Days 17-23

Yeah, I know it's not a cat picture, but the one on the right is definitely Maya, and the one on the left, Juju. My sister saw this on icanhascheezburger.com and it describes their personalities so accurately.

I'll make this one short. It's been a week since I tried using the amber disc. Well, it seems that Maya is rebelling. I had to resort to using the red disc, and putting it back on the floor. She wouldn't use the red disc on the toilet! She kept pooping in the bathtub or on the bathroom floor. So we go back a couple steps.

However, she was pooping in strange places before I even put the amber disc on, so I don't know what she's thinking. Even since I put it on the floor, she refuses to poop in it. Although I think she may have used it today. Thank goodness she's peeing in the thing. It's only a poop issue right now.

I read about tactics to curb this behavior. I filled the sink and tub up with about an inch of water. It's to keep them from going to the bathroom there. She has never used the sink, but when she had to go but wouldn't, she had jumped up on the sink counter. Hmmmm. I suppose I'll just add updates when there is some sort of progress.

Maya, why can't you be more like your sister, Juju?

Days 14-16

OK, so other than the oops previously mentioned, there have been a couple more. Once ,poop on the floor next to the toilet, and just this morning little nuggets in the bathtub! Now, it seems that both these times I found the mistakes in the morning when I got up. Both times the dish was full of poo and pee, so I am hoping that they are just disgusted with the stink and dirtiness of the red ring. I swear they go to the bathroom for four cats at night.

I am going to try an experiment. I have put on the amber disc, hoping that when they decide to go lots during the middle of the night, they may get most of it down the hole and therefore reduce the stink and dirtiness of the device. I hope that it will keep them from going in other areas of the bathroom. If it fails after tonight, I'll go back to the red disc and figure out a feeding schedule or a middle of the night cleaning appointment.

Included is a photo of Maya checking out the new ring about 20 minutes after I installed it. She is so funny. She climbed up onto the seat like she was gonna go, but one of her back legs fell through the hole and got wet. She did stay on the seat and investigated the hole and the water. By the way, she is mesmerized by water and loves to play with it. Then after staring at the water for a bit, she decided to nibble on the wheat litter. At least I cleaned the device and put fresh litter in. After she jumped down, she located a couple grains of litter and nibbled at those too. What a crazy girl!

Days 7-13

It's been one week on the red stage. The girls have been doing real good, however there have been a couple accidents. Once they had bad aim and peed on the floor next to the toilet. And I believe it's Maya who pooped on the kitchen rug... twice. I'm taking that rug out of the kitchen and hang it over the shower rod in their training bathroom. I think we'll stay at this stage for another week before moving on to the amber disc with the hole in it. I want to make sure they are not making any more oopsies and get real comfortable before moving on to something new.

By the way, I've kept the reaction to the mistakes quiet, as I've read that negative feedback doesn't help, only positive feedback when they do good. If only I could catch them in the act. They seem to go late at night when I'm sleeping. I guess they like their privacy just as much as we do.

Day 6 - On the Rim

The girls have been good about using their new box. This evening I gave the device a thorough cleaning and placed it upon the toilet bowl rim. I've shown them where the box is now. Hopefully they will take to this change easily. Now I'll have to try to catch them when they are going to make sure they are putting their front paws on the white rim and still going near the center of the box. Go girls! I know you can do it!

Day 3 - Consistent Progress

Here is a picture of the Petmate water fountain I got the girls recently. Isn't it cute? Purrfect for a couple of girls.

I figure that I might not submit a post for each day of the training. Right now at this phase it's just plain old maintenance like scooping out the tootsies and oatmeal cookie clumps.

I dumped out the litter today and cleaned the red disc. You're supposed to clean it out completely frequently. There are some clumps that the scooper just can't reach. It is a little difficult to scoop with the ridges inside the red disc. 

I think I'll keep the device on the floor over the weekend and set it up on the toilet Sunday or Monday evening. They are still doing good with their aim. Nothing has ended up on the outside on the floor or on the white rim. So far, so good.

Maya & Juju Profiles

Maya

Age: 14 months

Birthdate: April 2007

Fur: Fluffy Mackerel Tabby

Favorite Toy: Balled-Up Cat Hair

Favorite Pastimes: Inspecting every box, suitcase, purse & paper bag - Fascinated with water; likes to lick the water in the tub after a shower

Disposition: Sweet, will let you pick her up, jumps into your lap (my private-lap-dancer), a little bit ditzy at times

Favorite spot to hang out: On top of the TV

Enjoys Catnip: Yes

Talkativeness: High

Juju

Age: 14 months

Birthdate: April 2007

Fur: Short-Haired Mackerel Tabby

Favorite Toys: To Fetch - Rabbit's Foot, Starlight Mint & Butterscotch Disc Candies

Favorite Pastimes: Playing Fetch & Chasing Laser Pointer

Disposition: Independent Diva - Does things only when SHE wants to... demands to be pet, but when she's done, so are you.

