 June 1 - Stuck? I've left
the book "Toilet Train Your Cat in 21 Days" next to the toilet
in hopes that it will shame Jake and Bubba into action as they start
their third month of training! Even if we're talking 21 days per cat,
they are getting really close... They still use the bowl but show
absolutely NO signs of tolerating anything beyond litter in the bowl.
I'm kind of stumped but I'm NOT going back.
On the good news front, Izzy is back from her two week trip. And while
she was gone, Ben performed perfectly!!! He used the bowl in the toilet
every time and even improved his aim. He's now in the same stage as Jake
and Bubba (they, of course, have been there a bit longer).
June 7 - Not giving up... If you've been
following along, you can skip this next paragraph... If you've just
found this and have skipped to the end, the next paragraph is for you...
My training system in a nut shell has been to move the litter box next
to the toilet, gradually raise it to the height of the toilet, then move
it so that it sits on the toilet. Then I replaced the whole box with a
metal bowl (regular mixing bowl) that fits into the toilet (resting on
the lip with the seat on top of it) and put litter into that bowl.
That's where we sit, so to speak, today...
Well, gang, I am apparently stuck. Jake and Bubba have definitely let me
know that reducing litter ain't going to get it. It seems if I so much
as take out 3 grains, I end up with little piles of attitude on the
bathroom floor. Woke up to two such reminders this morning... And,
without reducing litter, I'm not sure how to get to no litter... I've
now cleaned out the bowl again and put a bit of litter in it. Both have
used it to pee today. I'm going to give it a couple of more days and
then just replace the litter with water and see what happens. If I have
to go back to litter in the bowl, I will. I won't, however, go back to
litter in the box. I'd rather clean the occasional attitude off the
floor!
Also, I think this diary is getting boring. So I'm not
going to add to it any more unless there is real news. So, if you see a
note after June 7, then you'll know it's REAL news!
And, one final note... I still hear from Izzy and Ben and he's doing
about the same as Jake and Bubba... (Real news will, of course, include
news of Ben or any other feline champion of the toilet!)
June 12 - Teensy progress Well, with
Izzy's help, we've moved along a bit. Her idea was to just cut to the
chase and replace the litter in the bowl with water. She figured
(correctly) that if it didn't work, we could go back to where we are
now. So, I did it. There was pretty much major leg crossing and toilet
avoidance for a good while. Then Big Brave Bubba hopped up and peed
right into the water. I was soooo proud. Several hours later, Wimpy
Chicken Jake, peed on the floor behind the toilet.
So, I replaced the water with a little bit of litter and Grateful Jake
hopped right up and pooped immediately into the bowl. I left the litter
in the bowl for 24 hours and did the water again. Pee behind the toilet
again. Put litter back into the bowl.
This may not sound like much progress, BUT, Jake now ALWAYS goes into
the bowl when there is even a tiny bit of litter in there and that was
not the case before. Plus, I'm pretty desperate for signs of progress
. I am going to leave this tiny bit of litter in the bowl for two days
and then do the water again with some litter on the sides of the bowl
('glued' there with water - another good idea of Izzy's) so they can
smell it.
Izzy reports much the same kind of progress with Ben. We're getting
there. I just know it.
June 18 - Ben's progress!! Izzy reports
that for two days now Ben has seen no kitty litter and is doing GREAT!!
She is using just an empty bowl - no litter and he's using it
consistently so far. I'm mighty impressed. She says she may add a bit of
water today. I'll keep you posted.
I tried it here and Bubba had no problem with it but Jake
was having NO part of it. He is still pretty darned bonded to his
litter. So I'm reducing it little by little - we're now down to about a
half-cup.
At this point I think Bubba would go into the toilet even without the
bowl. The perils of training two cats is this one - one's ready and
one's not. But, we'll get there...
June 25 - A little backsliding all
around... Well, the news isn't much and it's not all that good either.
Izzy reports that Ben has copped an attitude with the empty bowl...
She's got some tricks for him up her sleeve though.
Here in Seattle, Jake and Bubba are getting a break. I have company here
- a visitor from new Zealand and we are spending our days touring around
seeing all the sites of Seattle. So, since I'm not here to keep an eye
on them, I've gone back to a couple of cups of litter in the bowl. No
accidents and they seem quite happy. Don't tell them, but when the
company goes, they are definitely going BACK ON THE PROGRAM...
