| At long last. |
[Mon, September 4th, 2006 @ 12:48am] |
So Hildy's been using the toilet for many months now with no mishaps. Not even a single one. Even when some guest unknowingly leaves the lid down despite our sign and we don't find it until who knows how many hours later.
The only problem was that I could never get a picture of her doing #2. She usually does it at night or during the day, and we're hardly ever at home during the day. In the past few weeks I've even caught her a few times but my stupid camera refused to take a picture in the low light in the bathroom so it was always too late by the time I was done wrestling with the settings.
I finally caught her! Now you get to see the amazing results of our long labor. I love it when she does this!
GLORIOUS PHOTO!!! (click here)
Another glamor shot
Just peein' (note the much lower posture)
Peein' some more
And this wraps up our toilet training process. Thank you, thank you.
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[Sun, June 4th, 2006 @ 1:16am] |
So... tomorrow we are going to take the big leap and take the pan out of the toilet (but keep it in the outside storage shed just in case she doesn't make the step). She has been using the toilet with all four feet on the seat for both pee and poop for a couple of days now, without putting even one foot on the miniscule ledge remaining. Sometimes it takes her a bit to get in position, but she seems to be getting more comfortable with it.
Most cats have two different squats; one for pee and one for poop. Hildy is no exception, but she is abnormal in that she squats lower to pee than to poop. Most cats squat lower to poop.
I managed to snap a few pictures of her going pee this morning. She went #2 like 5 minutes before I took these, but I didn't get pictures. She is a bit more skittish when she is going #2. Anyway, if you can see stuff in the toilet, that's from like 5 minutes before when she went poop in there. She always has a look of concentration on her face while she's going. It makes her look kind of stupid. Also, you can see that she is hanging her butt so far out that it's like hanging down into the bowl. She isn't unsteady, though.
SUCCESS!!!
God, can't you just leave me alone?
The look of concentration
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| Amazing! |
[Wed, May 31st, 2006 @ 12:12am] |
It has been confirmed that Hildy is using 2 feet on the seat regularly for pee, and 3 feet for poop... but something very interesting happened today.
I, being a cruel master, accidentally left the roasting pan out of the toilet for an unknown period of time... but when VB went into the bathroom, there was POOP IN THE TOILET!!! This means... DO YOU KNOW WHAT THIS MEANS!!!
THIS MEANS THAT SHE USED THE TOILET WITH NO PAN IN IT! ALL FOUR PAWS ON THE SEAT!!!
We pondered removing the pan totally and seeing how she does, but decided against it, since she still squats with both back feet in the pan to go pee. We widened the hole until now there is a very tiny ledge... maybe she'll be able to wedge her foot on it, but probably not get much support.
Here are the promised pictures of her using the bathroom. Still haven't managed to get one of her going #2, she's very elusive. The pictures also aren't very good. She doesn't like me pestering her.
Getting ready to go
Still getting ready
Going
Hey... where did it go?
Unrelated:
We went mushroom hunting yesterday, and it was awesome.
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[Wed, May 24th, 2006 @ 8:50pm] |
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Yay!!! Today I caught Hildy going #1 with 2 feet on the seat, and #2 with three feet on the seat! I caught her too late for the #2, but I did get a couple pics of her #1... I'll upload those tomorrow or late tonight when I am finished with my statistics project.
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| Such progress! |
[Mon, May 22nd, 2006 @ 11:15pm] |
No updates for a while because... there was nothing to update. We put the bathroom rug back on the floor because she was 100% perfect 100% of the time, with no accidents at all. We widened the hole once more about two weeks ago, then once more about two days ago. She is still trying to go with all four feet in the pan, but sometimes she gets one or two feet up on the seat. VB says that once he walked in on her squatting with all four feet on the seat! But she saw him and got distracted (like she usually does if we pay attention to her when she's getting read to go) and hopped off the toilet.
She likes to go when we are in there (brushing our teeth, VB putting in his contacts, us getting in and out of the shower), but won't go if we are looking at her. So there is a lot of secret peeking at her in the bathroom mirror. She also particularly enjoys hanging out with us during/just after our showers. She runs along the edge of the tub between the inner and outer shower curtains during our showers, sticking her head around to look at us, and then when we are done she is right there trying to lick the water off the shower curtain, tub, and our legs. It is really weird.
We have entirely stopped putting any litter at all into the roasting pan. She doesn't even scratch before she goes anymore. At all. She sometimes moves around trying to find a comfortable position, but in the mailing list I'm a part of, apparently most people's cats have a really difficult time adjusting to having no litter. Even then, they scratch at the toilet seat, and some people have to put a little bit of sandpaper on the underside of the toilet lid to give them something to scratch at. Not Hildy! After going, she turns around and looks into the toilet, kind of like, "hey... where did it go?!" but doesn't try to cover it up.
