Toilet Training Devon Rexes with Citi Kitty- "The Poop Diaries"

I have decided to toilet train my cats for a number of reasons I've covered in another post on the blog. Click here to find out more. This section is a diary of our progress which I hope you'll find either useful or amusing.

I figured if normal cats can do it, it should be a breeze with Devon Rexes so I ordered the CitiKitty toilet training system on Ebay which arrived a week after my kitties did. It's basically a flimsy plastic cover for the toilet bowl with perforated rings that can be popped out at intervals to make a progressively bigger hole until the kitties get used to peeing with all four paws on the seat straight into the bowl. Then the device comes off completely and voilá... you have a toilet trained cat. Sounds so easy doesn't it?

So what do you get for your money (I paid 10€ on Ebay plus delivery for it)? Not a whole lot other than a flimsy bit of plastic that probably cost about 20 cents to manufacture and an instruction leaflet. It's a great idea but it's the owner and the cats that really need to put the work in to get a toilet-trained cat out of the process. It's not a miracle product and my "Poop Diary" below will give you a pretty good idea of the blood, sweat and tears (and other bodily fluids of course) that it takes to make this work.

Although it's a lot of money to pay for a rubbishy bit of plastic, for the sake of 10€ I wasn't about to go faffing about with taping aluminium roasting pans to the toilet or any of the other DIY solutions the internet comes up with. I mean seriously, you've just paid 700€ for a cat and you're going to scrimp on a 10€ toilet seat? I think not.

I also decided against the rival product the Litter Kwitter (they love their cutesy misspellings in this industry don't they?) as it's only a 3 stage process which means if your cats need to take things slowly... they can't. The CitiKitty on the other hand is a 5-6 stage process with the option of cutting smaller bits of the rings off if you need things to go even more gradually.

Personally I think it was good to use standard litter trays for the first week  while they settled in rather than blow their tiny minds with too many changes at once.

By the time the kit arrived the litter boxes were already next to the toilet so phase 1 of training was already complete.

I want to make it very clear here that I train my cats (and my dog) on the basis that good behaviour is to be rewarded, and there is no such thing as bad behaviour. If an animal gets something "wrong", I believe it's the fault of the trainer who has failed to find a way for the animal to understand the goal or who has made the process too difficult for even a willing animal to succeed. After all, in asking my cats to use the toilet I'm asking them to do something that doesn't come naturally to them and that undermines all their previous training to use a litter box so punishing them in ANY way for accidents is unfair, cruel and idiotic.

Day 1
When the CitiKitty got here I was a bit surprised at how flimsy the plastic was and when I lifted them onto it they seemed a bit freaked out by it after their nice, sturdy litter trays. Apparantly this is intentional to get the cats used to the balancing act they're going to have to do later on when they have to stand on the seat to pee which actually makes sense. No problem, I used a little lateral thinking and stuck the CitiKitty filled with litter on the floor where the litter tray had been. They weren't immediately convinced but within 24 hours were just fine on it. You won't find this tip in any of the CitiKitty literature but to me it seemed like common sense and a vital step in starting the training. Blue did get a pretty ferocious bout of diarrheah that day which was godawful timing and probably related to the missing muffin mixture from the kitchen incident that happened when I turned my back for two minutes (these guys will eat anything!). However, I was determined that once the CK was out there was no going back. The kit does come with catnip which you're meant to sprinkle in the litter but I skipped this for two reasons. One is that catnip seems to have no effect whatsoever on my Devon Rexes and secondly even if it did, I'm not sure the addition of mildly hallucinogenic substances would have a positive effect on any activity involving excrement. I might be wrong, but I'm not risking it.

Day 2
The CK is now on the toilet bowl and the cats ain't keen. The pet shop has also run out of the silica gel litter my boys are used to and I gather the litter has to be pure as the driven snow for CK training to work. Bummer. Bowie tends to be quicker to catch on to training and more laid back about new things and he was peeing in it (albeit hesitantly) pretty quickly. Blue was having none of it and hung around the bathroom shouting for me to sort things out sharpish. He even started scratching the floor where the litter box used to be as if he was going to pee there but thankfully I caught him in time and put him on the CK where he proceeded to do... absolutely nothing. Then, in one of the happiest coincidences of my life so far (toilet training cats will make you lose your sense of proportion as well as your mind), I discovered my secret weapon... prosciutto. These cats are pretty food-orientated anyway but prosciutto crudo (parma ham) sends them out of their minds. They'll do just about anything to get it and when it's gone will obsessively lick every last molecule off my fingers. Cue me crouched on the floor by the toilet luring the cats onto the CK and rewarding them with prosciutto every time. They LOVED this new game and now every time I go anywhere near the bathroom they're running ahead of me, jumping onto the toilet and looking at me expectantly. You're fresh out of luck kiddies. The freebies have ended and from now on you're going to have to give up the goods before you get even a whiff of ham... but in the space of an hour we've gone from them seeing the CK as the root of all evil in the world to a pretty cool place to hang out. Even Blue managed to pee in it shortly afterwards.

