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 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

Tomorrow we are leaving phase orange bowl which lasted two weeks.
Two weekends ago I was away and Ziggy went to the bathtub in protest twice. When I came back everything went back on track.

Mimi.

However, whenever Ziggy finds the litter is not to is taste (too humid from pee?) or I do not pay attention when he wants to go poop, he does it in the bathtub.... Anyway, no more going to the carpet, so I am moving to phase green bowl, with a bigger hole/cup.

Ziggy.

As it can be seen by the pictures, both cats are putting their hinder legs on the bowl, not on the seat. We may have trouble when the bowl disappears...
Also I may try to get a bowl that better fits the seat for the next phase, so Ziggy - that is almost 7 kilos and a long cat - can feel more confortable.

Day 73

Today I posted in a thread about cat toilet training in the The Cat Site:
«An answer to those that say teaching cats to use the toilet is not natural: having cats in an apartment is not natural and having cats poop in a box is not natural. But, still, you do it... Cats muscles do no suffer from positioning in the toilet - in fact they assume a very similar position to the one they take in the litter box or outside. They have excellent balance: my 19 year old cat, Mao, used to poop with the four paws on the side of the box (I should have taught him how to use the toilet). In nature they dig to cover they scent from prey or predators. When they understand that water does the same (better, because poop is flushed), they accept the toilet.
Plus some cats do not dig much - like my Mimi - and are really fast to get a hold of it. Others, like my Ziggy, are diggers and you may have to be more patient. For them it is a kind of play  - from which they get treats on top! It is not a kind of punishment or a violation of animal rights like some people are writing on this thread. Of course if the animal shows big behaviour changes and doesn't really want to do it you should not force him. 

As for some veterinarians and some pet experts opinion that the toilet is bad for the cat: they are the ones connected with the cat litter brands that make a million on us!
My experience: when I was 6 I visited a friend of the family and saw her cat pee in the toilet. No one taught her: she imitated the small daughter of the owner, that was very surprised.»

Day 70

I am so happy! We all are. Phase silver bowl went perfectly and the cats are now on phase orange bowl. I didn't even roll the dinning room carpet (although I still have some heavy stuff on the corners, like chairs).

That is how Ziggy's snout gets after so much excavating.

Mimi even aims for the centre of the cup, peeing directly in the water!

My main concern today is that I will spend three days in my mother's house by the sea where they have access to the garden and things my go wrong like it happened before.
I may not take them and ask some one to take care of them. Poor darlings... they love to run after the seagulls and climb the fig tree. They can do it later after the training.

The orange bowl with a cup from fresh cheese.

 

Introducing the orange bowl.

Ziggy, investigating where Mimi's poop goes.

Conclusions until now:
a) No carpets in the house if you have a digger;
b) No going from one method to the other: I began with the DIY bowl with a hole system and should have stayed with it instead of trying the glass bowl inside the plastic bowl (check DYI Systems page here) and the commercial kit Servicat.
c) No moving to the next phase imediatly after the cats use the bowl - you have to stay at least a week - or even two - in each phase.

Day 67

I was away for Easter weekend and the friend that is staying at my place said the cats behaved well, although he once found a #2 covered by the carpet. When I arrived, there was a #2 in the bathtub – but that was probably because my friend forgot to put the bowl in place when he left in the morning.

As I put the bowl back in the toilet Ziggy went immediately to it but he couldn’t do anything. Then he tried again – having all my attention – and quit again. Finally, as I was in the kitchen, he peed.

I melt the hole in the bowl with hot iron from a butter knife.

Before going away I prepared the silver bowl with a plastic cup – much more durable then the yellow bowl with the paper roll. We are sticking to it for a week, and so, for two more days. Then I will see if it is possible to move on to the orange bowl with a bigger hole.

I also made a hole in the bottom of a plastic cup.

Now there is only one carpet/rug in the house, in the dinning room. And tomorrow it is going to be rolled. No more hiding poop under the rug…

(The toilet seat looks silly, I know... I put some stickers on the girls mouth, but it looks even worse.)

Day 63 (9C)

The experiment with the commercial kit, Servicat, is over. Today I sold it for half the price to a girl that may be luckier since she does not have a digger at home (her cats prefer the bathtub to the litter, so they may adopt the toilet bowl).

The basic scheme for this phase, without litter and roll. When I use the toilet I set their litter bowl on the other yellow bowl.

While I was away for four days the cats went to the sitz bath with no problem. Today I upgraded to the yellow bowl with the roll of toilet paper in the middle. They will stay at it for a week, come rain or come shine, poop on the carpet or not. I am going to follow the original plan with no more detours.