We're Done

Since we cut the hole in the toilet bowl litter pan Bailey has not pooped in it. She has pooped on the floor, carpet, bed, and Ross's clothes instead. We have become totally paranoid about it. We are constantly looking for her to see what she's doing. We are constantly picking her up and putting her on the toilet. She now cowers and shrinks away from us when we walk up to her. We don't like that. I don't like her holding her pee and poop. I'm concerned about her physical and mental health. It was an adventure, and we are declaring it at an end. I'm sad, but--nothing gained and nothing lost. I know Bailey will be very happy to get her litter box back.

Potty Training: Hole Number One

Bailey has only had one accident since we started potty training, and that was over a week ago, so Ross decided today would be the day to move on to the next step. Just a little while ago Bailey was crying and I thought it might be because her litter pan was dirty. Yep. I dumped everything in the toilet and flushed it, and then washed out the litter pan. I cut out the first hole, and put in fresh litter. I'm excited to see how she does. This is a big step.
Update: Bailey crying because the litter pan was dirty was half true. I think she was crying cause she'd had an accident. Oops. Since the litter pan was dirty she pooped in Ross's shorts (which were on the floor). He was not happy. Ross has vacuumed and steam cleaned the carpets. Now if only the back room was clean.

Potty Update

For those of you who have been waiting to hear about Bailey's progress: today she pooped in the potty. Hurrah! Ross was really worried that she was going to go on the carpet somewhere, but nope--she went in the potty. Ross is a very proud Papi.

Potty Training

We have embarked on a potty training experience with Bailey. I wanted to potty train her when I first got her, but I was so happy that she went in the litter box and covered her stuff that I completely abandoned the idea. I'm not sure why we started thinking about this again--but now there are all sorts of cool things to potty train your cat.
First we moved the litter box right next to the toilet.
Then we raised up the litter box a bit.
A few days later we raised it up to the level of the toilet. We also went out and bought flushable litter.
This is what the training kit looks like. It comes with catnip and an instruction book. I don't know why they suggest putting catnip in with the litter. Bailey already tried to eat the flushable litter (it is 100% wheat.) I don't know why I'd want her eating or playing in the litter. No thanks.
This is the litter pan on the toilet with the flushable litter. We completely took away her litter box yesterday and we've been anxiously awaiting her first pee pee in the potty. We actually added some of her old litter so she'd know what it was, then we added more, and more. We were really nervous. We put her in the litter box at least 6 times and I gave her a treat each time she sat there. This morning I finally heard her scratching at the litter. Bailey's first pee pee in the potty! She got treats and cat nip. I was so excited that I was singing a song about treats for pee pee in the potty.

The idea is to cut out a hole in the middle and progressively make it larger. We are supposed progress to the next size once each week. I think she'll be fine with that. We might even be able to do the first couple of holes a little faster. As the hole gets bigger the cat has to stand on the toilet seat and actually go in the toilet, not in the litter pan. We are keeping our fingers crossed and I'll be sure to post on our girl's progress.