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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Today is Day 118 of toilet training but Day 80 using the Litter Kwitter.
A fellow blogger is training her kittens, Mist & Smoke, with the Litter Kwitter now and she asked how long I was on the Amber disk. I'll sum up how much time we were on each disk.
Red: 6 days (because we had already established success at this stage with my pre-Litter Kwitter method)
Intermediate Amber: 1 week, 4 days.
Regular Amber: 3 weeks
Intermediate Green: 2 weeks
Regular Green: 4 weeks (yesterday)
I'm not quite ready to remove the Green tray yet. I must wait until Chanel is consistently positioning herself in the right direction. The barrier is still in place and I have placed no-slip strips on the Litter Kwitter seat.
Yesterday was another very early and very long day. When I got home, I simply passed out on my couch. I had no strength to check what anybody was doing that night. This morning, I went into the bathroom and there was poo on the floor. It looked like it had fallen down from the seat. I'm positive it was Chanel standing on the seat in her sideways pose--apparently, a little more outward than inward. So much for letting her figure it out by herself. Today, after a positioning session, she placed herself correctly. It will just take time for her to get it consistently. I'm not going to worry about it. Tanya is smooth sailing at this point and doesn't need the Green disk at all.
3 comments:
good lucks with Chanel! I think it is a good idea not to worry too much about positionings yet. I have to share a yucky story about the Figaro... every time he uses the bathroom for #2 he gets a dingleberry stuck on his behinds!!!! then it falls off when he is somewhere between the toilets and the door to the bathrooms. so there is always some poos on the floor. sometimes if it doesn't fall off he needs to get a bath on his bottom!! we thinks it is because his hairs are so long. it never happens to ME. how embarrassing!
Veronica
Thanks for the detailed timetable! Like yours, mine have found the red disc not too challenging, since they already spent so much time using litter containers in the toilet. But since there were two messes this week (involving pee on the floor, which they never *never* done before), I'll give them one more week on red. I love your idea of stacking inter-amber on red (your Day 44) and will introduce that next weekend. Mist, like Chanel, stand sideways instead of always face out, and I can't tell whether a central hole will make that worse or better. I'll find out next weekend!
is all their pee going directly into the toilet? lucky you. chanel will figure it out. i'm glad you are at a point where you can be happy and patient. excellent progress!
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