom gave the colander a rough feel to her paws and she was happy w/that - almost like she had her beloved litter back. The other two didn't try to dig after the litter was gone.

This time I started cutting a hole in the center of the bottom. The problem of wet paws w/Ashka's stance was solved by the holes down the sides of the colander, so I didn't need an additional drainage hole at the back. Another thing I did w/the colander was to tape a ruler across the back of the toilet rim and set the back of the colander to rest on the ruler, which gave it a little extra stability for Ashka's weight. I got this idea from another list member - I think it was Gary. It wasn't needed for Sophie & Molly because they aren't heavy and they also were 4/0 for paw placement. It gave Ashka a more secure feel when she settled into her pee stance. From the beginning she has been 4/0 for pooping.

I just went slow - sometimes not changing the size of the hole for 2 or 3 weeks and then only grinding (used a Dremel) a fraction away - almost unnoticeable by the cats. Basically, this was all I did as far as procedure, until about 2 weeks ago when I removed the colander altogether. There was about 3/4" - 1" left of the rim around the bottom. I had planned to leave it in and just continue to grind away up the sides until there was nothing left, but that became unnecessary. One morning while I had the colander out of the toilet washing it after Sophie had used it, Molly was in dire need and before I could dry it off and put it back in the toilet, she jumped up on the toilet and pooped! Over the next 2 weeks, I tried this a few more times. Sometimes it worked, sometimes not. But after 4 - 5 times, I decided to just remove the colander and keep a very close watch. That was nearly 3 weeks ago and I haven't had to put the colander back in. Well, not for Sophie or Molly. They use the toilet without fuss or hesitation. So does Ashka - for pooping. However, she still needs what's left of the bottom of the colander to put her 2 back feet on to pee. I think she always will because of her stance and weight. I've tried moving her feet but when I do that, she just cuts it off and leaves the bathroom. I'm not willing to risk the chance that she'll go on the carpet or furniture so I'll continue to let her use this 'crutch' for as long as she wants it. I'm fortunate that from the time she was a kitten, she only pees once a day. So, we get that taken care of in the morning and then I can put the colander up until the next morning. No problem.

I also was having a problem w/Sophie pooping on the floor next to the toilet until I removed the colander completely. For some reason, she accepted the bare toilet better than she did the colander. She still likes me to accompany her to the bathroom for this function, and will come and get me when she needs to go (usually about every 36 - 48 hours). Molly has been the star of the training, only pooping outside of the toilet once - and that was just after they came back from the vet having received their yearly vaccinations and Sophie was on the toilet and Molly couldn't hold it any longer. She pooped on the floor next to the toilet and then cried and cried because it wasn't in the right place! Other than that time, she's never gone outside of the toilet. She's the youngest and was the easiest to train. I think the younger they are, the easier and faster they learn. (MOO)

There you have it! Many times I felt like I'd never get here, but I'm very happy to announce that my girls have graduated!! I even consider that Ashka has graduated because she does go in the toilet even if she has to have this little bit of help. I'm very proud of them and very happy that I found this group of people, always so willing and ready to cheer each other on. Ya'll are great! I've 'met' a lot of new friends here, and wish every one of you the best of luck in your training.

Linda, Ashka, Sophie, and Molly!!!

On November 19, 1997, quite by accident, while I was surfing the "net" for feline information, I stumbled across Karawynn's "How to Toilet Train Your Cat" web site. After reading it thoroughly, I made the decision to begin executing her instructions, to the "tee," as soon as possible!

The timing could not have been more perfect if I had planned it as I had the week of Thanksgiving off and would be home that entire week. So, as soon as I got home on Friday, November 21, I moved the litter box from the cats' room into the guests' bathroom.

(Yes, my cats have always had their own room. The cats do allow me to share it as an office, too! Of course, the guests' bathroom, which is next to the cats' room has now become the cats' bathroom which they graciously share with our guests.)

Basil and Curry were not even phased by the moving of the litter box! On Sunday, I began raising the litter box by placing telephone books under it, a couple at a time. By Wednesday, I had been able to move the litter box over to the toilet seat, and by the next Saturday, November 29, I had removed the litter box and placed the metal mixing bowl into the toilet bowl.

