Taking it nice and slow

It's been a while since the last posting so let me catch you up on how it's been going.  About a month ago we were struggling with getting the poop into the toilet.  With more time and encouragement (including catnip), we finally got Jeri using the toilet for #1 and #2.  My husband was spying on her and caught her on camera so there is proof she knows where to do her business!

Both of these videos were from the first week of October so we were really beginning to gain faith that this process would pay off!!  We kept with it for a few more days at this stage which looked like this:

As we became confident in the cats using the toilet at this stage, we took the next step.  I purchased a new roasting pan and cut the hole larger with about one inch of litter around the sides (don't have a picture).  This is where it went down hill fast.

The first day or two of each step along the whole process has had bumps in the road with accidents outside of the toilet so when they didn't adjust well initially, it wasn't surprising.  This lasted, unfortunately, for over a week where every single day they were both pooping on the floor and one of them was peeing on the floor (I believe Jeri).  

I did a lot of reading online by other people who have successfully (and unsuccessfully) toilet trained their cats.  Everyone mentioned how cats must have clean areas to go so we were diligent about cleaning the toilet and flushing it as soon as we noticed it had been used.  This didn't solve the problem.  Another suggestion was to put buckets/bowls of water all around the bathroom except for a pathway to the toilet from the door then the cats would not step in that area of the bathroom and more than likely use the toilet.  This didn't solve the problem either.  They some how peed and pooped right next to the dishes on the floor in the normal places where they relieved themselves.  

The big problem that we noticed was when we weren't home to go in right after them and make sure the toilet was ready for the next cat who needed to use it.  If there was something in the toilet, they would NOT use it! I looked into automatic flushers; however, we have a push button toilet and I couldn't find anything that would be compatible with our toilet (and didn't cost an arm and a leg).  At this point, I'm wondering if we should just stop and go back to the litter box.  I don't want to, but I just don't know where to go from here.

Finally, I bought a new roasting pan (number 4 since we started in July) and made the hole smaller, back to the size it was when things were going well.  All of the people who have been successful in toilet training their cats mentioned going back one step and staying there longer.  We tend to want to rush them through the process and they need more time....so we will take a step back and slow down.

Number two, two times

After no accidents since Thursday, I found poop on the bathroom rug near the shower twice today. :-(

As a side note, this weekend something funny happened.  I was in the bathroom doing my thing, brushing my teeth, washing my face, and taking my sweet time.  When I got out, my husband said to me, "Geez!  You were in there for a long time! I need to go!"  No sooner than he said that, Tom ran into the bathroom, jumped up on the toilet and peed.  Guess my husband wasn't the only one waiting on me!  haha!  Our next place needs at least two bathrooms.

Number 1: great! Number 2: not so much...

I'm excited to say that things are still moving in the right direction!  The cats were doing great and using the toilet consistently.  Jerri is a very private toilet user, not that I blame her, but Tom doesn't mind going right in front of us.

He jumps right up on the toilet, finds the right place that feels good to him, puts all four paws on the seat, and squats to "go".  I pees right into the water in the center of the hole in the pan.  Afterwards he tries to cover it up by pushing all the litter into the water.  When I catch him in the act, he immediately gets his catnip and we are both happy!

Since the last post, I made another cut to the roasting pan to make the hole a bit wider.

(I'm not sure why the picture is flipped)

Like I mentioned, Jerri jumps down as soon as I am about to catch her in the act, so I only have footage of Tom.  He has had no problem with peeing in the toilet.

However....pooping is a whole different story....

After cutting the hole larger on Sunday night, this is what we found on Monday morning.

At first we assumed it was Jerri since she is the one who gives us the most trouble, but a few days later, I was getting ready for work and saw Tom pee and start meowing as he circled the toilet.  I knew he wanted to poop, but for some reason he wasn't.  I had to run to work so I warned my husband to keep an eye on him.  About 30 minutes later, he sent me this picture.

He had gone over to the rug from the bathroom (recently pooped on a few days prior that was placed in a different place waiting for laundry day) and relieved himself!  

That was yesterday morning and I'm still trying to figure out how to overcome this.  **knock on wood**  There have been no accidents since this and I have found their poop inside the toilet a few times so I'm hoping we are over the hump.  We plan to stay at this step for at least another week, maybe longer, to ensure we don't take any steps backwards.  I'm also going to read more information online and see if there are any suggestions to keep moving forward.

We are moving in the right direction!

Things have been going pretty well with the potty training.  The cats have not been allowed into the living room or bedroom when we are not around and all the rugs have been removed.  With these supports, they have been using the litter pan inside the toilet consistently!  Jerri is still not covering up anything she leaves there and Tom scoops all the litter into the toilet when he uses it.

After one week of consistent success, I made another cut to the litter pan to expand the hole a little bit.

