We've switched the cats back to the regular litter box while we work on raising it up. We're hoping Mr. Butt Cannon will prefer this up high over the toilet trainer. The above is a time-elapse video of me making the switch, and Zig being OCD.

Up 4, down 2, repeat(?)

Putting the toilet trainer on the floor was a great success. Eddie used it every single time without problems. On the same day we moved from the toilet back to the floor, we caught him about to poop in the wrong spot a few times. Each time, we moved him to the correct spot and he got the point. Every time after that he went in the right spot and he got a treat as a reward. He even figured out our little game and faked us out by digging in litter and making it look like he was going (I could've sworn I heard cat pee landing in the litter). We've had several days of success and Eddie's poop has even begun to stop being runny (a product of stress over where to do his #2, we're guessing). He had been doing so well, in fact that Rachel and I felt it was time to add some height under the toilet trainer this morning. Long story short: This didn't go over so well with Eddie ... We had raised it about 4 inches and we've dropped that down to 2. We'll see how that goes over...

Epoch* Epic fail cat

If you watch the webcam at all, you may have noticed the toilet trainer down on the floor. This is because Eddie continues to be Fail Cat.

Around 4:50am there was a nice pile of poo sitting on the floor for me to clean up. Since moving the box onto the floor it would seem that Eddie likes the trainer on the floor better seeing as he mostly hit the litter this morning. So it looks like we'll be taking the 'gradually raise it up' approach for a while and see if that doesn't improve the situation.

*Epoch fail

Horray for Eddie!

Zig, as always, is not having any problems using the correct place as a litter box. Eddie was successful last night, as well as this morning! Finally; and we have photographic evidence to boot!



We tried the "silent treatment" punishment for Eddie yesterday when he made a mess on the floor, and then gave him lots of attention and praise when he used it correctly. I'm hoping that works in the long-term. At most we've gone two days in a row where he's used the toilet instead of the floor. I hope we can make it a week with our new method.

Having the PooCam helps, because it allows us to monitor which cat is using the toilet without disturbing them too much. Alastair and I were having trouble before because, most of the time, we were not sure which cat was using the toilet when. This should make giving praise easier, as well as more accurate.

PooCam

So, we've set up a poo cam, and yes, you can watch. Just refresh this post or click the picture above. If Rachel or I hear a kitty in the litter, we can now observe without posing as a distraction. This is all assuming that Schrödinger's Cat is dead, of course.

Club Member Lost

Eddie just doesn't get it, and Alastair and I cannot figure out what is going on. Are we at fault? Is Eddie the one with the problem?
The litter has been impeccably clean for the past week so we know that isn't the issue. Maybe there isn't enough of it, or maybe there is too much? We have no idea.
It's very frustrating because Eddie will go in the correct place two days in a row and then, BAM, he starts making messes on the bathroom floor again.

We put town tinfoil in the places he's gone on the floor in hopes to deter him from making messes there in the future. We're also trying the 'silent treatment' punishment tactic, as we've read it can be effective. I'm not sure whether it will work or just make him upset and cause more floor messes.
We plan on installing a webcam to monitor the bathroom, since we can't always hear the cats when we're in the office. Alastair said that we may have to sit in the bathroom with Eddie when we know he needs to go so we can praise him when he's on the toilet and make sure he doesn't try to use the floor. I hope that new issue of Eating Well gets here soon, I've heard it can take as long as twenty minutes for that process.

I wish he could talk. Then we'd know what the problem is, at least.

Eddie Joins the Club!

We rewarded Eddie richly last night for peeing in the litter. Taking a leak there has been pretty normal for him, but the extra rewards must have helped him get the right idea because he finally pooped in the litter this morning! Needless to say he got lots of treats, attention and a little bit of play time.

I cleaned out the litter box with the bathroom door open today. I'm not really sure why but I'm glad I did because Eddie got up on his back legs, took one small peek at what I was doing and scampered off in a I'm-happy-and-now-I-wanna-play kind of way. I think that might have been almost as good of a reward as giving him praise and attention. He did poo a little bit on toilet seat, but one step at a time, I think.

I've been reading up on this topic...

...we're in for a long haul.

Chicken Soup for the teen... Poo Kittens

Rachel has been doing some reading up on accidents and we've a few things to try including putting a little chicken broth in their water so they'll want to drink it more and also will need to go to the bathroom more frequently. Since Eddie knows where to pee, that'll mean more frequent praise and maybe encouragement to poo in the right place.

If it comes down to it, we might put the toilet trainer on the floor and gradually raise it up. This sounds like basically starting over to me, but that's much better than cleaning up a mess every couple of days.

So, I just did the math and Rachel and I have been toilet training the cats for 15 days today. Zig is doing wonderfully. She took to it rather quickly and we haven't had a problem with her yet.

Eddie on the other hand hasn't exactly been a spot on mark. Day one was accident one for him. To his credit, though, he did go to the bathroom where we had placed the litter box on a mat that does feel well enough like litter. When I had caught him, he had bunched the bathmat against the tub in a desperate attempt to bury his poo. Remarkably, and this should be taken as evidence of the kind of head-in-hand behavior that only Eddie is capable of, all of his poo remained stacked neatly on top of the bundle of bathmat.

Despite his accidents, Eddie does manage to consistently pee in the toilet trainer. The only time he hasn't was early this afternoon when he apparently did his #2 business at the same time. When I found the mess Zig was undergoing a futile effort to cover the poo over with the ceramic floor and wall edging. Even when we had a litter box, Zig would often go back in behind Eddie and clean up his mess. Now, it's one of those things that I'm sure is greatly exaggerated in my head, but when I walked in and saw the scene I could've sworn Zig looked at me with an, "Ohhhh, shit." kind of expression and then glared at Eddie with a, "If I'm getting in trouble for this, you're dead, mister." kind of look.

Since I had more mess to deal with than I normally do, I decided to use great swaths of toilet paper for the simple reason that these are my first cats and I haven't yet experienced the full effect of the staying power of cat urine and I had no desire to literally experience it first hand. I ended up using enough toilet paper that I knew I would need to plunge before I'd be able to flush properly ... long story short: always plunge more than it feels like it needs. The toilet flushed, but not before spilling over onto the floor, first.

Despite Eddie's accidents we know he's capable of using the trainer. It took him about 25-26hrs from his first accident on day 1, but his second time he went in the box. The best news is that he may have done it again today: Rachel trimmed the claws on both cats. Whenever she does this, we let them have a little catnip. The idea being that they'll gradually make a positive association and maybe squirm a little less the next time kitten claws need trimming. Well, a few minutes later came that unmistakable aroma of kitten poo. Lo and behold, unburied excrement! Unburied poo is a tell-tale sign that Eddie had just been there which I'm sure is a major factor behind why Zig always goes in behind Eddie. Assuming catnip for kittens is anything like alcohol for humans, I'd interpret this as a sign that he WANTS to poo in the litter, he just hasn't been for some reason. The problem with all of this is that Eddie had already done his #2 business and not so long ago, either which would mean that there's a good chance the poo isn't his.

So today, we had Zig, who has been fine with the toilet trainer, caught in the middle of the mess and evidence of Eddie, who hasn't been fine with the trainer, using the trainer just fine. Reprisals and praise went around for both of them, today.