July 16 - Back on the saddle (er,
toilet) again... Well, I'm back. My company has gone back home and we're
back on the toilet training program. Twice during the last three weeks
we left them here on their own for a night or two. Since I wasn't here
to monitor the bowl, I drug out the old litter box, filled it up and
taped it on top of the toilet. Each time, when the litter box was put
away again, they both went right back to using the bowl so I'm not
thinking we lost any ground.
But, we haven't gained any either. Jake still wants to put one foot in
the bowl. He doesn't mind if I move it but he's not getting the picture
that he needs to start off with four on the seat. Bubba seems to be
happy with anything.
Jake is driving me nuts. When there is less than a cup of litter in the
bowl, he won't use it to poop. When there is at least a cup of litter,
he hops onto the bowl, then takes his two front paws and paws the litter
(with this two back paws on the seat). When he's ready, he puts the two
front paws on the seat and moves one of the back ones to the bowl. When
he's done, he leaves the litter alone and paws the seat for a while and
then hops down.
When there is less than a cup of litter in the bowl, he poops on the
floor in front of the toilet. Now, I ask you, if it's the lack of litter
he's objecting to, why use there floor where there is no litter????
Sigh.
August 9 - Inspiration - a very nearly
success story! After weeks of honestly depressing lack of success
getting past the bowl, this morning's mail brought new enthusiasm and
inspiration. Jake still can't get his fourth paw on the seat by himself.
If there isn't enough litter in the bowl and/or the litter that is there
has not been cleaned out, Jake just poops on the floor. The latter is
the peril of training two cats at once. If Bubba goes in the middle of
the night, Jake just uses the floor. I will say that several times, I've
seen one of them queued up waiting for the other. Pretty hysterical.
Obviously neither has made the connection that there are two toilets in
the house! But, now for the news... Here is the note I got this morning:
Hi! My boyfriend (Hugues) and I (Catherine)
have been training our cat (Gazou, born march 7 '92) for a couple of
weeks now. We followed Misha's example, adapting it to Gazou, we totally
skipped the raising of the litter box. Getting him on the toilet was no
problem what so ever since Gazou would go where ever his litter is. We
had a bit of a problem with the bowl part because we couldn't seem to
find a stable enough position. Once gazou even felt in the toilet!
So, we went to the drugstore and bought one of those toilet seat people
use for soaking purposes (usually for medical reason...). We cut it out
so that it would fit better and filled it up with about two inches of
scoop away litter. This allows the litter level to go down gradually
basically on its own. Gazou had no problem what so ever to jump and go
but the seat being so big he would systematically use for legs in which
was a draw back from the bowl where we had tree legs out.
So we proceeded to reduce the available surface by creating a 'v' shape
gutter in the middle of the soaking seat and I showed gazou the proper
position by grabbing him randomly and seating him properly on the
toilet, holding him there for a few seconds each time. It worked like
magic and got for legs out no question asked! We then let the two inches
of litter disappear by itself as we scooped away. Came the time where
the last pee took away the remaining litter so we introduce the water in
the gutter. I went right away to two inches so that whatever would get
covered up and therefore odorless. It took about three days to get rid
of the litter and on with water.
The first water day was a success. But I found a solid call of protest
in the living room this morning, which confused me because I also saw
Gazou pee in the toilet this morning. Following Karawynn suggestions in
the FAQ section, I removed the entire apparatus this morning hopping
that stability is the issue (we had to loosen the screws of the seat for
it to close properly over the bath thing). Reading about Misha's,
Jake's, Bubba's and everybody else experience was really encouraging.
Thank you for making it public, I hope our experience will help you as
well. I will keep you posted of our progress and wish you luck. Feel
free to use this message in your page, you might want to correct/adapt
it since English is not so easy for me.
Thank you so very much, Catherine
Theriaul-Fortier
Isn't that great?! Today, Jake is going on the Gazou program. I am going
to set him on the toilet, feet in place, randomly throughout the day. I
am definitely re-inspired!!!
August 10 - more from Catherine - Well,
Izzy and I are seriously jealous of Catherine. Just wait until you read
this note from her that came in this morning:
I'm so excited by the news I have for you! It
WORKED! There were no call of protest what so ever this morning!