They have been using the litter pan like this for the past two days with no problems so far.  I never see Jerri using the toilet, but this morning Tom decided to do his business when I was in the bathroom getting ready for work.

Movin' on up! to the next step!

After two weeks of making pretty steady progress, we are taking another step toward the cats using the toilet.  The cats have been using the toilet consistently, or so I thought.

Tonight, after several weeks of "talking the talk", we finally "walked the walk" and removed the rug that was under the former litter box.  It was completely soaked in wet, yellow fluid!  I suspect the coverage was from over the course of months, but there was definitely moist areas making me think this has been an area for "relieving" themselves since they have been using the roasting pan in the toilet...and I'm pretty convinced it's only Jerri.  But, now the rug is gone, in the dumpster, and not coming back.  With the cats still not permitted to be in the living room or bedroom when we aren't around, this leaves only the toilet.  I hope that I won't have to remove the area rug from under the kitchen island or the runner in front of the sink/dishwasher/oven.

I have seen both cats using the roasting pan inside the litter box on a regular basis.  They tend to each "go" twice a day.  Tom consistently pushes all the litter down inside the toilet to cover his mess while Jerri leaves everything to be seen and smelled by us.  A few times, I have still found remnants on the toilet seat and down the side of the toilet.

Thank goodness for Clorox Disinfecting Wipes!

We have been stagnate for the past two weeks with no changes to the amount of litter, use of catnip, and size of the hole in the roasting pan.  Now it's time to step it up!  I cut a small piece of the pan making the hole a bit larger meaning less space to stand and less litter.

Updates to come....

Making progress with Tom

Things have taken a turn for the better in the past few days, at least for Tom.  As a whole, we haven't had any further accidents, but the cats aren't allowed in the bedroom or the living room unless we are in there with them.  The rugs have been removed from the bathroom floor and the only place they have been using is the toilet!

On Friday, I got a peak of Tom peeing inside the roasting pan with all four feet inside.

When he was done, he was rewarded with praise and catnip.

Last night, I invaded his privacy some more and got some video of him while in action.  He had three paws on the seat and one in the litter.

The video cut short, but after this he spent about another 2 minutes scooping all his mess into the hole down into the toilet!

This morning when I was getting ready for work, he jumped up to go pee with three paws on the toilet seat, and somehow peed right down into the hole in the roasting pan!  None of the litter was wet!  But, he is a cat and it's his instinct to cover it up so he pawed at the litter and pushed some of it down into the hole right into the toilet.

I have not caught Jerri in the act in several days, but I know she must be using the toilet because she isn't using other places.  Plus, I know she has peed when the very corner of the litter is wet and not covered and when there is poop left in the litter uncovered!

One step forward, two steps backward

Since the last time I updated our progress, things have been going pretty smoothly....until today.  Last Friday (Aug 19), after both cats were using the toilet consistently for a few days, we decided to move to the next step.  I took a pair of scissors and made an oval shape whole in the roasting pan.

In hindsight, the hole should have been smaller, at least in the beginning.  This is where things took a dip.  There were accidents on the couch (urine) and on the floor (feces) and neither of the cats went anywhere near the toilet.  While we never caught them in the act to know which one it was, someone was peeing on the bathroom rugs and in the empty (former) litter box.

Eventually, Tom started using the pan at this stage.

To protect the couch from being used as a litter box, we covered it with a plastic shower curtain and closed off the living room except when we were sitting in there.  Even with this, Jerri peed right on top of the shower curtain one time.  On Monday (Aug 22), as my husband and I sat on the couch, she jumped up and got into position to relieve herself.  We quickly stopped her and took her into the bathroom and sat with her and encouraged her to use the toilet.  It seemed that the hole was too large and too big of a step to take, so I replaced the pan with a new one and cut a smaller hole.

We had to leave the house, so we left her shut up in the bathroom for about 45 minutes.  When we returned, she had used the toilet for both pee and poop!  This continued Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday with no problems.  Both Tom and Jerri were using the toilet to relieve themselves every time!  I saw Tom use it several times and after he was done with his "business", he pushed all the dirty and clean litter into the hole and jumped off.  I caught Jerri using it one time and got a picture.

Before I grabbed my camera, I saw her with four paws on the commode to pee, then dropped one foot in the litter to poop.  The ultimate goal is for both cats to have all four paws on the commode every time they go.  From what I have read, this can be difficult to train cats to do this.  I will continue to monitor to see how these two cats do.

For the past few days, we were getting excited that we were headed in the right direction, then this morning when I woke up, I immediately smelled poop.  I started searching around the house and couldn't find it.  When I went into the bathroom, the toilet lid was closed!  NO!!!  Eventually I found the feces and urine, and oddly enough....litter to cover up the urine.....several feet from the bathroom near a wall.

