On Labor Day weekend, 2007, I brought home two cute 3-month old female Devon Rex kittens. Tanya (TAN-ya) and Chanel. This was my first time living with cats, so I prepared with books for dummies and how-to manuals. During my readings, I came across books and websites about toilet training. Yes, you teach your cat to use the toilet! I was intrigued and read multiple strategies to train my kitties to poop in the commode. The process can take anywhere from 4 weeks to a year!! It was still early, and all sources advised to wait until 6 months of age.
So I waited. In the mean time, I learned how annoying litter can be. I got the automatic LitterMaid Elite Mega Advanced Automatic Self-Cleaning Litter Box which scoops the poop every time the kitties go. I got it lightly used from a craigslist.org posting. It was worth the money and I didn't become too much of a slave to the litter box. Even though I didn't have the burden of all day scooping, I started noticing that litter traveled. I saw little litter granules beyond the laundry room (original location of the litter box). I 'd see it track out from the laundry room door and occasionally see a granule or two on the kitchen floor or on the couch. I know cats are clean animals, but litter granules on the couch can't be very sanitary.
So, as they started pushing their 6th month of life (Tanya was 6 months, Chanel was 5 1/2 months), I decided to start their training to use the toilet. I love my kitties, but I hate the litter. They are super smart, so I think they will pick it up quickly.
I'm writing this blog on Tanya, Chanel, and the Toilet so you can keep up with their (and my) daily progress (or lack thereof). I am by no means an expert. But you can see pictures and watch the brief videos that chronicle their status and the methods I've used.
You can start from Day 1 by scrolling to the bottom of the page.
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3 comments:
congrats on the kids accepting the main amber disc! YAY! btw, in the LK discussion forum, when they talk about putting the previous tray under the new one to ease them into a new stage, the previous tray would actually sit at the bottom of the toilet bowl with litter in it, so there would be a large drop, but the water would be hidden. i've also heard that putting a little toilet paper at the bottom of the toilet to make the water less obvious also works and prevents backsplash. but it seems your kitties are sailing through no problem :)
i see that you still have the green tray under the amber. maybe get rid of it (you'll have less cleaning for sure) so that there is a more defined drop from the "toilet seat" to the tray. give chanel a few days and see what happens. i'm interested to see if she figures it out. i'm having the same problem with hello.
i'm so jealous. i think hello is ready for intermediate amber, but it has not arrived in the mail yet!
jenny & hello
Awwww! Chanel will get it in time. Tanya sounds like she is on top of things though!!! I had a hard time with Phoenix covering his duties in the litterbox but Troy would come behind him and cover it up until he got it. So maybe Chanel will help Tanya by showing her how it's done....
just checking in to see how tanya and chanel are doing. i'm hoping no news is good news!
jenny and hello
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