toilet train my cat

In the months since I’ve blogged on this site, I got another cat. And for all of our sanity, the litter box is back.

Damn it smells. Doesn’t seem to matter how many times a day I empty, it’s still a little pit of smelliness. Both of them, actually.

Roo and Pekoe are only just now starting to be allowed together without supervision. The goal is that if they get along well enough, maybe they’ll start using the same litterbox, and then at least I could go from 2 to 1. And from 1 we can start from scratch with the toilet.

/le sigh/

Pekoe pees in the potty like a pro. Hits the hole, every time. Doesn’t even use the litter…scratches at the toilet seat a bit, but really has this down. Somedays, two paws up, some days, four. I could probably cut out the next ring on this one.

But.

We’re still having poopy problems. Switched her food up a bit, and now at least it’s semi-solid. I’d be proud of poop at that consistency…better than hard hard. But, it’s not getting in the toilet. Once on the floor, once in the bathtub. She doesn’t poop every day, more like every 3 days, which worries me. And when she does, there’s a MOUNTAIN of it. And like I said…it’s not in the right place.

I bought a Sitz Tub last night in case we have to backtrack. It’s a bit deeper than I like, but it’ll probably work if we have to go back to no hole or a very small hole. And you can’t beat the price ($12 vs. $35 for a CK and $80 for a LK). We’ll see how the rest of this week goes, and maybe I won’t have to use it.

2 days of kitten shit this week, 2 days where it magically made it into the toilet bowl. More litter may have been the key, vinegar, getting home earlier (though, last night…didn’t get home till 9:30…stupid job) or all the attention. I dunno. But it’s been nice to be not going backward right now.

My mom is coming to visit this weekend, (despite the fact that I have to work…ooooo baby!) so I might just cut the next ring out Friday night. She can be home with the baby for a lot of the day, which is really good for moral support, which Pekoe seems to need at times. Or maybe we’ll just sit at this step for another week. But I’m hoping to go /visit/ mom and dad next weekend, so maybe that weekend is a time to sit still for a while. Hrrrmmmmm.

So, the accident I marked as her not feeling well (read: a really big puddle of kitty shit) appears not to have been an isolated incident. I don’t know if it’s that I didn’t clean it up well enough to get rid of the smell (yes, this time I sprayed the whole bathroom down in vinegar) or there wasn’t enough litter on the toilet ring, or she really couldn’t hold it a second time, but there it was, another huge puddle of liquid kitty shit on the bathroom floor tonight when I got home.

I think I just have to start getting home earlier in the evening to keep an eye on her.

::sigh::

We had our first major setback. I’m glad it happened now, but I’m worried, of course.

Pekoe came out with me when I took out the recyclables. Sometimes I let her do this…she likes to roll on the concrete and investigate the lawn. I usually have to chase her down and bring her back in, which I did. As we went inside, her stomach was gurgling and I heard her farting.

Apparently, she didn’t make it. Massive puddle of kitty diarrhea on the bathroom rug. Might have been some in the toilet, but it’s hard to tell with the orangy brown litter. Also some on the bathroom floor, where it missed the rug.

I’m blaming the accident on myself for picking her up when she was obviously holding it, on the worm treatment for giving her the runs, and definitely not her fault.

But it still could cause problems. I hosed the rug down, and it’s now soaking in a vinegar solution, so she shouldn’t associate the rug with poop. Also going to mop the floor in there.

She seems to be ok now. Sprinted all over the house a few times, now settling down to groom herself on my chair.

I don’t think we’ll be expanding the CK for at least a week, though.

My little kitty going tinkle. And it actually tinkling. Meaning she’s getting some aim, and hitting the water.

Granted, she’s also scratching at the litter, but only a little. Such a good girl.

Except for the whole scratching my leather chair bit…

I’m pretty sure Pekoe has a case of worms. I only figured it out after I punched the second ring out of the Shitty Kitty – I was supervising while she went poop (all on the plastic, all the litter through the hole), and noticed that there was a little bit of bright red blood with her poop. Which set off all sorts of alarms in my head. She’s had diarrhea a few times recently, and some mucusy poop too. So I check out her tush, and what I had written off as little specks of litter clinging her her fur are probably egg sacs.

Vet won’t give me a dewormer until I bring in a stool sample…now, of course, she hitting the hole and I can’t seem to get any poop. Praying for tonight’s bm. In the mean time, I won’t be making any changes to the CK until she’s better. That’s the last thing she needs…a poopy disease and changes in how she can poop. It’s like hiding the lotion from someone with psoriasis.

There’s a small oval hole in the middle of the ShittyKitty now. Pekoe gets most of the litter into the hole, only some of the poop/pee. She doesn’t seem to be pleased with this arrangement, but she is pleased with all the attention she gets because of it. But, I haven’t found any suprises anywhere else, so I guess it’s working.

She still has all four paws on the plastic, and is hopelessly addicted to litter. I’m afraid that even though it’s supposed to be flushable, there’s so much litter in my toilet that it’ll clog the system.

Tomorrow is Friday, and I’ll cut out the next ring. Or half of the next ring. And I’ll scrub the whole bathroom for the 5 minutes of relief it will give me.

Ok, so if you’ve ever seen the Nutrigrain bar commercial with the “BABIES EVERYWHERE!!!” line, this is how I feel right now (http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-8567695671324387491&q=babies+everywhere+nutrigrain&hl=en).

Pekoe is using the uncut CitiKitty (am I the only one who calls it the ShittyKitty?) in the toilet, no problem. But she really likes to move the litter around, and the entire floor of my bathroom has a fine coat of litter dust and grains sprinkled around. I’m not putting the vacuum away until this is over, since I feel the urge to vacuum the bathroom, oh, every five minutes.

One problem I did not forsee is the state of the CitiKitty as it gets used. I’m going to have to wash it at some point, or the princess will turn up her nose and not use it, once the bottom has a layer of poop that didn’t get to the litter. That’s what she does…moves all the litter away, poops, and then covers it up with the litter she piled up.

And this creature has the smelliest poop of any animal, be it human, cat, dog, horse, rodent, bird or fish that I have ever known. I’d change her diet, but she seems to enjoy it so.

Bought the CitiKitty last night. Pekoe is still visiting my mom…probably a good thing I didn’t pick her up on my way home (you know, the extra 5 hours in the car after 10 from Boston might’ve been too much). Especially since I was burgled while I was gone.