Wednesday, May 13, 2015

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….

Monday, May 4, 2015

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.