Toilet Training Our Cats
Tuesday, March 21st, 2006
After having given it thought months ago, I've recently decided that toilet training the cats is for me. I read through many different site's, even a few against it, checked many different products and books that are offered, book-marked the best sites, and decided to try it myself -following one site's advice- without buying some fancy expensive kit.
Litter was an issue when I lived at my parents with my two litter-munching dogs, so I designed a table (and Dad built it) that helped prevent that; the litter boxes went underneath and a wooden, folding baby-gate went across the front, allowing the cats access to the underside of the table, but not the dogs (it could also be swung out to close off a portion of the room for just the cats).
As the cats progressed through their first year so did my table design. My two cats tend to fling litter everywhere, so I took an old bed sheet I had used as a drop-cloth for painting and tacked it to the back of the table, letting it drop down and cover the wall behind the table and the floor underneath, while the litter boxes sat on it. This prevented litter dust from coating the wall (I've learned it's a bitch to scrub off), also it stopped dust and litter from being all over the floor. Naturally, with sloppy cats like mine, there was still a good amount of litter escaping, but not as badly.
The last alteration was a bit before I moved out; Dad helped me make a curtain rod out of some old piping, then we sewed curtains out of some black bed sheet my grandmother had used to make curtains for my bedroom. We sewed a pocket-sleeve along the bottom of these two curtains and I slid a heavy chain into it and sewed it in place. The chain anchors the curtains to the floor... my cats are playful.
This worked, even after the move with three large litter boxes in there. Although my floor is still getting a daily dose of litter. My aunt marvelled at how there could be three cats in here and absolutely no litter stench. Well, it's there, just hidden under a curtain. Anyway, many reasons have brought me to wanting to toilet train the cats, from hygiene to finances (money's pretty tight here). I'm giving it a shot.
I plan to record the entire process here. I know there will be set-backs, and problems, and all sorts of frustration. I've read some owners' horror stories, but it seems worth it in the end. To simply flush, instead of spending forever scraping away at three smelly litter boxes... yeah; worth it.
Day 1 - Tuesday, March 21st, 2006
Today I started my process by removing one of the three litter boxes. I have to introduce this change slowly to the cats; people who rush this process seem to have a lot of "accidents" by unhappy cats that feel forced or upset. I also set each of the cats on the toilet seat and steadied their balance (my two are very clumsy), petted them, gave them treats, and praised them for sitting there. Unfortunately Adam sort of took Buster head first toward the toilet and freaked him out a bit - I think Buster has lingering memories of that bath, and doesn't like being picked up in the bathroom. Loki was actually confident and comfortable enough to hop up there on his own afterwards for treats.
I see Loki being the easiest to train, he's so eager to learn and please, my little clown. Skadi and Buster though, it's a toss up who's going to be the difficult one. Skadi actually didn't seem freaked out of the toilet seat, and she's really the timid one of the house, meanwhile Buster's already shown fear toward the toilet, plus he's got age working against him, being about 7 years old and an extremely intelligent "cat's cat" as I call him. His habits may be more difficult to reform. Who knows.
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The students:
Loki is my male tabby, almost two-years-old.
He's very vocal, a quick learner, plays fetch, comes when he's called, and is very affectionate.
Loki's a very large cat, but not fat, just long;
a very long body, long legs, huge pointed ears, and a long tail with a unique white tip on the end of it.
He's also Skadi's biological brother.
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Buster is my room mate's male tabby.
He's seven-years-old and very independent.
He's intelligent, does what he wants, somewhat gruff and very tough, he is becoming less selective of who he allows to pet him.
He's built lower to the ground than my two cats, and is faster and more agile.
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Skadi is my female black-shorthair, almost two-years-old.
She's somewhat shy and much more delicate than her brother, Loki, though she still has length in her legs.
After the move she's become vocal and has an adorable kitten-like voice.
Her coat is the softest of the three and she has a small white spot on her chest.
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Wednesday, March 22nd, 2006
Just so you know I'm mostly going to be following the ideas from this site:
http://www.karawynn.net/mishacat/toilet.html
Also I might point out that all three cats are indoor (Buster used to be allowed outdoors when he lived in Alberta about 3 years ago, but had to be indoors when he first moved to Ontario and lived on the 17th floor. My two have never been out for more that a few minutes at a time when they were younger), so I do have good reason for training them to use the toilet. We are currently in an apartment on the third floor of a big old manor, so the cats really have no choice but to be indoors.
Day 2 - Wednesday, March 22nd, 2006
Today, among all my agoraphobia successes I bought the metal mixing bowl that'll fit in the toilet bowl. Unfortunately it can be tipped in - so the next project will be fixing it up so it will sit perfectly in the bowl - no slippage. God, I hate toilets, I mean, I know what I do in that thing, I don't want to touch it. Adam even does that portion of the house-cleaning; he's responsible for the toilet cleaning/maintenance.
This should be quite the adventure. I also cleaned the litter boxes more frequently today since there is one less. Another issue is that I couldn't find flushable cat litter in all of the stores we visited today, that's annoying, but with this method it isn't _overly_ required, I'll just continue to use the Litter Locker until they've completed their training.
Our bathroom is going to smell so bad for two months - if we're lucky less. Loki already seems fine perching on the seat, Buster was calmer on the seat today but in no sense relaxed. Tonight I removed the second litter box; they are now down to one. I also cleaned up the area a lot and put a small carpet in to hopefully catch the excess litter that Loki and Skadi loooove to track around.
One box.
I'm already picturing what all I can store under that table once the cats are using the toilet. No more litter all over the floor, no more wearing a mask to clean the litter, no more money spent on Litter Locker bags. It'll be nice. Although it's been pretty much assured that any cat can be taught, I'm telling myself that even if one of the cats doesn't catch on, or even if just one learns, it'll be worth it, it'll be less litter to buy and deal with.
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