Progress!

Bucky has finally gotten used to the hole at the bottom of his litter box. He is also becoming less and less dependent on my presence in the bathroom. The highlight was an unexpected run Starbucks made to the bathroom a couple of mornings ago where he placed his front two paws and his one back paw on the toilet lid! After about 3 weeks, I made the hole slightly bigger….he definately notices but it seems all in all ok! In fact, I think that although he notices that somehow the hole is “different” he doesn’t seem to think too much has changed.

It definately took lots of patience to get Bucky to the point of feeling comfortable with not being able to just sit in the litter box. I felt so guilty about the process…he was not happy with the set up and I was second guessing the ethics of toilet training him. After all, it is only natural for a cat to want to eliminate and then bury it and the only reason I was training him to not do that was for my own benefit. I stuck to the plan despite these concerns and now, after about 3 weeks, Starbucks is very comfortable and doesn’t seem to think twice about the setup. I am sure that anyone who has toilet trained their cat has come across a few stumbling blocks. The best piece of advice I have during those times is sticking with the plan and thinking about the goal. If kitty is not liking the setup and would much rather use your bed or the carpet or anythings else rather than his “litter box”/the toilet (as was the case with Starbucks) you need to remain on your toes! Although my cat was quite vocal about when he needed to go (almost as if warning me that he knew he was doing something bad but doing it anyways), keep a watch out and as soon as he starts pick up him and put him in the litter box and praise and encourage him to go. If he was trying to go else where, at this point he will begrudgingly go in the litter box.

Another challenge I had was that he got so used to me taking him to the toilet seat that for about 2 weeks, he stopped trying to use my bed, but instead telling me that he needed to go and would want me to go into the bathroom and encourage him while he went. He would hold it in all day and then go when I got home. Only now has he started going by himself, without needed me to follow him into the bathroom and that has definately been a great step for us!