I adopted my year-old cat on St. Patrick's day. She was abandoned by her owners when they upped and moved to avoid paying $5,000 in back rent. For two months she was an outdoor cat who desperately wanted to be indoors. She's a total sweetheart, and seems perfectly content with being indoors with the occasional peak outside the front door. I have a leash and harness for her so I can let her adventure further out without running into the busy street, but she doesn't seem to show much interest.
I set up a litter box with some clay litter in the bathroom of my one bedroom apartment (bedroom doesn't have a door, so there isn't any restricting her to an area except for the nice-sized bathroom). She took to the litter box instantly, which was nice, but I had to clean up after her instantly or my apartment would smell like poop as she refuses to cover it, and frequently would get her whole body into the litter box and poop on the edge/floor.
I decided that since she doesn't cover her poop anyway, that I would try toilet training her. It's only $30, so I figured it would work and my problems would be solved, or I would have just wasted $30. Please don't lecture me on how "unnatural" it is for a cat to use the toilet. Cats naturally go after birds, devastating bird populations. Just because it's "natural" doesn't mean it's good, and no harm is coming to her using the toilet.
It has been 3 months, and she pees and poops in the pan. She didn't originally want to poop in the pan after removing two rings, but the problem there was that I was moving too fast for her so I went back and now she poops in the pan most of the time. Occasionally she'll poop on the floor or in the tub, but after bleaching and scrubbing the floor, she has stopped pooping on the floor, and after jumping in the tub while the shower head was on, she's nixed pooping in the shower.
This past Memorial Day weekend, my husband and I left for my parent's for 2 nights and 3 days. I left her 3 big bowls of water, and 3 bowls of food. I had a friend come check in on her, but she came in the evening of the day we left, and didn't bother to come back in the middle of the weekend when I had actually asked her to. The cat filled her pan with pee and poop, and then left three more piles next to my husband's side of the bed.
I cleaned her box, the piles of poop, and scrubbed the poop pile area with Resolve for pets. I put new litter in her box (a mix of clay and flushable litter that she likes) and showed it to her. She continued to use the toilet pan.
My husband and I are both military, and the next day he has "duty" which means he has to stay overnight on his ship. When he has duty, I think the bed feels way too lonely so I sleep on the cozy, comfy couch. Apparently my cat thought this would be prime opportunity to nestle herself in his side of the bed and pee -- coating our sheets, a comforter, a mink blanket, and 2 pillows. I managed to throw the sheets in the wash, and sprayed resolve for pets and anibacterial fabreeze all over the place, and locked her in the bathroom with her toys, covered bed, and food for the day because I work 12 hour shifts and I didn't trust her alone with my bed.
When we got home I let her run around the apartment. She didn't return to the bed to relieve herself while we were there. The next morning (this morning), my husband wakes up and gets out of bed. I have off so I lay there for a while longer. I get up to feed the cat because she's bouncing off the walls for me to feed her, and not long after she starts meowing and running all around the floor on his side of the bed and over the bed. She would lay in the bed and look at me, and if I moved at all, she would bolt. She was sniffing and running all over the place and meowing frantically, so I picked her up and set her on the toilet. She positioned herself on the seat and pooped instantly.
I'm so confused as to why she's doing this now. :/ I mean, is she still mad at us for going away for the weekend? Is she mad at my husband for leaving and not coming home every night (because, that's obviously not going to change, and deployments aren't optional either!) Or has she just decided that the bed was a prime place to relieve herself? BTW, her pee looks perfectly fine (No crystals or anything in it), and her personality hasn't changed. I don't want to be paranoid that she's going to relieve herself on my bed from now on!
Also, I am saving money on the side for a CatGenie. If she doesn't adapt to the toilet by the time I have saved up for one, I'm going to go ahead and get it. Having a normal litter box just isn't an option for this cat in our tiny apartment. lol
I set up a litter box with some clay litter in the bathroom of my one bedroom apartment (bedroom doesn't have a door, so there isn't any restricting her to an area except for the nice-sized bathroom). She took to the litter box instantly, which was nice, but I had to clean up after her instantly or my apartment would smell like poop as she refuses to cover it, and frequently would get her whole body into the litter box and poop on the edge/floor.
I decided that since she doesn't cover her poop anyway, that I would try toilet training her. It's only $30, so I figured it would work and my problems would be solved, or I would have just wasted $30. Please don't lecture me on how "unnatural" it is for a cat to use the toilet. Cats naturally go after birds, devastating bird populations. Just because it's "natural" doesn't mean it's good, and no harm is coming to her using the toilet.
It has been 3 months, and she pees and poops in the pan. She didn't originally want to poop in the pan after removing two rings, but the problem there was that I was moving too fast for her so I went back and now she poops in the pan most of the time. Occasionally she'll poop on the floor or in the tub, but after bleaching and scrubbing the floor, she has stopped pooping on the floor, and after jumping in the tub while the shower head was on, she's nixed pooping in the shower.
This past Memorial Day weekend, my husband and I left for my parent's for 2 nights and 3 days. I left her 3 big bowls of water, and 3 bowls of food. I had a friend come check in on her, but she came in the evening of the day we left, and didn't bother to come back in the middle of the weekend when I had actually asked her to. The cat filled her pan with pee and poop, and then left three more piles next to my husband's side of the bed.
I cleaned her box, the piles of poop, and scrubbed the poop pile area with Resolve for pets. I put new litter in her box (a mix of clay and flushable litter that she likes) and showed it to her. She continued to use the toilet pan.
My husband and I are both military, and the next day he has "duty" which means he has to stay overnight on his ship. When he has duty, I think the bed feels way too lonely so I sleep on the cozy, comfy couch. Apparently my cat thought this would be prime opportunity to nestle herself in his side of the bed and pee -- coating our sheets, a comforter, a mink blanket, and 2 pillows. I managed to throw the sheets in the wash, and sprayed resolve for pets and anibacterial fabreeze all over the place, and locked her in the bathroom with her toys, covered bed, and food for the day because I work 12 hour shifts and I didn't trust her alone with my bed.
When we got home I let her run around the apartment. She didn't return to the bed to relieve herself while we were there. The next morning (this morning), my husband wakes up and gets out of bed. I have off so I lay there for a while longer. I get up to feed the cat because she's bouncing off the walls for me to feed her, and not long after she starts meowing and running all around the floor on his side of the bed and over the bed. She would lay in the bed and look at me, and if I moved at all, she would bolt. She was sniffing and running all over the place and meowing frantically, so I picked her up and set her on the toilet. She positioned herself on the seat and pooped instantly.
I'm so confused as to why she's doing this now. :/ I mean, is she still mad at us for going away for the weekend? Is she mad at my husband for leaving and not coming home every night (because, that's obviously not going to change, and deployments aren't optional either!) Or has she just decided that the bed was a prime place to relieve herself? BTW, her pee looks perfectly fine (No crystals or anything in it), and her personality hasn't changed. I don't want to be paranoid that she's going to relieve herself on my bed from now on!
Also, I am saving money on the side for a CatGenie. If she doesn't adapt to the toilet by the time I have saved up for one, I'm going to go ahead and get it. Having a normal litter box just isn't an option for this cat in our tiny apartment. lol
, if you want a good covered one. I would not recommend any other covered system as far as covered goes.
