The Smell of Success

It's been a couple weeks since I've posted, mostly because nothing new had developed. My cats were seemingly stuck on the red tray and I was starting to lose hope that my neurotic Zoey would ever get the hang of moving to the next step.

Last Saturday, since it had been a couple weeks since I'd tried replacing the tray, I decided to give it a another whirl. I wasn't too optimistic, but the red tray needed a good cleaning anyway so I gave it a shot. Later that evening, Zoey went through her usual signs of stress - she hopped up on the tray with the hole, scratched litter everywhere, then hopped down on the rug and scratched some more. Luckily, she typically poops at night, so I was home to watch her and keep her from going on the rug.

When she started scratching the rug, I would tell her no. She came over and whined to me, then went back to the toilet and hopped back up on the tray. She did this a few times, but finally --

She pooped on the amber tray!

A few of my close friends got texts of excitement from me before Zoey was even done. I feel like we've hit a major breakthrough. Since Saturday, she's been using the toilet every night. She still has to hop between the toilet and the rug a couple times, whining, but it seems to be getting easier. I reward her with a treat each time she uses the toilet, and of course I give JC a treat too because he's awesome and has had it down from the beginning. JC has even stopped missing the toilet when he pees.

I have had to sternly warn my boyfriend that he still needs to take the litter tray off the toilet before he uses it. I can just see most men looking at that little hole and thinking, "I bet I can make it..."