For M, From M

Mia wants to send a very special message to one Maija Hevelone. Happiest of birthdays Maija, hope you did something special!

Good Kitteh

Last we left Mia, she was struggling through some bad behavior. She had peed twice outside the litter box. My yelling seemed to do the trick, as she made it to the litter box the next time. However, even after her return to the litter box, she managed to poo NOT IN THE LITTER BOX. Oh man, I was angry. I again treated her like a dog. There was a lot of yelling, and face smushing in (near...near! I'm not going to clean poop off my cat) the poop, and repeated times of putting her on the litter box. She'd also lost all bedroom privileges at that point. Bedroom privileges are like gold to her - it cuts out most of her window sills, and any view of the back yard, which is by far the most interesting yard too look at. It also cuts out her direct sunbeams for much of the day.

It seemed that this worked, since she resumed peeing in the litter box. She peed 4 times in fact. Four times, and not one poo, anywhere. In order to entice her into the bathroom I sprinkled some catnip into the litter box. I was nervous. This was going to be the game-decider. If she used the litter box, we were still on. If she didn't - I was calling it quits.

Last night, she decided to get back in line, and she used the bathroom appropriately. She was lavished with treats and praise. And we continue to practice Stage 1, hoping someday soon to move up in the world of Kitty Potty Training.

Bad Kitteh

Yesterday marked Day 8. The end of the week was similar to the beginning. She'd use the litter box in the early morning, things seemed ok. I was debating staying at stage 1 for another week, just so she could get used to it a bit better. But then, yesterday happened. It was monster cleaning day in our house, which always makes her a little skittish. She doesn't love when I'm in one room moving all the furniture around, so she travels through the house staying either ahead or behind me. She also hates the vacuum. When it was time to clean the bedroom she had been laying on this bag on my floor. She got up to run to another room, and there it was. She'd peed right on the bag. MIA! I was mad, so I treated her like a dog. I picked her up and yelled at her, I put her face in (ok, NEAR) the pee, and then I brought her right to her litter box.

This morning, much like every morning, she's been whining. I sat with her, I petted her, I played with her, I talked to her. And how does she repay me?! She peed ON MY BED! My bed! Again, I scolded her. And then I immediately put my sheets in the washing machine. I quickly grabbed some baking soda and piled it on my mattress and began searching the internet for some cleaning tips. Wouldn't you know, baking soda is the first in most lists.

Now, I'm unsure of how to proceed. I'm supposed to be patient, right?! I'm supposed to give her a chance, right?! We'll see what the rest of this week brings. But two accidents in two days - this is not very Mia-like.

Kitteh Potty Training - Stage 1

*Updated Daily

We opened up the CitiKitty and began our training on Sunday and not Friday. It seemed that Friday ended up not being the best night, and I was going to be gone all day on Saturday, that Sunday really worked ideally for our schedule.

Stage 1 is to put the full liner into the toilet seat, full with litter, and let Mia get used to climbing up to the toilet to go. She can stand in the liner, it'll flex a little, but will support her. The flexing will encourage her to use the seat for balance. We are supposed to stay at this stage for a full accident free week, but I may modify this and stay at this stage until she's back to a somewhat regular usage. I fear that she may only go 3 times in this first week, and I'm not sure that's exactly enough to graduate to stage 2.

I know everyone has been reminding me that we need lots of pictures, but I haven't yet actually caught her in the act. When I do, there will be pictures for sure. For now, all I can do is take pictures of the empty (or full, if you really want that) litter box. And we wait!

Day 1 (Sunday): I was much more excited than she was as I filled the emptied the old litter box and put it away. I got out the CitiKitty, and placed in under the toilet seat. After filling it with litter, I quickly grabbed Mia and put her on it. You know, to show her. She leaped off pretty quickly. She spent the rest of the day not going anywhere near the bathroom. I decided, that was fine for day 1.