Today I found my laser pointer in my car, and while I've thought about playing with her with a laser before, I thought she would be too smart to chase a light after a few minutes, since she can't ever catch it. BOY was I wrong! I played with her with it for a few minutes, and she ran full speed up and down the length of the apartment, almost smashing face-first into the wall and then trying to climb up it. She went bat-shit. It was hysterical. I had to go make dinner, so I stopped playing with her. She ran around the apartment looking for it for about an hour. I am not kidding. She was still climbing up the walls staring around frantically for it and meowing in confusion. "I want that crazy little bug! Where is it!"
After dinner I took pity on her and decided to play with her until she got tired. And man, did she get tired! It was awesome to be able to have her run full-speed for so long. I can't run that fast, so she can't really chase things that fast, so usually her longer play sessions involve jumping and pouncing with her feather wands, instead of running. It usually takes about 2 hours of that kind of playing before she starts lying down at every pause, and occasionally she will pant for a couple of seconds.
It took less than 15 minutes of the laser pointer playing to make her flop over on her side and pant a lot. When I saw her start doing that, I stopped playing with her, because I didn't want her to get dehydrated or overexert herself. But the entire time she was lying there panting, she was looking around for the pointer. :p Now she is lying on the floor, completely wiped out, asleep. Maybe that means she won't get into stuff so much tonight!
And now, what you've all been waiting for... pictures!
The gigantic size of the hole now... down to the final stretch!
"You expect me to go in there? What are you, crazy or something?" (But she's gone successfully since then!)
Playing with the pointer
Playing with the pointer near the shoes
Where did it go?!
Tired, but still looking for it
Happy and tired (one of my favorite pics of her, though blurry)
Okay, I'm done.
I will try to get a picture of her actually using the toilet... I think I'll have to leave the camera in the bathroom to accomplish this.
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[Wed, May 3rd, 2006 @ 10:02pm] |
So basically Hildy has been using the toilet 100% perfectly since the last post, and we have widened the hole a little bit two times. The first time VB widened it and I didn't even notice, he widened it so little.
Last weekend, I was cleaning the bathroom and I decided to give the pan a good Windexing. So I took it out on the patio and sprayed it real good. I also cut off the little peeled rolled shreds of aluminum around the edges of the hole on the bottom side of the pan that had gotten curved under when we widened the hole. It made it easier for me to widen the hole a little bit more when I was done cleaning, because all the excess metal wasn't getting in the way.
I was afraid she would be hesitant to go in it because it smelled orangey fresh from the Windex but she went in it almost as soon as I replaced it on the toilet. Sometimes when I have used the toilet she has jumped up on the seat, impatient for me to replace it, and uses it right after I do.
She has also not had any problem with there being stuff already in the toilet before she goes. I know some cats won't go in the toilet if there is already something in it, but she doesn't seem to mind in the least.
The best thing of all is that now the hole is so big that she squats right over it almost every single time, so we don't even have to scoop it anymore. We replace a little sprinkling of litter every once in a while, but that's mostly to absorb the pee if she misses the hole a little bit. She still has all 4 or occcasionally 3 feet in the pan, so I hope that doesn't become a problem.
It is so wonderful not having to clean up anything.
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[Wed, April 19th, 2006 @ 1:54pm] |
We widened the hole again. It is fairly large now. We didn't see any pee in the pan for quite a while, and we thought she wasn't going, but then the other morning I was brushing my teeth and I saw her in the mirror come in, hop up on the toilet, and start going in the hole with only a little scratching beforehand. Tinkle tinkle tinkle! She turned around and sniffed at the hole. I guess she was satisfied because she just scratched once or twice and then hopped off the toilet and became much more interested in me brushing my teeth. She has also gone #2 once (or maybe twice?) with this setup, but we are going to leave it at this size for at least a couple more days.
The size of the hole now
Non-toilet related pictures:
Hildy relaxes
VB and Hildegaard play games
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[Sun, April 16th, 2006 @ 12:29am] |
We expanded the hole again two days ago. She has been doing just fine, and it's kind of become a general rule that we wait until she poops two or three times in the toilet before we expand the hole. If she goes in there a couple times, we figure she's ok with it. Often we will hear her pawing around in there, but when we look in there, she hops off and runs away.
She gets up on the toilet about twice as much as she actually uses it. The other day, I saw her squatting over the hole with two of her feet up on the seat!! And she wasn't all hunkered down in there just kind of resting her two front feet up there, she was actually standing up on them. That is the best posture I have seen from her and I got really excited, but I made her shy so she jumped off and ran away.
The hole is big enough now that she often goes into the hole in the middle. Luckily, she doesn't seem to be having a problem with the sound/splash her stuff makes when it hits the water, which I guess is a problem for a lot of cats doing toilet training. It makes them nervous or startles them and they stop going.