Everything was were it belongs! I bet you would have made it under two
weeks too with Bubba...
We really got started on Monday July 29 with the toilet soaking seat,
then it's last Sunday, august 4th, that Hugues managed to create the
gutter. By Wednesday the litter was all scooped away and I ventured to
put in enough water to cover smell and everything else. I think that
might have avoid repulsion on Gazou's part. The rest is history to
you... I can't explain the thrill I got this morning when I went to the
bathroom... I would have never known that I could get so excited over
sh...!
Now, I was thinking, since you got two toilets... why don't you assign
one to each cat? Bubba seems to be on his way to a home run, let him go.
But you could start Jake from "scratch" in the other
toilet...now, if worse comes to worse Bubba will follow him there, but
it seems to me he got the control over that toilet... In the best case
scenario, Jake will get to work at his own pace.
It's just a though, I am no expert. I mean Gazou is my first cat and
from what I have read, he seems very cooperative! Well, I think we are
home free here. I sincerely hope you'll work it out too because it's a
new sense of freedom we have just discovered here!
Hooo! One last thing we did to train ourselves... I attached the lid up
to the tank with a string. That should help avoid surprises especially
when company is coming!
Meanwhile here, I've been picking up Jake and taking him to the toilet
several times a day. I try to place his four paws like they should be on
the seat. He squirms and wiggles and is not at all interested. It's
pretty funny to watch. My two hands trying to place his four legs - not
a fair fight.
I'm giving serious thought of sending him to Montreal for training!
Meanwhile I've also heard from another toilet trainer in Alaska who's
got two tiny (compared to mine) kitties and thinking of starting up a
small, informal kind of mailing list about toilet training cats. Some of
us can really use the help!
August 13 - The saddest news... A note
from Catherine this morning brought the saddest news. Gazou has died.
She caught an internal infection trying to digest her cat food. Needless
to say Catherine and Hugues are broken up. On the advice of friends and
with the help of their vet, they have given a home to a new kitten -
Fofolle. And, as Catherine said in her note, at least Gazou taught them
that they can teach Fofolle to use the toilet, too.
Meanwhile, Izzy has turned tricky. She is having trouble convincing Ben
that replacing the litter with water is a good thing. So yesterday when
he went to pee in the bowl (which had only a few grains of litter it
in), behind his back, she poured about 3 inches of water in the bowl.
She said that he had quite a look on his face when he finished and then
looked into the bowl! heheheh
I now have a pitcher of water in the bathroom waiting to see if I can
trick Jake!
August 20 - New direction! In the
intervening days since the last entry, I have tried the water trick,
tried new litter and have now (this morning) moved to aggression.
Jake was under whelmed with the water being poured. Since he checks and
paws litter BEFORE he goes, what happens afterward is not the least bit
interesting to him.
Then I decided to try a new litter. Instead of grains, it's pellets that
are flushable. They kind of look like the stuff my niece feeds her
rabbit. I tried a mix of old and new and then went to all new. Bubba
peed in the sink and Jake just stood before the toilet and whined.
Soooo this morning I switched tactics all together. I took out the bowl
and put it in the closet. I replaced it with a plastic insert that I'd
tried to use before. The insert has a shallow well in which to put a bit
of litter. The idea is that you put in a bit of litter and then they use
it. Then you cut a small hole and they use it. Then you expand the hole
gradually every day until there's just no more insert.
Now I have the insert in with a quarter sized hole cut out and a massive
amount of hope and a nagging feeling that I'm nuttier than a fruitcake.
August 25 - Our new mailing list!! NOTE:
All of the info in this paragraph has changed (thanks, Christopher for
letting me know the old info was here!). For the latest on the mailing
list information, go to list.htm.
Come join our new mailing list for the discussion of
toilet training cats... Send a note (can be empty) to
toilet-list-request@eskimo.com and put 'subscribe' (without the quotes)
in the subject line. (or fill out the form) That's all you have to do!
(For a file on subscribing, unsubscribing and general info, send another
note to toilet-list-request@eskimo.com and this time put 'help' (again
without quotes) in the subject line.) To add to the discussion, just
send a note to toilet-list@eskimo.com, but you do need to subscribe
first. Come join!!
Now back to our regular programming...
