Well world, I'm sad to announce that this week marked the official end of the cat toilet training saga. Unfortunately, our cat is still not toilet trained. Here's what went down. Be forewarned--this post talks about cat pee and poop. Get out now if you can't handle it.
Most of you probably know that since the end of August we've been in the process of toilet training Charlotte. We started slowly--moving the litter box into the bathroom, eventually raising it, transitioning it to the toilet, and finally, switching the box out with a litter bowl inside the toilet itself.
At first things went well as Charlotte slowly but firmly grasped the concept of using a bowl inside the toilet. It felt like we were so close then...I mean our cat was practically using the toilet, right? WRONG.
This cat makes it look WAY easier (and crazier) than it really is.
One of the most important steps in cat toilet training is teaching your cat how to position its feet on the toilet seat. That was the breaking point as far as our training went. Charlotte got the bowl concept, but for whatever reason just could not come to terms with balancing herself on the seat. Instead she stood in the bowl and squatted like she would in a box, which (sorry to be graphic) ultimately led to her feet getting covered in pee and then coated in litter. I can't tell you how many times one of us went into the bathroom to find pee/litter prints all over the toilet seat and floor. We even switched out our pretty white rug for a grubby towel after it got litter stained. Pretty gross huh?
Since we started the training almost two months ago, there have been roughly 6 what we'll call "poopsidents." I just made that word up. Most of them were accidents that happened while the bowl was being cleaned or something. Not a huge deal at first...
The situation really culminated Monday when I noticed that there hadn't been any kitty bathroom action for a while. Then, while brushing my teeth, I stepped (barefoot) in cat poop that had been 'buried' in the towel we'd been using as a bathroom rug. We're not sure what spurred this sudden aversion to the bowl, but we knew it wasn't good. Don't complain that I'm talking about poop. I told you this was graphic.
Then, Tuesday we came home from work and found that Charlotte had pooped on the floor (because her bowl was dirty and we weren't home to clean it). AKA Charlotte thinks she's a princess. Two floor poops in two days is two too much, and after talking about it for a while we decided that we're just gone too much to make this work. We also started to feel like Charlotte was uncomfortable with lots of the changes in her toilet sitch, and it made us feel guilty.
Bottomline: there was no progress being made for such a long time that it started to defeat the purpose. We were spending more time cleaning up messes in the bathroom and cleaning the bowl out every.single.time it was used than we would have cleaning out a litter box, and the good was beginning to really out weigh the bad. No efficiency=No point!
So, we stopped. We moved back to the litter box, which found it's new home hidden behind Charlotte's favorite couch. I want to make sure and mention that I definitely don't think that toilet training your cat is impossible. It does take lots of time/work, but if it seemed like there was an end in sight, it would be worth it. I also want to commend Charlotte for being the perfect cat in lots of other ways.. She loves to cuddle, never bites or claws, puts up with/loves Jack, and can sit on command. Do you know a cooler cat? Nah!
I promised you that I'd report back with the results of this
I hope you all have a great weekend! We've got some fun plans in the works, so I'll be posting more (not about cat poop, I promise) super soon!
-Kinsey
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