We were having trouble pouring new litter into the pan from the big litter container because the litter grains bounced into the hole, so we poured some litter into a cup that we use to pour into the pan. It's easier to control the amount of litter that gets poured in.
We try to keep enough litter in there so that there won't be a big puddle of pee in the pan for her to get all over her feet. Because that's gross.
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[Sun, April 9th, 2006 @ 6:35pm] |
Lately, Hildy's been trying to hold her #2, but going #1 really regularly in the toilet with no problems. No more accidents, but she is just reluctant to go. A few times on Friday we saw her get up on the toilet, paw around, and squat, but then get back up and go play. If she hadn't gone by the time we got back from Olympia on Saturday, we were going to give her some wet food to make her go. We were also going to wait for her to go #2 in it one more time before we enlarged the hole.
When we got back from Olympia on Saturday night, she had gone in the pan a little. This morning, VB made the hole a little bit bigger. It is now about 3 1/2 or 4 inches in diameter. We're making pretty good progress! This is a time (about 4" hole) that a lot of people say their cat abruptly stops making progress, and even regresses a step or two, so I was kind of nervous.
We went to see V for Vendetta (which was very awesome!) this afternoon, and when we got back, I thought she hadn't gone. I had to use the toilet, so I took the pan out, and I saw that she had gone #2 right into the toilet! (or had pawed it into the hole after she had gone). Woohoo! I didn't even have to scoop it!
We are also down to very little litter. Note how little litter is in the pan.
I also have some pictures for you.
Hildy being crazy with the PS2 controller. (has nothing to do with toilet training)
The new size of the hole, as of this morning.
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[Tue, April 4th, 2006 @ 7:39pm] |
new layout was made by lj user rainbow_booger
i am too lazy to code my own
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[Tue, April 4th, 2006 @ 6:27pm] |
Things are progressing as planned. No more accidents!
We are starting to realize that we have to clean the roasting pan out pretty soon after she uses it, because she won't go in it if it's dirty. We have also been taking it easy on her as far as the level of litter, and replacing the litter that we scoop out. We are more concerned with enlarging the hole at this point than decreasing the litter.
She still doesn't seem very comfortable with going #2 in the roasting pan, so we have left the hole at the same size for a while. Sometimes she just holds it (sometimes for over a day) rather than go in the pan. To discourage this, we have a few cans of wet food in reserve to increase her water intake and make her have to go. She is also the most comfortable going when there is a good amount of litter in the pan and the pan is clean.
Yesterday, before I went to class at 230 pm, she hadn't gone #2 the day before or yet that day. I shut her in the bathroom with her bed and a few toys, and by the time VB had gotten home at about 630 pm, she had gone in the roasting pan.
I forgot to mention that a few weeks ago, we realized the regular cat scooper wasn't working for the roasting pan, since it is smaller and the bottom isn't flat. So we've started using one of those oversized serving spoons. Just a silverware one, so it's not too big. It is not the best, but it is still better than scooping a litterbox.
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[Thu, March 30th, 2006 @ 5:32pm] |
Things have been going well. We enlarged the hole in the roasting pan a little bit last night. She is doing ok. We have been shutting the bedroom door when neither of us in there, and keeping her out of the bedroom if she hasn't pooped during the day, because we're scared of her using the comforter on the bed or the clothes on the floor to go potty.
She is sleeping on my lap right now, and is pretty much totally dead asleep. It's times like this when I like her the most, when she is not biting me and attacking my hand or launching fearsome attacks at my legs. Or jumping onto my back from across the room and digging her claws in.
I don't think she's gone #2 yet today, so we'll see how that goes.
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[Tue, March 28th, 2006 @ 2:01pm] |
Well, I was gone all weekend at Sakuracon, so it was up to VB to man the toilet.
The hole was a little bigger, and Hildy was doing fine with peeing in it, but she hadn't pooped in it yet when I left on Friday.
Well, she pooped. But on the bed. Right on top of the comforter. Luckily, there was a duvet cover, and VB was able to take it off and wash it. We keep the bedroom door closed now when neither of us is in there. It was so disappointing, it was her first accident.
We decided to put a little bit more litter in the pan because we hadn't been adding more as we scooped it out. She hasn't had any accidents since then. There is litter EVERYWHERE, though. It's a big pain.
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[Thu, March 23rd, 2006 @ 6:54pm] |
Today when I got home from school, poor Hildy had gone in the roasting pan but she got pee on her foot. Since it's clay-based litter, it got this... pee-paste on her foot, which she proceeded to smear all over the toilet seat and floor of the bathroom.
Poor kitty. We were going to take it slow, but I think if this continues then quicker is better. I made the hole a little bigger.