The insert plan was a total flop. Both cats stuck their nose into the
hole and then said 'no thank you.' I closed up the hole for a day and
all was fine. They used it, no sweat. Opened up the hole again and the
strike was back on. I gave up.
So I decided that if I'm going to live with litter in the bowl for a
while longer, I needed to get some that was flushable. So off to the
local pet grocery store (yep, honest) where I snagged a bag of clumpable, flushable litter. It's made of wheat and costs like the
lovely golden color it is. This is not going to be a lifetime fix - too
expensive.
September 19 - Enough for now... I am
NOT at the end of my toilet training... but, as I haven't had anything
new to add in weeks, I think I'm bringing this diary to an end. I don't
want to leave you hanging when I know there isn't going to be new news
for a long while. Please do join the continuing conversation of all of
us on the mailing list. If anything changes - I will change these pages!
January 2 - Update... I have gotten lots
of notes about these pages and lately they've included a request for
'what's happening' so I figured it's time for an update. The mailing
list is still going on and has spawned some interesting info like the
new gizmo that one member has purchased but not yet reported on... it's
a toilet seat made so that cats and humans can share - humans get the
regular service and cats get litter - I can't quite see it myself and
the price tag insures that will likely always be the case. This little
beauty is selling for $160! The person who got it promises to report in
and maybe even send a picture. So, stay tuned!
One of the more interesting ideas from the mailing list is a bowl with
permanent 'trick litter' - well, here let me let him explain it as he
recently did in e-mail:
I'm not claming to know all the
answers but I can tell you what I have done. I too started out with the
metal bowl and got down to just a sprinkle of litter but when I put the
water in, it was all over. So then I was stuck with the metal bowl and a
sprinkle of litter till I decided to us the Sitz Bath.
(NOTE from me: This Sitz Bath thing is a gizmo
that you can purchase at most drug stores (look in the section for
medical appliances - hemorrhoid donuts, bed pans, etc.). It's hard
plastic and fits right into the toilet. It's kind of a poor man's bidet.
Here in the U.S. they sell for about $15.)
I cut the plastic out where the toilet lid bumpers on the underneath
side hit the seat so the toilet seat would lay flat and Smokey would
still have the same toilet seat. I then drilled a hole in the middle of
the Sitz (about 1/2" to 3/4") to let the cat get use to it. I
also drilled a bunch of little holes around the bottom edges so the pee
would drain. Then I put a sprinkle of litter around the bottom. She used
it right away and I would change it after every pee and just pick the
poop up with TP and flush it.
This was a little bit of a hassle till the whole was big enough for the
poop to drop through. Just slowly keep trimming, shaving the hole with a
pocket knife. I would trim it once a week unless Smokey would show some
kind of alarm then I would slow down on the trimming.
I also got very tired of the litter thing and glued some ground coral
from the pet store to the Sitz. I'm convinced now that just having the
rough feel under the cats paws is all they need. This worked very well
because if she missed the hole I just had to rinse it out, dry and put
back. Sometimes Smokey would actually go in take a pee I would rinse it
out and then she would come right back and poop. The hole in my Sitz
bath is about 5 X 6 so she usually hits it 99.9% of the time. To tell
you the truth I don't care if I get to the point of removing the Sitz
bath because she's using the toilet every time now. If we need to use
the toilet we just lift the Sitz out and then just put it back.
Things here have not progressed much and in fact
have kind of slipped back fairly severely... I had company just before
Christmas, so I was using the boys' bathroom. Jake just decided that
that was not acceptable so he used my guest's bed to pee on. Since I had
more company coming over Christmas, I went back to the dreaded litter
box. BUT, so they won't think they've totally won, I have two small
plastic boxes with litter in them just beside the toilet. They aren't
totally happy about not having their BIG box back. And I hate the boxes
altogether.
I have to leave town at the end of this month for several days. When I
get back, we're going to start in again with the bowl in the toilet,
maybe even the Sitz routine described above. Sigh...
January 30 - Very Sad News... While I
was out of town - 3,000 miles away - Bubba died on Saturday January 26,
1997. My neighbor took him to the vet when she found him in distress and
the vet found a large intestinal blockage and other problems. She tried
to save him but couldn't.