Everything was going like clockwork exactly as Karawynn had described! I was ecstatic with their progress and quick adaptation. The only problem that I had was not being able to catch either of the cats while they were "doing their business" in order to determine if they were positioning and balancing as needed.

By the time that I had to go back to work on December 1, I had begun reducing the amount of litter. Since I was going to be taking more vacation time off starting December 18, I decided to continue reducing the litter until there was about an inch in the bowl. At that point, I would "rest," as Karawynn called it, and complete the training during my upcoming holiday vacation.

During this rest period, I was finally able to catch Curry "in the poop act" and Basil in the "pee act," at separate times, of course! Curry had three paws on the seat and Basil had two! Wow! Things were really going well! And, that's when the fun began!

Curry obviously had a very strong need to cover his poop. So, frequently I would find little "turds" on the toilet seat or on the floor around the toilet. I was able to ascertain that it was Curry since I caught him in the act! In his desperate attempt to cover the poop, he would accidentally pull a turd or two (sometimes more) out of the mixing bowl onto either the seat or the floor.

Then, on December 19, the first day of my vacation, I began reducing the amount of litter in the bowl until I got down to only a tablespoon full. That was on Christmas Day. At this point, I no longer found "misplaced turds." Instead, I started finding the toilet paper hanging from the roll in a pile on the floor right next to the toilet! I finally caught Curry, again, as he was finishing "doing his job." He was reaching for the toilet paper and trying to pull it over the poop! That was quickly resolved by removing the toilet paper!

The next day I got a call from my brother, who lives in Cincinnati, Ohio. He and my nephew had decided to drive down to spend a week in the "Sunny South" with me and would arrive the next day. Needless to say, the toilet training had to be suspended until after his visit. No regression in the training had occurred, just another "rest" period.

My brother and my nephew left on January 2, 1998, so it was back to the training on the 3rd! By the time I went back to work on January 6, I had literally one granule of litter in the bowl! I "rested" until that Friday when I started putting water in the bowl.

Well, the first sign of resistance presented itself to me on Saturday morning, January 10, 1998! When I got up and went to leave my bedroom, right in the middle of the doorway where it could not, in any way, have been missed, was a poop pile! (No, I didn't step in it!)

Curry and Basil were sitting across the room watching me as if to say, "That's it! We have had enough of this foolishness, so there!" Not knowing when, or by whom, the evidence had been "planted," I knew I could not scold them directly. So, I stated in a stern voice, "Who did this? Bad kitty cats!" after which I picked up the poop with a tissue and flushed it down their toilet. I made sure that they could see me doing this. I did not, however, back up to the previous step.

From that point on, I was constantly on my guard, fully expecting to find other evidence of resistance. However, to this day, it has not happened. Indeed, that was the one and only time that opposition to the training was so blatantly demonstrated!

I began increasing the level of water in the mixing bowl. During this process, Curry, who was the "slow" learner of the two, seemed to be having a great deal of problems getting the second hind leg up on the seat when he peed. I could never catch him in the act, but, twice, I caught him just as he was finishing.

The poor guy had pee all down the inside of his right hind leg (obviously the one he still kept in the bowl) from the top to the bottom. Out of "instinct," I whisked him up with his belly in the air, moved over to the bathroom sink, and turned on the water to wash him off. Of course, it was cold water. This happened one other time very shortly thereafter. From then on, Curry got all four paws on the seat.

(It was not until much time had elapsed that I finally realized the impact of the timing of my catching him twice so close together. The cold water must have made a "lasting impression" on Curry, one that I did not realize at the time.)

By the last week of January, the water was about an inch from the top of the mixing bowl. I then entered into another "rest" period. During this rest period, I had made the decision that, if Basil and Curry could not progress beyond this point, it was still much better than litter! On February 6, I decided to "bite the bullet" and removed the metal mixing bowl all together.