We have NO idea how the litter got to this area of our apartment!!  After I found this nice surprise, I cleaned up the feces and hurried to get ready for work.  Before I left for work, Jerri went over to that area and scratched at the floor several times.  For this reason, I shut her off into the bathroom when I left for work and explained to my husband to leave her in there until she relieved herself.  About a half hour later, my husband sent me this picture of where she finally relieved herself....

Yuck!  Then later tonight, someone used that same exact spot to relieve themselves again!  We are now wondering how to stop the backward progression and keep moving forward??

Still going at it...

Things have been going alright for the first part of this week.  Both the cats have been using the roasting pan down inside the toilet, or at least trying to.  While neither of us have seen it happen, we have found urine running over the side of the toilet onto the floor.  At first, we thought someone had peed on the floor, but then we found it running down the side of the toilet.  

It doesn't show up too great in the picture, but when this happens, the rug is always scrunched up and the floor is soaked.  

On the other hand, both cats have been leaving feces in the toilet.  I know for sure this was Jerri because she still isn't covering up her mess!  But, at least we aren't picking this up off the floor or other places!

We have been using the catnip as reward whenever we catch them in the act, but they often go when we aren't paying attention.  I caught Tom today and I will share what I was able to get.

Here is a still shot.

We are going to keep trying to make this work!  I didn't expect this to be fast and it sure isn't!

"Litter Box Diva" using the litter inside the toilet!

Knock on wood, but the last 24 hours have been going pretty well.  The cats have used the litter inside the roasting pan down in the toilet several times.  One time, there was urine on the toilet, but we both chalked it up to them needing some time to learn how to use it.  Today, we finally caught one of them in the act and got it on film!  (sorry it's sideways....next time I will remember to hold the camera the right way!)

Here is a still shot...

And here she is with her reward of catnip!

Keep on truckin'

Even though we have had a few rough weeks, I'm not giving up on toilet training just yet!  We went to PetSmart today and got some catnip to try and entice the cats to get on the toilet.  I spent $3.99 and I hope it's the secret weapon!

In addition to adding the catnip, we are back to using the roasting pan down inside the toilet.  Brand new litter was added today with a couple pinches of catnip.  I let the cats sniff the catnip and they followed me to the bathroom.  My husband and I coaxed them onto the toilet and into the litter with the catnip, so we all know that the cats know where the litter box is!

Jerri sniffing the catnip inside the litter.

Tom playing in the litter to get the catnip.

Our plan is to closely monitor them using the litter box.  When we see them in the act, we want to praise them for using the box and use the catnip as a reward.  That's the plan anyways....

Out of town, out of order

After a couple successful weeks toward potty training, my husband and I went out of town for a week.  While we were gone, two of our friends kindly welcomed the cats into their home.  We set everything up like it was at home with the litter box on top of the toilet.  The first few days were fine, but it started to go downhill after that.  One of them peed on a chair of theirs then the next day, Jerri was found trying to "cover up" her pee on the cat bed I had provided.  After a couple more "accidents", my friends took the cats back home a day earlier than we were suppose to return home.

When we arrived home, the litter box remained on top of the toilet for a few more days with no problems.  I caught Tom in the act and I thought I would share this picture.

After a couple days of getting things back to normal, I moved to the next step by placing the litter in a turkey roasting pan and dropping it down into the toilet.

We closely monitored the litter that went unused for about 24 hours.  We picked the cats up onto the toilet and placed them inside the litter to show them where it was, but this didn't seem to help.  The next afternoon we found a very large amount of urine in the corner of the couch on top of the two throw pillows.  Unfortunately at the time, we had a friend visiting town for a wedding of a mutual friend who would be sleeping on the couch.  My husband quickly steam cleaned it to get rid of the horrible odor cat urine leaves behind.  For the remainder of my friend's visit, we had the litter box set up next to the toilet as well as the pan dropped down into the toilet.

A few hours after dropping my friend off at the airport, my husband and I went out of town for a few more days to end our last week of vacation.  While we were gone, the cats stayed home and three of my friends came to check on them at least once a day each day.  While we were gone, the litter box was placed back on top of the toilet since the roasting pan wasn't working so far.

Now we are home for good (until further notice) so it's time to get serious about getting them to go down in the toilet!

Early stages of potty training

My husband and I have two amazing cats.  We adopted them about 4 years ago when they were about a year old.  They are litter mates and absolutely LOVE each other.  We adopted them from a woman who had several animals, but was moving from a farm into the city and had to find homes for all her outdoor pets.  They adjusted well to apartment living and are flat-out spoiled rotten.  Tom is an orange tabby and Jerri (yes, a female) is a calico.

We had absolutely no problem using the litter box when we first got them.  They have always shared one litter box that is scooped out at least one time a day and dumped, washed, and refilled with new litter about once every two weeks.  We started out with a scoop-able litter that did not contain the smell very well.  About one year later, we went to crystal litter, which we all loved.  The smell was not a problem and the cats and no problem with it at all.  We stayed with that litter until about a year ago when it all went downhill.