Bubba was just a wonderful buddy and never met a human (with a hand for
scratching) that he didn't immediately love. I miss him so much. Jake,
however, seems to be adapting quite well to his first opportunity at
being an only kitty. Personally I think he should have spent a bit more
time in mourning.
I suspect that Jake is also thinking that this tragedy somehow lets him
off the toilet training hook. I did pull out the old litter box for them
to use while I was gone. Jake is still using this but his days are
numbered. I am starting a new job on Monday. After two years of working
out of my living room (and, therefore, able to keep a sharp eye on the
toilet training) I will be spending the day away from home. After I get
a feel for my schedule (about a week), Jake is going BACK on the
program. Only this time, we will be successful!
February 24 - A New Fresh Start Ok, so I
didn't start when I said I would BUT Saturday morning, the litter box
went up on the toilet again. There it stayed for the weekend and Jake
didn't seem to mind at all. Then Sunday night, the box went into the
closet and the metal bowl came out of the cupboard and into the toilet.
I put a lot (like more than half a bowl) of litter in. Then I had a talk
with Jake. He nodded in all the right places but then he can really be a
suck up when he wants so I didn't know if I was getting through.
So today (Monday) I went to work and was gone from 6:45 a.m. until 5:30
p.m. I checked the bowl the minute I got home... Litter was EVERYWHERE.
What a mess. And no action in the bowl. I sniffed around the house and
found nothing. After I'd been home about 30 minutes, I heard some litter
action and went in to see that this brilliant boy had peed into the
bowl! About an hour later he also pooped! He's such a genius. Since I
didn't catch him either time, I have no idea where his feet where. I
chose to believe that all four were on the seat. I will not be replacing
the litter. It will go down with each scoop over the week and then this
weekend when I'm home, we'll go to the water. So, likely this time next
week our training will be complete!
March 2 - Some Success The first couple
of days went well. Pee and Poop right into the bowl and the amount of
litter gradually decreased. Then, poop on the floor by the toilet...
Then I got home Thursday, I think, to find no action in the bowl at all.
That evening Jake and I made several trips to the toilet. At one point
he went in and dug and dug and dug into the litter and then hopped down.
I put more litter into the bowl and he hopped up and pooped like a
champ. So now I know we have a bonded-with-litter problem. Here's where
I should put include my sentences about how I'm going to overcome this
problem... err, hmmmm, well, I got no ideas. I'm going to think on it
for a while....
March 15 - A Success Story (Listen up,
Jake!) In six weeks, I will have been about this project for one whole
year! Unbelievable. But, before we all get too depressed... I have great
news. We have about 50 people now on our Toilet Training mailing list.
We swap ideas, stories, odor treatments, setbacks, etc. But, recently we
had a success among our masses! Mary Jane and Mark Shroyer have a
graduate in their kitty, Cinder! I asked Mary Jane to re-cap her process
and here it is for you!
1) INTRO: I'm not certain exactly how long this
process took. I do know I started well before Thanksgiving, so my guess
is 6-8 months. Also, I stopped training several times when we had to
leave town for extended periods since it didn't seem fair to leave a
whiny cat and potential messes for a cat sitter. Cinder was back to the
box for over month when we had to travel to a funeral, then she got
diarrhea and I couldn't take the mess. I gave up and finally left her
with the box until after the holidays since I knew we'd be gone again.
2) THE FEET: I am *extremely* lucky because Cinder's favorite position
for using the litter box is with all 4 feet on the edge of the pan. From
the time she was a kitten, she'd just hang her bottom over the side of
the box. Once I realized (from the WWW pages) that this was the perfect
stance, I had to go for the toilet training. Plus she's gotten porky and
it was quite traumatic for all involved to deal with a capsized litter
pan! We started when Cinder was just over a year old and I never once
had to do a thing with her feet (please don't hate me! =).
3) RAISING THE BOX: First, I removed her spacious, covered litter pan
and replaced it with a smaller wash basin. She barely fit into it and I
was hoping that extra hassle would convince her the toilet was more
comfortable! I went through the steps of raising it very quickly (a case
(the cubes) of soda was the perfect height) and it didn't seem to bother
her at all. The pan sat between the toilet and the tub, which was a very
snug fit. She actually started to sit on the seat and hang her bottom
over the pan. I felt very hopeful!