Does not like to be held.

Favorite spot to hang out: On HER IKEA chair

Enjoys Catnip: Yes

Talkativeness: High

Day 2 - Tootsie Roll Sightings

Late last night, I was happily surprised to catch Juju making her doo-doo in the new box setup. I tried my best to give her privacy, but made sure that immediately after she was done that I gave her a treat and lots of praising and petting. Of course, when you put out treats for one cat, the other comes running for their share. Well, they both got a snack, however I made sure to dispense the treat in the training bathroom so that perhaps they will associate the yummies with the room as being a positive environment.

I scooped out the waste from my oatmeal-cookie-batter litter, as it's best to keep the device clean and as fresh as possible so that the girls won't look elsewhere to do their business.

This morning, I found one of the girls had also used the new setup as their catbox. I betcha it was Maya. Sweet! I again cleaned out the chunks and deposited them in the toilet. Flushable litter is the best! Yeah, and oops, I was so excited last night about Juju that I forgot to flush the toilet from the previous night's poo.

I am so thrilled that they didn't rebel and go stashing nuggets around the house. I swear, Maya is a nut. She was picking at the litter scattered on the floor again this morning. Guess you gotta get your fiber where you can!

I've noticed that they're making more of a mess with the litter since the Kwitter box is smaller than their regular catbox. That's OK because the bathroom is dedicated to their training and I don't have to step out of the shower into cat litter.

I suppose I should post pictures of the girls and give a brief description of them and their personalities. It will be interesting to see if one of them learns at a quicker pace than the other. They are sisters from the same litter, however they are almost like polar opposites.

Day 1 - Starting

This evening I setup the Litter Kwitter with the red ring stage on the bathroom floor next to the toilet. The past weekend the girls have been using a regular cat box that was recently moved from just outside the bathroom to inside next to the toilet. Also, I have switched them over from nasty clay litter to flush-able wheat litter. It looks like sawdust and the urine clumps remind me of oatmeal cookie dough.

When I was filling the red ring with litter, some crumbs spilled onto the tile floor. I caught Maya trying to eat the wheat litter particles. Too funny. She can be a bit ditzy at times, but I'm sure she was just investigating.

I am already enjoying the switch to this Swheat Scoop litter, as it doesn't kick up dust. I also haven't smelled that nasty cat box smell with this litter. I wish I would have tried it earlier.

Yikes, I smelt some poo smell on Maya when she jumped up on my lap here at the computer. She likes to jump on my lap when I'm busy at the computer. I like to think she just wants to help out. Anyway, I don't know if what I smelled was just a fart, so I went to check to see if she was using the new "box." Well, she didn't poo in it, so I checked for accidents around the house, but couldn't find any. I hope I didn't start it too soon.

There have been a lot of changes lately for the girls. First off, my sister just moved out and her room is now practically empty, as well as the main bathroom that she used to use. I'm so glad I have two bathrooms so that I can dedicate one to the girl's potty training.

They are also dealing with the absence of Ike, my sister's cat who is just now about six months old. Juju won't miss him since he would attack her when she was sleeping or grooming. So put all these changes along with a new Petmate water fountain. It was a steal on clearance at Petco for only $12... and it's pink! Good thing I have two girls.

Received "Litter Kwitter" system

Monday. June 23. 10-ish AM.

Well, the week and a day's wait better be worth it. I ordered the Litter Kwitter cat toilet training system and got it in the mail today at work. I've wanted to potty train my girls, Juju and Maya, since they were kittens.

I knew that I wanted to accomplish this feat early on, however, I was skeptical because the methods I had researched were mostly DIY. I really didn't relish manually setting everything up for training.

Just a few weeks ago, my sister emailed me a link to a product that seemed quite worthy of my girls. Simple. Three steps. Heavy duty (sturdy) plastic. Others I had read about were described as "flimsy" so I was excited to find something that would support the weight of my 11.5 lb. each cats.

There have been a lot of changes in the household recently, so I've decided to wait a day or so to start using the system. I decided to create a blog to track the progress of the training. Everyone I have mentioned this "training" to has said, "Let me know how it goes."

I suppose this is enough for the initial entry. Hopefully I can keep this updated as the training progresses.