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!