Day 2 (Monday): Ugh, this morning Mia was WHINING. I mean, more than her normal whining. She was just roaming around the house whining. It was about 6am, so I moved from my bed out to the couch (because she seemed to prefer the living room) and I slept there for a bit to keep her company. I woke up on the couch at 7:30, and when I passed by the bathroom I realized that she had used the litter box. Yay for cat pee! I cleaned it out, and I showered her with treats - in the bathroom of course. And I felt proud of my talented kitty.

When I returned home Monday evening, I was even more proud to find some cat poo in the toilet litter box as well! Nicely done, Mia, nicely done. We celebrated with more bathroom treats.

Day 3 (Tuesday): Again, with the whining in the morning. I can be tolerant of this for a bit, because I've just totally rearranged her life, but she'll have to get used to it at some point. When I woke up, there was nothing in the litter box. I kept checking back frequently, and one time I went into the bathroom she was there - and bolted out. I noticed that she hadn't gone yet and began to feel guilty that I had interrupted. The guilt subsided as soon as I saw the wet spot on the bathroom rug. MIA! You peed on the rug?! I scolded her appropriately - which included yelling at her and putting her near her pee spot. And then I put her in her litter box. She was displeased, and I was off to do some laundry.

So, I guess we call that accident #1. Really, I'm pleased she picked the bathroom to have her accident in. I've been wondering if we'll need to search the whole house looking for these presents. I did not return the bath rug to the bathroom, hoping that with no soft surface to use, she will get back up on her litter box. When I returned home, nothing. I went out that night, and when I got back much later, still nothing.

Day 4 (Wednesday): I woke up to a normal amount of whining, which just means "feed me", and decided to go check the bathroom situation at that point. Boy am I glad I did. She had used it - twice. And, as a good roommate, it needed to be cleaned immediately (so that the roommate wouldn't have to deal with this when she woke up to go to the bathroom). We again celebrated with bathroom treats, and I cleaned out the litter. We'll see what's waiting for me when I get home.

Day 5 (Thursday): My goodness, the whining. It's non-stop. I couldn't handle it so I went out to investigate around 6:15. She hadn't used the litter box since Wednesday morning. So, I joined her on the couch. When she's whiny like that, she really has no desire to come in to my room, and she seems quieter if I'm around. I had been on the couch for maybe 20 minutes when I heard a small scrambling in the bathroom - nothing major, but some litter being kicked around. I rushed in, and sure enough, she'd peed. She was being un-whiny, so I went back to bed. I think I heard her in there again, so I got up to check, and sure enough, she'd done the deed.

I set out to clean the litter. Now, there is one thing I haven't been honest about - and that's her aim. It's not great. She's gotten poo both on the floor and on the toilet seat just about each time. So the litter cleaning routine goes something like - grab the paper towels, a sponge and lysol. Scoop poop and pee-litter into a small plastic bag, replace with some new litter. Disinfect the floor, and the toilet seat, and the sink. Throw the plastic bag and paper towels in the dumpster outside. This morning when I stepped out to throw the bag away, Mia poked her head out on the porch. I saw her looking around and wondered if she was thinking "Hey, there doesn't seem to be a litter box perched inside a toilet out here, maybe I should make a break for it."

The aim, I expect, will get better. I've not yet SEEN her use the toilet, so I don't know how she stands on it, but as we remove rings from the inside, she'll be forced more to the outside. I think she'll get the hang of it. We're just in day 5, so I'm going to stick with it. I think she's doing great - but I know she's not loving it. Hopefully, in a few more days, she'll forget about the time she didn't have to jump up on the potty to go!

everybody poops

And cats too! The thing is, with a cat, you've gotta do something about it. I'm getting tired of the litter box cycle. The constant scooping, and changing. The litter that gets out of the box, the smell (although, I seem to be immune to it my roommate seems to think it's unpleasant). Mia has always been a gem about the litter box - in the whole 8.5 years I've had her she's only not used the litter box twice. Once when she was 11 weeks old, and I moved it to a new location and forgot to show her where. She ended up peeing on the floor where the litter box used to be. (Sorry baby, you tried so hard!) The other time was when we were in DC, so she was about 1 and a half, and she was accidentally locked in my roommates room while we were all out for the night. Oops. Again, my fault.

