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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January 5, 2008:
Tanya and Chanel have been doing very well with the Litter Kwitter. I didn't really expect them to have problems at this initial 'Red' stage because they have been going on the toilet since Day 12! The Red tray does not have a hole in it. I am very tempted to move to the intermediate Amber tray that came with the Multi Kat Kit. It has a smaller hole than the regular Amber tray. This would put me to where I was last successful with the sitz bath.
Right now, Tanya and Chanel are not really positioning themselves centrally on a regular basis. Tanya has two paws on the seat, but Chanel has all 4 in the tray (see video). Once I advance to the intermediate Amber stage, I will start positioning their paws more.
I need to mention my experience with excellent customer service from the Litter Kwitter company. I got a very quick response from the inventor of Litter Kwitter, Jo Lapidge. There was most likely an error in packaging. They will be sending me the correct Green tray.
I took a little more time to explore their website and noticed they have a forum very similar to the Cats T-Training Yahoo Group. The Litter Kwitter Forum offers discussions and postings on cat toilet training using the Litter Kwitter. There is an interesting discussion on 'multiple cats in training' that I will be exploring and possibly joining. They have also posted the training videos that come on a DVD with the device. It looks like another plus of choosing the Litter Kwitter is device-specific support.
1 comment:
Oh how cute! She went directly in the middle of the red tray! Troy and I tuned are going to be tuning back in again. I got a new tip that may help. Spray the litter pan with some Pam cooking spray after cleaning. It will prevent sticking. I had to get rid of the littermaid. It wasn't working well. It just pushed the poop around. So I have 2 litter boxes for them which works much better. I don't know how Phoenix would do with Toilet training. I know Troy could do it though. Phoenix still has trouble covering up. Often time Troy goes in after him to finish covering up. It's really cute!
Anyway, good luck!
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