Sunday, February 15, 2009
This Should Be Interesting
Of course, it’s possible that I’m just an idiot. It remains to be seen. Many years ago, I had only two cats and with school and work and all the time I spent on the bus to and fro, I didn’t have a lot of time to be cleaning up cat litter. I would be exhausted at the end of the day and the last thing I wanted to do was scoop poop, scrub a litter box, sweep the fracking litter that they tracked all over the floor....
So, I found one of those trainers that would eventually train the cat to use the toilet instead of a litter box. This was over a decade ago and at that time, it was a flimsy little piece of plastic. The idea was that you would start out by continuing to use the usual litter box but slowly, gradually, bring it closer and closer to the toilet. Then, you would start to elevate the litter box using whatever means necessary. (I used old phone books.) Eventually the litter box that they were used to would be even with the level of the toilet seat.
From that point, you were to place the flimsy plastic piece under the seat of the toilet to hold it in place while also still having the usual litter box at seat level. In time, you would take away the old litter box and leave just the flimsy plastic piece under the toilet seat and the kitties would realize that this is where they were to go, now. After awhile, the idea was to be able to remove the plastic piece altogether and the cats would just do their business, right in to the toilet and all you had to do was come home and flush. Brilliance! No more buying cat litter, no more litter pans, no more gross scooper, no more stink!
Now, I had a 50% success rate. One cat managed to learn how to use it and she would hover her little butt over the toilet and go. Oh it was a proud moment, indeed. (I don’t need much, really.)
Another cat really did make the attempt to use it and did well all the way until it was time to put the device under the toilet seat for him to get used to perching himself on the seat. Well, this particular cat didn’t seem to grasp the concept that he needed to sit on the seat and hang his butt over the litter in the center. What he did, instead, was try to climb in to the plastic piece and, of course, he fell in to the toilet, plastic piece, litter and all. From that point on, he used the tub beside the toilet, instead. That is, until I gave up and brought out the old litter box for them to use again. Sigh.
Again, though, this was way back when and the piece to be used was flimsy plastic. I understand the reason for it, you don’t want your cat to get used to sitting in the middle of the toilet, you want it to learn how to perch itself on the seat to go. But, perhaps it was just a little too flimsy.
In this day and age, these products have greatly improved and I’m finding myself with more cats than I thought I would have at this point in my life. (As I still do not have the acres and acres of land required for a pet sanctuary.) But, I have a soft spot for abandoned animals and come with a giant “S” on my forehead that animals, far and wide, can sense. The problem with having so many pets is that one has to constantly change the litter. Constantly sweep. Constantly throw old, stinky ass litter away. It’s a non stop thing and I’m really tired of sweeping, cleaning and changing every day or even twice a day.
In my current place, I have to hide the cat food in the bathroom. Each morning, when I get up to feed the hoodlums, they jump on the toilet to stuff their faces in to the bag while I’m trying to scoop some out for their bowls. Sometimes I have left the lid up and they have managed to perch themselves on to the seat with no problems, never once falling in. Soon, I will be getting a new place. And soon, I will want things to be even cleaner and nicer looking than they are right now. So, soon, I’m going to dive back in to the world of toilet training cats.
I’ve been online all day looking at all sorts of cat litter boxes and self cleaning and toilet training devices and most of them are WAY overpriced. One of them, a self cleaning cat litter box, that gets high praises all around, it just too expensive for me at this point in life. I’ve seen people with blogs who have cats talk about this particular product and I’ve not seen one bad review. The problem for me is that it costs about $300 and you have to get a special granule made for that system only and sanitizer. Now, if I had only one or two cats, this would be the way to go. But it is not recommended for more than 2 cats, 3 maximum.
So, I would have to get two. I don’t have $600 to be spending on a cat litter pan no matter how miraculous and glorious it is. I do wish I could have one because people sing its praises from the mountain tops. But, with the amount of cats I now have saved, it wouldn’t end up being cost efficient. Which is a major let down. Maybe one day I can get one of those.
In the meantime, I have to find another solution. I did, at one time, have a self cleaning litter box. It was not this particular brand and it was also a bit expensive but it did work pretty well. The only problem is that it was LOUD when it cleaned. I could hear it three rooms away. The other problem was that I had one cat who would defecate all over the sides instead of in the litter like the other cats did so it ended up being something I had to clean all the time anydamnway.
Right now, the cats I have seem to be either eager to please, (Serenity), or are young enough to learn quickly and not be stubborn in their ways. And since sometimes I am not the best on keeping all those litter boxes perfectly clean at all times, I have seen them use the bathroom sink. I know, it’s gross. I disinfect to the highest order but, it has happened. Nonetheless, this, combined with the need for something to work and with their prancing all over the toilet seat trying to get to the food, gave me the idea that maybe I can make another go of this. These are all new cats in my life from when I tried it the first time so many years ago. Maybe it will work well this time.
So, when I get in to my new place, I’m going to give it a try. However, learning from the past and the flimsy piece of plastic, I’ve decided that instead of spending $100 on some device offered up by pet stores, I’m going to try what I thought about those many years ago. I will be visiting the cooking department of my local department store.
See, all I really need is one giant steel mixing bowl that will fit under the toilet seat. That’s really all that flimsy plastic was anyway. One giant bowl that fit under a seat. I will move the boxes to the bathroom area and we will start off on the right foot....paw, this time. I will eventually raise the box to seat level and will put the giant, steel mixing bowl under the seat, with some litter in it to get them used to the idea. If I see that they are using it and using it properly, I will take away the raised litter box and hopefully I’ll be able to come home every day and flush their crap right down the toilet.
No litter, no mess, no stank.
I SHOULD be moving in to my new place this next weekend. (We’ll see. You know how it is when you have to rely on OTHER people to do their job.) And the training will begin. I will keep you all updated.
I know, it’s riveting, hard hitting news here at Serenity’s Journal, isn’t it? But I also know that many of my readers have cats and maybe they can learn from me if I am successful. Maybe they can try it as well.
I hope it does work because frankly, not only do I want my new place to remain clean at all times and smell nice, with the economy going in to the tank, I am looking to cut corners where possible. If this does indeed succeed, I’ll save myself a good $40 a month. That’s only slightly less than St. Hope and Change plans to give us. I might get to finish that college education after all!
update Breaking News! Looks like I can just go to the grocery store to get started instead of spending money on a steel bowl. I found this person’s site and the instructions make a lot of sense. Step by Step Instructions. I’m going to try it her way as her instructions are far more clear and again, make way more sense than any others I’ve seen. When I first tried this, I didn’t get these kinds of instructions beyond removing old litter box so kitty can get used to flimsy plastic bowl inside toilet. Maybe this time I’ll have success.
The only downside I see to this is that while training, I have to share this toilet with these cats and it means I’m going to have to remove the roasting pan every time I want to use the bathroom. Hmmm, maybe I’ll train them to use the toilet and I’ll use their litter box.
Oh nok it off, I’m just kidding.
But I am definitely going to try this now that I have way better instructions. I have high hopes. No, seriously, it really doesn’t take that much to amuse me. Haven’t you figured that out by now? How long have you been here? Five minutes?
