Slow Learners

In my last post, I described the problems I had with Zoey transitioning to the Amber phase, so I went back to the Red phase. JC and Zoey both seemed a bit "relieved" (yeah, I'm punny...) to have their solid red tray again. I thought that I would let them use the red tray for a couple days, then try to switch to the amber tray once more.

This time, I was going to do what I should have done the first time and use the amber tray with the smaller hole.

JC quickly redeveloped his problem of missing the toilet, but I suppose women who live with men - of any species - just have to get used to the occasional splash zone. Still, it pretty much ruined my night a few days later when I woke up in the early hours of the morning and stepped in something wet. Later, when I was fully awake and functional, I tried installing the amber tray again.

No luck. Again, it was Zoey who was having problems with the transition. One day and some carpet cleaner later, I gave up and put the red tray back in. I'm really at a loss for what to do next. Zoey may need more time, but it's been five weeks now. She may just not be cut out for toilet training, but I'm hoping that's not the case.

I'm still using the red tray, but starting tomorrow I'm going to change how I put the litter in it. The circular body of the tray is divided in half by a small ridge, so I'm going to leave the inner circle empty and only put litter in the outside circle. It's like Toilet Training Your Cat for Dummies - or Toilet Training Your Dummy Cats - the smaller the transitions, the better.

It'll still be solid, but maybe it will get Zoey more acclimated to having an absence of litter in the middle, and eventually we can try moving on to the amber phase again. If anyone has any other ideas, I'm open to suggestions!

Resolutions

Happy New Year! After ringing in the new year with a few friends, I awoke on New Year's Day to find yet another present in the bathtub. Admittedly, this one seems to be my fault, because the toilet seat was down, covering up the Litter Kwitter. I hadn't made any resolutions before this discovery, but I quickly resolved to not put the seat down again. Oops.

We went a few days without any problems, but then JC suddenly started missing the toilet when he was peeing. Not just by a little bit - it was like he was hanging his butt off the side of the toilet and just going there. I thought that if I moved the cats on to the next phase, the Amber Phase, maybe he would be forced to use it correctly because he wouldn't be standing in the middle of the toilet.

When I purchased the Litter Kwitter, I purchased the additional trays to go with it. The extra trays make the steps more gradual, and honestly should just be included in the kit. I skipped the extra amber tray with the smallest hole and went right to the regular amber tray, hoping to correct JC's problem.

I switched out the trays and placed Zoey and JC on top of the new tray, showing them that it had a new hole in the middle because I didn't want them to just hop up there and fall in. Actually, that would have been hilarious, and I wanted to see it happen - but I decided to show them so they wouldn't boycott the toilet altogether. JC was the first to use the new tray. He looked a bit confused, but he positioned himself correctly and the poop went into the toilet! Finally, solid progress.

And then, regression...

Zoey wasn't afraid to get up on the new tray at all, but she was very perplexed by the hole. She kept sticking her head down into it and raking all the litter into the water below. I could tell she needed to use the tray, because she kept jumping up and scratching, but then she would just hop down and come whine to me. After she pooped on the rug, I replaced the original amber tray with the one with the smaller hole. Still, she was overly anxious about the "hole" thing after a day had passed, and I had a feeling the rug was going to be getting some more carpet cleaning love soon if I didn't do something.

So now, we're back to the Red Phase. Back to step one. We're almost four weeks into a program that's advertised to work in eight weeks. I don't think we'll hit the eight week target, but my cats are between 4-5 years old and fairly set in their ways. It'll take time, but I still haven't lost hope. I just made another resolution: to stay patient.