I fully expected to find some signs of resistance as I watched like a hawk for the appearance of pee or poop in either the toilet or elsewhere in the house. It seemed like an eternity before anything happened! I kept watching Basil and Curry to be sure that they were okay and searching all over the house for "accidents." Finally, nearly 24 hours later, I heard this loud noise coming from the cats' bathroom. I quietly peeked in and there was Basil, perched as pretty as can be on the toilet seat, peeing up a storm, right into the toilet! Within minutes, Curry followed suit. Voila, as Karawynn stated in her article, my cats were indeed trained!

Since then, everything has been great! I flush the toilet, with all of its "goodies," in the morning, when I get home from the office, and before going to bed. It sure beats litter!!! I decided against teaching them how to flush the toilet as I know that my water bill would become astronomically high!

Well, that's my story! I hope you found it interesting. Until I subscribed to the toilet list, I thought my cats had taken an extremely long time to be trained. But, after reading about many of those experiences, I must say that I am most fortunate, as Basil and Curry were obviously easier to train than some other cats. I must also say that I had thought about doing nearly all of the things that some of the subscribers have done, but I decided to be patient and see what happened. It has paid off!

I am so grateful every day that the toilet training was successful for Basil and Curry! By the way, there is one picture of Curry and Basil together and one of Basil in the pee stance on Odile's page.

Thanks for letting us share our story with you!

Basil, Curry, and Marj

I started training my two cats, Cessna and Tux, in January of 1998. I wanted to do it in 2 months and started out with the sitz bath method, reducing the litter and enlarging the hole every 3 or 4 days. Then Tux started peeing on our bed, then Cessna started pooping on the floor, then Tux pooped on our bed, and that was the end of it! I started all over again in February. Only this time, my vow was that I would NOT stress myself or my cats. Time frame was not even in my mind.

So we started with lots of litter in the sitz and I left it as is for 2 weeks until my cats got over the failed training attempt. Then very slowly (on a weekly basis) I started reducing the litter until there was about half an inch left. In the mean time, I worked on their foot placement. They had no problem placing 4 paws on the seat for #2, but they were always 2 in and 2 out for #1. I soon discovered that Cessna was way too stressed out when I would approach her in the bathroom to move her feet so I stopped, and decided we would work on it later.

Then I started a hole, still with litter in the sitz, which wasn't a problem since I have always used SwheatScoop which is totally flushable. I opened the hole VERY slowly, once every two weeks, thereby reducing litter at the same time. I often went for a month without any change because I had guests visiting or because we were away. Anyway I was eventually left (in January of 1999) with a very small edge on the sitz and a bit of litter. I tried to eliminate litter several times, but I was always rewarded with presents on the floor. Whenever that happened for more than a couple of days, I returned the litter, but every time, a little less litter would do. I also noticed around that time that the cats would start using 3 paws for #1 and realized that they were adjusting nicely to the fact that 2 paws didn't fit in the sitz anymore.

Finally I cut out the edge, and just left one tiny bit in the front to allow a tablespoon of litter for Tux. By that time they were both 4-pawing all the time and they seemed pretty happy. Then I moved, and given the stress, I gave them their litter box for 2 weeks, and suddenly went back to the sitz. After a few rebellious accidents, they went back to their routine. I realized at that point they didn't even care about the litter, there was so little of it, so I removed it. The next week, I just removed the sitz. After a couple of accidents again (basically Cessna saying she doesn't like it when things change), they have been using it regularly, and as time passes, Tux is less and less vocal every time he goes! YEAH!!!!

My tips: 1) Paw placement: If they let you, move their paws, if they stress too much, let them figure it out as you open up the holes or add water (depending on the method).
2) The 'poop barrier': I think it's a balance thing and they really need to get used to it and it takes time and patience!
3) Giving the litter box back while away: I've always given the litter box back while away and I was always able to get the cats right back in training upon my return. I tried to give the litter box at the last minute and take it away as soon as I got home.
4) Training in general: take your time, and keep it stress free so it doesn't matter so much how long it takes. Go along with the cats' schedule!

oclavier@step.stanford.edu