4) PLASTIC BOWL: Next, I bought a padded seat. I also bought a plastic
bowl which was very deep & had steep sides. The bowl went inside the
toilet. With litter added, there was minimal fussing. I did have
problems finding flushable litter and a lot was going into the toilet
(Miss Cinder loves to dig). I cut open a plastic garbage sack and placed
that under the bowl (water/plastic/bowl/litter/seat) to catch the litter
& it worked well until I finally found some Cat's Pride flushable.
5) WEANING OFF THE LITTER: I used clumping litter and didn't replenish
it, so the level went down slowly as I removed clumps. When I got down
to a couple teaspoons, we hit the wall. She hated using the bowl unless
there was enough litter to cover everything. Thinking that adding some
water might solve the problem resulted in our first accident (solid) on
the floor. I might add that the smell of a litterless bowl is
horrendous. I don't blame her for not using the thing!
6) THE SANITY-SAVING HOLE: It was about this time that someone here
mentioned the hole-in-the-middle concept (who was the saint that
invented this trick?). We cut a very teensy hole (dime sized) in the plastic and that did it. I still had
to leave a dusting of litter in the bowl so she wouldn't carry on but
she was consistently urinating in the bowl. The other function was a
different story altogether. She hated using the bowl for bowel movements
and we had several accidents. These were followed by much scolding from
my husband and Cinder & I moping for days afterwards. If Mark hadn't
insisted we push ahead, I'd have given up at this point.
This is also where we started using food as an incentive. Most often,
she used the bowl at feeding time so we'd make a big deal over how
fantastic she was and rush to feed her. We also used little dollops of
yogurt or a few pieces of food (hubby refuses to buy cat treats and
Cinder always thinks she's starving so any food is satisfying) if she
did her job at other times. She caught on quickly and would squeeze out
a few drops when she was dying for a snack!
We slowly enlarged the hole, cutting away a small piece of plastic every
10-14 days. Eventually, the plastic cracked and we went to a metal bowl.
Once the hole was large enough for everything to fall through, we had
almost no accidents. At this point, Cinder started holding it for days.
She'd cry and cry and drive me insane. It got to where we'd lock her in
the bathroom for about 30 min. until she'd gone and then we'd praise her
and feed her. I also gave her a little litter now and then thinking it
would shut her up (it didn't).
As the hole got larger (about 6 inches in diameter or so), we started
having difficulty cutting the metal bowl. Mark hit upon the solution of
cutting around the hole radically, kind of like slices of a pie. To
enlarge the hole, we peeled back a wedge of metal (underneath, on the
water side) every 10-14 days. This resulted in an asymmetrical hole that
slowly grew to perhaps 10" in diameter. I made sure that the metal
edges weren't sharp enough to cut her pads. She had stopped scratching
by this time (she immediately runs to the kitchen for her food) but she
was still walking through the bowl before & after using it. She also
began to nag us incessantly if we missed the fact that she'd been a
"good kitty" and didn't give her a treat promptly enough.
7) TAKING THE BIG STEP: By now, all that was left of the bowl was a few
inches of the sides. I really didn't know how to proceed or how to make
the hole bigger (it was almost as large as the hole in the seat, but
closer to the water). I finally bit the bullet and took it out
completely. I did it right after she had a bowel movement since that
seems to be the most stressful habit to change. This gave her the chance
to use the bowl-less toilet two or three times first. I also timed it
for the weekend so I could watch her like a hawk and lock her in the
bathroom if she seemed to be holding it (whine, whine, whine). She
actually seems to be dealing with this much better than the bowl (less
complaining, no accidents). I feel so free! No litter between my toes
after my shower! =)
Can we hear a huge round of applause for Cinder??!!! Here at Jake
Central, we're not exactly moving forward but we're not going backward
either. He's still got a fair amount of litter in his bowl... Today his
metal bowl is going to be replaced with a plastic one. I had one guy
send me a note about cutting holes into his metal bowl. Not me. I'm not
that sure about being able to get the hole into this hard plastic - no
way am I cutting metal (makes my teeth ache to think about it)....
April 8 - Ok, so we aren't moving along
at lightening speed here. But we are moving along. The plastic sitz bath
bowl is far superior to the metal bowl. It's deeper and Jake does not
scatter litter all over the floor. The litter is down now to a light
cover and there is a quarter sized hole in the middle. So far so good.
