Day 102

On the verge of quitting enlightenment came!

The last weekend away was a total disaster. Because the cats could go out side in my mothers place, when they came back to the apartment both of them pooped outside the toilet: Ziggy on the bath tub, as usual, and Mimi began going to the floor on the side of the toilet.

It took going back to the plain plastic bowl for them both to poop on it. Peeing was never a problem, they both always do it in the toilet no matter what is on it.

After three months we were going back to stage 0… I was on the verge of quitting.

 

The big round hole on the bowl was always too much for Ziggy - he would only pee.

So I began looking at more advanced options to the old litter box…

The electronic versions like Litter Robot, Litter Maid or Cat Genie are all expensive and people complain about the trouble maintaining and/or cleaning them. Some are not even covered – so the smell comes out anyway, as well as the litter in the paws of the cats.

The manual versions that allow sifting seemed a good option. Many years ago I had a covered box that had several trays – I just had to sift from the used one to the new one. The box went with my cat Peste Negra, the black plague: he was adopted by a friend when I went to live abroad (after some years she had adopted six black cats – Peste was worst than the plague).

However, the sifting boxes I find nowadays are not covered…

Online I found interesting models like Kitty A Gogo, LitterQuick and Litter Spinner which are not available in Portugal or the Omega Paw (demands too much space to roll it) and the Smart Sift. I found this one here, on a local pet shop, and it seemed a good choice if you did not use the liners they suggest (just a way to take more money from the client) but normal plastic bags. However after checking the measures (way too big a thing) and reading all the negative comments on Amazon, I quit.

So I was about to go back to the old covered box, to back bending to clean the expensive clumping litter and to asking my boyfriend to carry bags and bags of it from the supermarket.

The bowl with little holes (colander style) and a hole on the side.

When I told him about it he complained and said I should keep the cats toilet in the toilet! I just had to use a bowl with the flushable litter and a hole on the side to throw the solids on the toilet. And that is exactly what I am going to do: it is easier to clean, and the litter lasts longer. And the bowl goes on the side when the humans need to use the toilet – everyone is used to doing that anyway.

In fact, his suggestion reminded me of the Taiwanese Good Cat system (see Commercial Kits page) – you can use it to train cats to go to the toilet or just use it as a litter box. I already bought a colander and may adapt it, with rodents litter (wood pellets).

The next step, but with a hole on the side, like the Good Cat model.

So that is what I am going to do until maybe, one day, they will relinquish the litter and the bowl….

Day 93

The weekend away was a set back as usual because the cats have access to the garden. Ziggy on arrival, pooped in the room downstairs, next to «their toilet», I did not even have time to close the door. When closed in the house they always went to pee in the toilet.

Ziggy, still scratching around after I made him throw in own poop down the drain.

We were back today after a stormy weekend – no surf for me, no scaring the seagulls in the rooftops for the cats.

Back at home, Ziggy called me when he felt like going. After some effort he peed in the toilet. I gave him a treat. Then, while I was going away he went to poop in the bathtub. I let him finish – no use in transferring him to the seat, he will stop pooping and that may not be to good for the cat. My new strategy: I close the toilet door, transfer the poop to the bowl, put some litter on it (since now there is almost no litter) so he does not soil his paws, and have him dispose of it. He scratches around but does not touch the poop, so I make him throw it in the hole. Lets see how this goes.

That is how the next phase looks like: the hole is just a bit larger and I punctured the bowl.

Day 89

I finally understood what was causing problems for the cats: the plastic cup inside the bowl! As it got bigger they could not set their feet inside the bowl.

So, I removed the cup and there is only the bowl with a hole and a little litter. However, I had to go back to the orange bowl – the hole in the green one was too much for them.

A friend came to stay over yesterday, and as I was explaining how to work out the contraption in the toilet, so that he, human, could also, use it, Ziggy came to demonstrate how a cat does it: he put the four paws on the seat and peed! Pity there was no more battery in the camera...

No more cup in the hole, and a lot less litter.

Of course he still tends to go to the bath tub for #2s, but I have been couching him not to: when he is doing it I move him to the toilet seat!

Mimi does it on target: right in the hole!

But a long weekend away approaches…with flower beds and the neighbours garden as temptations...

Day 86

Phase green bowl is not going very well. In the beginning I just cut half of the top of the cup. Everything was ok. Then, I rushed and cut the all bottom. Crisis! Ziggy went to the bathtub. I was tell him off when he began scratching the floor near the left side of the toilet. It was a hidden poop! Mimi went running out of the toilet – she has been discovered. The next morning Mimi was meowing and calling me all morning. Didn’t get any work done. She was complaining about the green bowl arrangements. I end up changing the litter to the yellow bowl where I usually set the contraption and she did it , relieved. Yesterday Ziggy did the same routine and after my patience wore off I offered him the same easy way out.

After setting up the green bowl with only half the cup's bottom cut I decide to cut it all. Disaster! Even Mimi pooped outside.

A sturdier bowl may help. It will look like this.

On top the green bowl tends to sink into the toilet which I do not understand since it is made of the same mould as the others before; the cup falls off into the toilet and last but not least it got cracked.

So I am sacrificing my good yellow bowl – which I used for clothes washing before – since it fits perfectly in the toilet.

It will be the last one.

Day 80

On Facebook someone posted a German Shepherd peeing in the toilet.
If a dog can do it of course a cat can too!