I've had conversations with fellow cat owners whose kittehs are pretty demanding over everything litter-box related. Some people have to scoop daily (or twice daily). Some people have to clean the thing completely once a week. Some people can not just up and change the type of litter without a protest. Others have to fear the vengeance of their bad kittehs, who will purposefully not use the litter box in protest of some other travesty. Not Miss Mia, she goes in that box no matter how full it is, how long since it's been cleaned completely, whether I've been home for 5 days straight or gone for a week. I can use a different type of litter everyday and she wouldn't care. I could move the litter box to a new location every hour and she'd find it and go. I'm lucky. We're lucky!

I'm about to push our luck. I've been thinking for a while how great it would be if Mia could use the toilet. No more smelly box, no more dirty litter. No more scooping, no more changing. Mia gets a bad rep as a mean cat - sometimes it prevents people from wanting to come take care of her. She's not mean, she's a big ol' fraidy cat - who has learned to hiss and swat to protect herself. That, and she's a touch moody! But, how wonderful would it be to cat sit a cat who doesn't need a litter box?!

It arrived yesterday, our toilet training kit. I've read through the directions. Basically you are at each step until you can make it through one week accident-free. In preparation, today I moved the litter box back in to the bathroom. Tomorrow night, I will set up the contraption. It's basically a pan that sits under the seat, and gets filled with some litter (and catnip if needed!). Roommate is out of town from Saturday to Tuesday, so this gives us a few days to experiment, and determine the extent of the "accidents". If she can master the litter pan on the toilet, then we start removing small pieces from the center - creating larger and larger openings. This will teach her to use the toilet seat to stand on.

My predictions. If this doesn't work, it will be because she refuses to go to the bathroom at all. Also, I'm setting the over-under at 6 for the number of times we forget to remove the litter pan before peeing in the middle of the night. Place your bets.

The great headphone debate

It seems like I go through headphones faster than anything else. I haven't quite figured out what the problem is. One pair broke so that when I was running and it was windy the volume would oscillate with my stride, and the volume control didn't work to combat the problem. Eventually, the started doing that when it wasn't windy. The next pair broke pretty quickly, the wires frayed inside, or something, but the sound started getting crackly and then stopped working all together. I've had sets that just don't fit - they start to slide out when I get the tiniest bit sweaty. I've tried the over the ear ones, but those are even worse - it's really got to be earbuds for me. And then, we've got the problem with the cord. I like to run the cord down the back of my shirt, and directly into the pouch where the iPod lives. Sometimes if the cords are too short (or too long) they get all tangled around my running belt. Currently, I'm limping along with one pair - they fit ok, because they've got these foam covers around the earbuds that seem to keep them in place, no matter how much sweat. Unfortunately, those foam covers come off very easily. I've lost them about17 times, somehow I always manage to find it - sometimes days or weeks later. Without the foam, they don't fit or stay in at all. I've seen some posts for wireless headphones, that are bluetooth enabled, those seem sweet. But, perhaps impractical. At some point, I may decide to replace my lost iPod shuffle and bluetooth headphones would be useless.

During Ragnar there was a discussion as to whether headphones were allowed or not. Most official marathons have taken to banning headphones, mostly because they could be dangerous if you can't hear what's going on around you. It's a rule I understand, but not one I love. I live for the music on my runs, and I'm not sure I'd enjoy it as much without the soundtrack going on in my ears. That said, some recent posts to the Ragnar facebook page indicate that, for Ragnar at least, these guys ARE acceptable. It's funny, when we started Ragnar, I wasn't wearing my headphones (there had been a headphone debacle, and I thought I forgot mine so a teammate lent me a pair. The pair I was using were the big over your ear ones, which I never did figure out how to wear, but before starting I had them just clipped to my tank top straps. Many people made comments about the "speakers", but I never really understand so I ignored them. I guess they thought I had a set of these already.) I wonder how these actually work. Will they aggravate everyone around you, or are they really "personal" speakers? However, they may be the answer to headphone bans!