BUT, I did happen to catch him the other day and there's one foot smack
in the bowl - still. So, this hole in the middle might not be the
beginning of success. However, the whole litter thing is far easier with
the plastic bowl and if we never go any further, I'm a way happy camper
and Jake doesn't seem to mind at all.
May 9 - First, a Jake update... the hole
in the middle experiment didn't last long... Jake likes his litter. Hole
in the middle means not as much litter. Jake not happy. Susan cleaning
poop off bathroom floor. You get the picture. So I plugged the hole up
again and now all is fine except, we ain't moving forward. But this
week, I got inspired by Chris Hill. Chris and his two cats and his
girlfriend's two cats who live with him (although girlfriend, apparently
doesn't, but this is not the place to discuss people/people
relationships, so I'll leave that one alone for now... Where was I? Oh
yeah, Chris has taught 3 3/4ths of these cats to use the toilet!! The
3/4ths is the last cat who is still dealing with some issues but is
nearly there...
Chris sent me an introductory note and a link to his toilet training
page... we swapped some e-mail and then he sent me the photograph below
and allowed as how I could share it with all of you. There are probably
some people who would not think a photo of two cats pooping together is
real art, but they don't live in my shoes... I think this is beautiful.
I printed it out and taped it to the toilet.... I can't fathom what
makes me think Jake will take this as a hint.. I live in such a fantasy
world... But, here's the link to Chris page.... http://clhill.com/cats/toilet_training_cats.htm
and here... are Suki and Orion who live in Hong Kong
Chris says that Orion is the one who hasn't caught on
yet completely... JAKE! Study up!! I asked Chris about what was on the
seat itself and he said he wrapped it in toilet paper to give the cats
more traction... cool idea!
June 21 - It's been so long since I've
reported any progress, you probably think that Jake has won... Au
Contraire! About a week ago, I took the tape off the bottom of the sitz
bath and exposed the hole. Jake used it just as he had before the hole.
No accidents at all. A couple of times he left footprints on the seat.
These, I think, happened when he had that fourth paw down in there and
it got wet... But, still no accidents. So today.... ta ta ta tum! .... I
expanded the hole. It's now about and inch and a half in diameter. And
there is about one-fourth cup of litter sprinkled around it. My fingers
are once again crossed. (I nearly have calluses where I've spent the
last year and a half crossing these damn fingers!)
One humor note. I got a note from a guy this week who had read this
diary along with, apparently, everyone in his office. He said his one
shot at training his cat resulted in the cat monopolizing the bathroom
in the morning and when he finally did get his turn, he found that the
cat had left his Cat Fancy magazines scattered around the toilet. I
laughed all morning.
August 3 - The battle of the wills...
Jake is playing cat and toilet with me these days. We have the sitz bath
with a hole, a dusting of litter... He always pees in it. BUT half the
time, he's using the floor by the toilet to poop. This morning, however,
he used the toilet to poop. I'd think I was winning but I've been in
this long enough to know better... I do know that this time I am not
backing down. I am not plugging the hole. We are going forward OR
ELSE!!! This photo came in this morning from a member of our mailing
list with a note who's subject was 'Encouragement' - NO KIDDING! This
guy's name is George (photographer is Boaz Joseph). Isn't he just
splendid??
September 21 - This is my last entry...
well, my last entry for a while. Jake's new sister, Pizza, needs to get
used to us so I've dragged out the litter box again. When she's ready,
we'll start again and I'll start a new page!
Meanwhile, I can leave you with a new tip... Last
night I got a call from Cliff from California who had read these pages
and has SUCCESSFULLY trained his two cats! He actually had two tips. He
told me that instead of the metal bowl or the sitz bath, he used a
regular plastic mixing bowl and tapped a ruler on either side to balance
it and make it sit securely between the bowl and the toilet seat. It
thought this was really creating.
But his other tip was equally as good. He said that
when his cats first started hitting the water, their poop splashed so
much that it scared the kitties! He lowered the water level and they
were much happier. (He said to test this by holding a piece of candy
roughly the size of your average poop about kitty butt level (doncha
love this?) and drop it in. If the water splashes back up to the seat,
you need to lower the level. Pretty clever, eh?
See you when Pizza's ready!
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