We moved into a new apartment and very soon after, left for vacation for two weeks.  Having always left them at home when we traveled, we had two friends come over and make sure they had fresh food and water and the litter box was cleaned while we were out of town.  When we returned, we came home to a horrible smell and sight.  There were pile of feces and urine on every single inch of our bed on the brand new bed linens I had just bought for the new apartment.  We smelled it as we walked in the door and it made us nearly vomit several times while we cleaned it up. Something must have gone terribly wrong and we suspect they were unintentionally locked up in the room for a couple of days because they had never behaved like this before.  We must have washed everything at least 3-4 times before we used it again.  We steam cleaned the entire room and did every home remedy I could find on the internet to get rid of the horrible stench.  The top mattress was completely soiled and we had to replace it.  

Before we were able to get a mattress replacement, one of the cats urinated on the box spring while we were in another room.  This was the first time I started to suspect something else was going on.  A few days later, we found another wet spot on our sofa and this repeated for several days in the same spot on the sofa.  We resorted to locking them out of the bedroom and the living room 24 hours a day.  Our immediate instinct was to contact the vet and find out if there was a physical condition that was causing this to happen.  Urinalysis showed that Jerri was fine and Tom had highly condensed urine, but no urinary tract infections.

Coincidentally, while this was going on, both cats had ear infections and this was more of a concern to our vet.  Every time I would take them in to figure out what was going on, she would perseverate on the ear infections and not address the urination dilemma that me and my husband were ready to pull our hair out over.    She pretty much told me there was nothing she could do and we could either keep them out of the rooms where this was occurring or contact a veterinary behavior specialist which would likely be pricey and we would have to be waitlisted for several weeks.  When they started urinating on their own cat beds in the kitchen, this is when we had to resort to contacting the behavior specialist.

The behavior specialist came out to our house and observed the cats for several hours and scanned our house for the way we had things set up.  She immediately told us to get rid of the litter box lid and try new litter as well as provide them more fresh water and canned food to reduce the chances of UTI in both cats.  We went to home depot and bought a concrete mixing tub with a 10 gallon capacity. (See below)

We switched to a litter that guaranteed the cats would use the litter box....Dr. Elsey's Cat Attract, 40 pounds at a time.

This went really well!  No more urinating on the couch or bed!  The cats still were not allowed in the bedroom except at night when we were sleeping.  After about 3 months, we decided to use Dr. Elsey's Precious Cat which was suppose to be the same thing, except for multiple cats.

The first week we used this, we had an accident on the bed :-(.  We immediately went back to Cat Attract for several more weeks.  Eventually we decided to mix Cat Attract with Precious Cat and that went well, no accidents.

With all this extra attention to cat litter that we never had to attend to before, I started watching them as they "did their business."  I noticed that Tom would jump into the box, do this thing, cover it up, jump out, and go on with his day.  Jerri, on the other hand, approached it differently.  She would walk up to the box, small all around each side, jump up on the very thin side of the concrete mixing tub, and tip toe around until she found the right spot.  She does not walk on the litter and she hangs her rear-end over the side which often goes onto the rug below the litter box.  Then, even worse, she doesn't cover her poop anymore; just leaves it there for us all to smell it!  For this reason, she is now dubbed the "Litter Box Diva."  

After thinking about how to handle this, I have decided to attempt toilet training with the two cats.  I have read a lot of information online and reviewed all of the products on the market.  Two weeks ago, I decided to start the process by taking baby steps and letting them get adjusted to each step of the way.

Step 1: I purchased a flushable litter, Swheat Scoop for multiple cats (see below) and put this in the previous litter box (that they used for years before we started having problems) without the lid and mixed it half and half with Cat Attract.  For this step, it was placed right next to the toilet on the ground.  

We remained at this step for one week and no problems so far.

Step 2: The box was dumped out, washed, and filled with only the flushable litter and placed next to the toilet, but on top of household items to make it the same height as the toilet.

No accidents with this step either!  However, it was very messy.  The best part of this step is that we no longer need baggies for cleaning out the litter.  It goes right into the toilet (flush after letting it sit in the water for at least 20 minutes).  They remained at this step for about 6 days.

Step 3:  This is where we are at today, in fact, just started this morning.  At this point, the litter box is located on the toilet.  

Since this morning, I have found clumping in the box that indicates only one cat has used it.  I'm keeping my fingers crossed that this step goes as smoothly as the last ones have.  They will remain at this step for a longer duration, probably for about two weeks.  We will be going out of town and they will be staying at a friend's house where we will try to remain at this step while they are there.  When we return, I plan to keep them at this step for a few weeks before we take a leap and put the litter in a container that actually goes down into the toilet.

Wish us luck!!