I will also see if I can push down the roasting pans so they are more funnel-shaped. Maybe her pee will trickle down to the hole instead of just pooling. :(
She's taking it like a pro, no complaining.
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| History |
[Wed, March 22nd, 2006 @ 12:32pm] |
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A few weeks ago, VB and I decided to teach Hildy how to use the toilet. VB thought it was a joke at first, but once he was convinced it wasn't, he thought it was a great idea. She is pretty smart and easygoing, so we decided to start right away.
All the guides we read said to go very gradually, and start by moving the litter box close to the toilet in small stages. We thought she'd be ok since it was already in the bathroom, so we moved it halfway to the toilet (a few feet) one day, and next to the toilet the next day. She was totally fine.
The guides then said to start raising the litter box to toilet level a few inches at a time. We thought she would be fine if we went faster, so we put the empty Xbox 360 box under it the next day. It was fine. I think we rested for about 2 days to get her used to jumping up into the litter box.
Then we raised it the other half of the way, using a broken computer. We left it for a few days. She was completely fine. The toilet is always lid up, seat down, so that she would get used to walking around on the open toilet.
We moved the litter box halfway onto the toilet seat the next day and then all the way onto the toilet seat the day after, because it was unstable being halfway on the toilet seat. She didn't even bat an eye. We left it like this for a few days.
Then we had to find a metal mixing bowl, following this guide, because it was the most comprehensive we had seen. We measured the toilet bowl (about 11 inches) and found a mixing bowl at Target. We put quite a bit of litter in it (we wanted to make sure she followed along with us and didn't have an accident) and put it in the toilet. We showed it to her and pawed her feet in it, and she seemed responsive but not very interested.
She didn't use it all day or all night, so we were scared that when we went to work/school, she would have an accident, so we left her shut in the bathroom with a few toys for the few hours until I got home from school. The bathroom is huge-- I bet she hardly knew the difference.
Anyway, when I got home, she had gone in the toilet! I didn't know how her "position" was, though-- if she was using all 4 feet on the seat, 2 feet on the seat, what?
During this stage, you have to teach them how to stand on the seat and give them treats when they used the toilet. So every time we would hear her pawing around in the bathroom, we would drop whatever we were doing and rush in there. Guess what that made her do? Stop going, and run over to play with us.
We had an extremely hard time catching her in the act. She would stop doing whatever she was doing every time she heard us coming.
We realized that if we waited until she actually started doing her business, she wouldn't leave until she finished, no matter what we did with her feet. So when we heard her lying around, we'd lie in wait just beyond the bathroom door to wait for her to start going. Then we'd run in.
OH WOE. She was getting entirely inside the bowl! This is bad news, because she's not even starting with ONE foot outside. More work for us and for her!
Every time we'd catch her, we started by just putting her front two feet up on the seat. She meowed piteously every time we touched her while she was going, but made no move to go back to all fours once her two feet were up there. She also essentially has stopped trying to cover up her.. stuff.
We started decreasing the litter. She kept pace every step of the way, no complaints, no nothin'. She was still putting all fours in the bowl, though!
When we got down to very little litter, it was hard to keep her from getting her paws wet in her own pee, since she was still hunkering down inside the bowl.
I started reading a different site, and realized that most everyone who started with the mixing bowl ended up switching over to the roasting pan.
We decided to do this, too. I went out and bought two roasting pans (the heavy aluminum ones). I got two for extra stability so she could stand on them if she had to. It also seemed like a better idea for us, since we could hardly ever catch her to put her feet in the right positions.
With a roasting pan, you cut a little hole in the center and then slowly expand the hole. That way, they get used to the change gradually. She'll have time to adjust her feet and also to get used to the sound/splash of her... uh, potty... hitting the water, and it won't scare her.
So I took the mixing bowl out of the toilet and put the roasting pans in. We left them for a day or so without cutting a hole. She didn't seem to notice the change. She has also been putting one (or even both, sometimes!) of her front feet up on the seat when she goes! WOOHOO!
So, yesterday, I cut about a quarter-sized hole in the middle of the pan. At this stage, a lot of cats freak out and tend to have accidents on the floor because they refuse to go in the pan with the hole in it. She had no problems! I heard her pawing around last night, so I hid outside the bathroom and waited until she stopped pawing and started going, so I could go in and fix her feet.
I heard tinkles going into the toilet! She was peeing almost directly into the hole! That's so great! The problem, you see, with less litter, is that the pee tends to pool in the pan and get on her feet. Which is disgusting both to us and to her. Another problem is that the bottom of the roasting pan is not flat, so scooping it out is kind of a pain.
Anyway, that is where we stand today, with a quarter-sized hole and a dusting of litter in the pan. I will leave it how it is for a little while to get her used to the hole before I expand it.
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hildystoilet's journal
