Next steps

Yesterday was another big day in the world of cat potty training. All of the litter was removed from the aluminum pan. I made a small crease in the middle of the pan and placed a handful of litter in the front compartment and a little bit of water in the back half. And wonder of wonders...the cats used it! Check out the photo of Linus, mid bathroom break in this photo.

I'm still being really cautious about keeping all of the doors and cabinets closed so the cats can't have an accident elsewhere. I've also picked up throw rugs and towels so they won't use those as a makeshift litter box. I think another important key to this process is believing that it's actually possible. Did you read 'The Secret?' Neither did I, but I heard about it on Oprah. So keep up the good work, kitties. I believe in you!

Small success!

I'm totally stoked! After much trepidation, the cats used the modified litter box/toilet yesterday. Check them out eating some treats off the toilet seat! It took some effort on my part--I had to take them in there every few hours and place them in the litter, but they are using it like champs today. Everything I read about this process says that patience is truly the key. This could take anywhere from 3 weeks to 3 months and if the cats show signs of discomfort, it's best to back up to the previous steop and proceed cautiously. We all know how cats hate to have their proverbial apple carts upset! Taking it slow should ensure that they don't potty elsewhere in retaliation. I've also taken to keeping every door and cabinet closed tightly so they don't have the opportunity to sneak off and do something naughty! (Another tip I'm borrowing from puppy housetraining.)

Today I will scoop out the used litter and also reduce the amount of litter in the pan. It's important to keep things clean since cats don't like using a smelly litter box. This has also proved to be incredibly messy. With no lid to catch the excess litter, it looks like I've been using a wood chipper in the bathroom. But a few days of extra sweeping will be worth it if I can get rid of litter for good!

In a side note, my parents are out of town and I'm dogsitting for them this week. Please welcome Emma to my zoo! Does anyone have any tips for keeping dogs out of cat food? I came downstairs this morning to find two empty cat bowls. Since my dog Caddie doesn't touch the stuff and a bowl of food can last Franklin and Linus several days, I suspect the culprit is our new zoo mate.

By popular demand...

Recently, I decided to attempt to toilet train my cats (think Mr. Jinx in 'Meet the Parents'). I've had several people ask me to start a blog to share my experiences, so welcome to Gwen's Zoo!

Toilet training my kittens Franklin and Linus appeals to me on several levels. For starters, the environmental impact of cat litter is kind of staggering. I currently use pine chip litter, which I guess is sort of reclaimed, but it still has to be bagged up and thrown away every other day. Secondly, cat litter is just disgusting. Aside from the smell, I'm appalled by the amount of litter that gets tracked everywhere in my house. Thirdly, the hygienic prospects of flushing away the waste a couple times a day as opposed to scooping it out with a flimsy plastic shovel seem pretty great.

I did some research about cat toilet training on the WWW and decided to give it a go. This is partly due to the aforementioned problems I have with cat litter and partly because it's winter and I'm bored out of my mind. I needed a project. I'm usually pretty fascinated by the prospect of understanding what animals did in the wild, prior to domestication, but I've never had cats before and I'm curious about their trainability.

I think my boys will be good candidates for toilet training because they are absolutely fascinated by the bathroom and the toilet. You can almost always find them in the bathroom exploring something. They are also pretty adaptable little fellows. They're not the kind of cats who get really fussy if you move their litter box or switch brands of litter. And starting this while they're still young can't hurt either.

So my first task was to begin moving the litter box slowly into the bathroom. I was so glad that I'd chosen to initially put it in my guest room, which is right across the hall from the bathroom. If I'd put it downstairs, it would have taken a year to get it upstairs! I started small--the first day the box went from directly inside the door of the guest room to directly outside the door--a move of just a few inches. Every day I would move the box a little closer to the bathroom. After each move, I would show the kittens the new location of the litter box and give them a treat. (If this sounds like how one might train a dog, one would be correct. This is all I know, people. I'm new to cat ownership.) Once I finally got the litter box next to the toilet, I started elevating it a couple inches a day until it was level with the toilet so the cats would get used to jumping up to use it. After that, I let them use the box for a couple of days while it sat directly on the toilet, weighted down with a book so they wouldn't spill it when jumping out.

Today was a big day! After nearly two weeks of preparation, I got rid of the litter box altogether. Instead, I got an aluminum roasting pan and molded it around the rim of the toilet and filled that with litter. With any luck, Franklin and Linus will learn to get onto the seat of the toilet to potty.