May 1 - Back on track? Well, things are kind of back to normal. Whatever was going on with Bubba seems to be over. Yesterday I had to be out of the house most of the day and fully expected to come home to a mess. I didn't. Actually, since Sunday, everything has happened in the bowl just like it should. The level of litter in the bowl is pretty high and I'm planning to leave it that way for a while before doing the reduction. Fingers are crossed!

May 3 - Rockin' and Rollin' ! I'm happy to say that the past few days have fallen into the no news is good news category! Ben in Montreal is getting better at his aim. Niko in Atlanta is getting used to his raised litter box. And, Jake and Bubba, here in Seattle are consistently performing right into the bowl.

We had some excitement last night with an earthquake. It wasn't a big one (5.4) but it was definitely a shaker and it definitely 'moved' Jake and Bubba. It was Bubba's third and Jake's second earthquake and they still don't like 'em! It was the gentle shaking/rolling kind (as opposed to the big jolt) and it woke both of them up and kind of spooked them for several hours. But, this morning they were back to their normal selves.

The next toilet training step here will be reducing the litter in the bowl. Jake has taken to pawing the toilet seat before and after 'delivering his product' and now totally ignores the litter so I'm not worried about him too much. But, Bubba seems to have bonded even more strongly with the litter. He paws it forever before and again after. He is NOT going to be happy with it's reduction... hmmmmm

May 6 - Just a foot off Well, things have been progressing around here. Everyone (except me) is using the bowl regularly and routinely (I'm still using the other toilet myself). The amount of litter is now about 20% of what it was initially and so far so good.

BUT... This morning I caught Jake in the act of peeing and he had one foot in the bowl. I picked up the foot and put it on the seat, but by the time I got into the act, he was finished anyway so I don't think he got the point. I'm not sure when he started this foot in the bowl thing and I'm dismayed. My glass-is-half-full side says that when the litter is replaced by water the foot will go back onto the seat. My glass-is-half-empty side says when the litter is replaced by water, he'll find that peeing on the sofa is a good idea. ARUGH.

May 7 - ARUGH!! I kind of thought that this litter reduction was going a little too smoothly... Bubba left a little pile of protest in front of the toilet this afternoon. Ok, so this is going to take a little longer. Bubba, read this: I've got time, tons of time and I'm determined!!!! I put a little more litter in to the bowl. To give you an idea, I started out with about 8 cups of litter. Until Bubba's little surprise today, we were down to about 1 cup. Now, we're back to about 2.5 cups.

May 8 - New news... New day? Ok, we've got several items to cover today...

The Perils of Training Two Cats. I'm not a cat expert but I can tell you that cats do not leave their name on their donations. My cats have two different personalities and I thought I knew who's poop was who's. Poor Bubba, I was wrong! All along I've been blaming him for the poop in front of the toilet. Last night, (after I found poop on the floor), Jake was on my lap at the computer when Bubba came out of the bathroom. I went in to check and there was poop in the bowl. Sooo Jake has likely, all along, been pooping under false pretenses!!!

Perils of Training Any Cat. Later last night, I caught Jake hopping up to pee. I went in to check paw placement and that last paw was in the bowl. I lifted it up and put it on the seat. He immediately rearranged himself so that all four paws were on the seat, but all on one side. He was no longer straddling the bowl, but now standing all on one side calmly peeing onto my feet.

Soooo, I've taken drastic action. When I tried this last time several years ago, I bought a plastic insert for the toilet. It serves the same purpose as the bowl but isn't nearly as steady. Jake will not be able to put any weight on it and will notice that immediately. One of two things will happen. He will learn to straddle with all four paws on the seat. Or he will find a new place in the house to use instead. It's a risky business. Stay tuned.

May 10 - Progress? I got a couple of notes from folks asking for more info on this plastic insert. So, here's a picture of it...

The toilet seat just flips on top of this. But, it turns out, I was wrong. Jake continues to put his fourth paw on the insert when he goes. Sigh. So, right after this picture, I cut a hole in the middle of the insert. It's about the size of a quarter so they probably won't even notice it. I'll make it a bit bigger each day. I'm hoping that this will eventually show Jake that he needs to move his paw up. (My doing it for him is not working.)

May 11 - A surprise in the mail!!!

Today's mail brought a picture of Ben!!!! Isn't he just adorable??!! Now he doesn't look to me like a guy with bad aim... But he does look so soft and cuddly. Thank you, Izzy! What a great addition to the page. And, that's about it for the positive news today... Remember my saying that Jake and Bubba would never notice the tiny hole in the insert - BLEEP! WRONG! They not only noticed, they protested. A small pile of protest was found this morning in the other bathroom. (If I took comfort in the fact that he - don't even know which he - used a bathroom, would that be really really gasping at straws??)

So, today, I plugged the hole. Sigh. Maybe we'll go back to the bowl with the aim of less litter then water...

May 16 - Still at it. Been a while since I've been here reporting but that's mainly because there's really no new news. The bowl is in the toilet, the litter is in the bowl (a fairly generous amount)... No slip ups, no accidents. Plan Du Jour is to make them soooo comfortable with hopping up there that they don't even think about it any more... then start removing the litter...

Katy and Niko went on a trip and are now back home. Katy's re-evaluating the toilet training idea as she just doesn't think that Niko's going to 'buy' trading the litter box (now on the toilet) for the bowl...

Izzy has gone on a two week trip. While she's away, Ben will be looked after by her boyfriend for the first week and her Mom the second week. She's hoping that she won't have to totally start over when she gets back .

May 24 - One step forward - one step back... We've been operating now - accident free - with less and less litter in the bowl for more than a week now. So, last night I got frisky. I completely washed the bowl and cleaned up every single grain of spilled litter around the toilet and in the bathroom. Then I put about 1/2 cup of litter into the bowl (just enough to barely cover the bottom) and waited. This morning there was a little pile of poop on the floor next to the toilet (sigh). I added another half cup of litter to the bowl and within 30 minutes both cats used it to pee. Jake is still favoring 1 foot in the bowl and three on the seat but every time I catch him, I pick his foot up and put it on the seat and he finishes the way he should.

So, we'll now operate with a cup of litter and try reduction again. The other change I'm going to make is to completely clean out the bowl at least once a day. I have been just scooping out the dirty. Stay tuned...

May 28 - Stuck Well, what can I say... When the bowl has a couple of cups of litter in it, all is fine and both cats use it regularly with no problems. Reduce the litter and we're in trouble. Jake still wants to put a foot in the bowl and I can't seem to break him of the habit. Plus, when the litter gets reduced he's not interested in putting ANY feet on the seat - they all go on the bathroom floor! I'm not sure what to do next. I'm out of ideas. I'm not giving up... Worst case scenario is that we live with this bowl in the toilet forever. I can do that but I'd sure like to lose the litter! Sigh...