Day 2 is also when I realised that even if my kitties were the awesome little bundles of fluff I know they can be and trained relatively quickly with no accidents, this is not going to be a fun process. For starters, it's messy as hell. When cats scratch in the litter in a CitiKitty it gets everywhere and I mean everywhere. And when you're using silica gel cat litter and need a barefoot, lights-out trip to the bathroom at night you WILL step on the crystals and they WILL make you use lots of rude words very loudly. Do not even attempt using a CK if you have a carpeted bathroom. Just the thought makes me shudder.

Being a Brit I'm slightly more chilled out about hygene and animals. I'll clean the CK after every use and sweep and wash the bathroom floor at least once a day. I think that's plenty. My Italian boyfriend is a little less relaxed about these things. Thank God he's away for a month for now but I'm pretty sure he isn't going to be staying at mine until the process is complete and my bathroom is restored to its usual hygenic state. I also think I'll hold off inviting Italian friends round for dinner for now.

If (like me) you live in a one bathroom house you'll need to lift the CitiKitty off before you can use the toilet. Thankfully, being in Italy, I do have a bidet I can pop it onto when I need to use the facilities but you'll still find yourself peeing like a racehorse just in case one of the cats needs to go at that exact moment and you don't want ANY interruptions in their training process. You also end up with paw prints all over the seat so a packet of antibacterial wipes by the loo is an essential. It's also a lot more labour intensive than a litter box. Cat's prefer to do their business in squeaky clean litter so you'll find yourself obsessively washing and refilling the CK several times a day so that nothing puts them off using it.

Still, I'm keeping my eye on the prize and imagining a litter-free, odour-free home. That and having all my friends tell me how awesome it is that my cat pees in the toilet. That'll be really cool too.

Day 3

Blue doing the do. He's shy though...

Bowie is peeing in the CK like a superstar and by late afternoon we'd struck gold... a number two. I never in my wildest dreams thought I'd ever get excited at the sight of a fresh, steaming cat turd on a plastic tray but Devons, like babies, tend to change their parent's perspective on certain things. Bowie also seems to be peeing WAY more often than he did in the litter box, probably because he knows he'll get a treat when he does. Sometimes with him I wonder who's training who. Still no poop action from Blue but he does pee in it although he seems pretty unhappy about it still. Not to worry, he loves the prosciutto afterwards and as long as he's peeing I'm not worried about him holding the poop for now.

Day 4
So far I've been at home 24/7 since the start of the CK experiment but today I have a long overdue appointment at the hairdressers that will see me out of the house for a few hours. Up til now I've been tiptoeing down the hall every time I hear kitty litter type noises in the bathroom ready to either reward or reposition my babies. Even though they are both now peeing like superstars, I'm pathetically worried about what will happen in my absence. I'm worried that just one accident on the floor will set us back a long way, but I'm just as worried about my grey roots and figure my life can't be entirely controlled by kitty pee so off I go, making sure I shut the bedroom door behind me (the CitiKitty forum is full of stories about disgruntled cats pooping on the bed to tell "Mum" what they think about the new bathroom arrangements). I get back to find... somebody has peed in the CK while I was out! Woohoo! They were obviously waiting on the prosciutto lady to get home though and within 5 minutes of me walking in the door, Blue hops in and pees. So I clean it out and replace the litter and as soon as I've finished, Bowie's in there peeing too. Then Blue gets back in and... poops for the first time in three days. Two hours later and both head back to pee and Bowie poops too. Both looking like pros as if they've been doing all their lives. Celebrate? The Olympic opening ceremony had nothing on what was going on in my bathroom tonight.

Interestingly (if you're interested in this kind of thing) Bowie no longer bothers trying to cover his mess up like normal cats. Instead he hops to the edge of the bowl and looks at me expectantly waiting for his treats as soon as he's delivered the goods. I guess if I ever went back to litter boxes this would cause a whole load of issues (cat poop stinks if not immediately covered by litter). However, I'm not planning on EVER going back to stinky litter trays and I'm looking at this as a positive thing. Firstly because the less scratching about the cats do, the less dirty litter I have to clean up off the floor. Secondly because he won't have any litter to scratch in once training's complete so he may as well get used to it now.

It's so, so tempting to take the first ring out and see how things go but I'll be patient for once in my life and wait just a little longer. Although it would be cool to be one of those smug cat owners posting in the "My Cat's a Genius" and trained in days section of the CitiKitty forum...

Day 5
Both are using the CK with no problems at all. Bowie seems to have developed a habit of shouting for me every time he needs to use it just to make sure I'm there to witness the act and provide the appropriate prosciutto rewards. This cat really does train me rather than the other way round. If he carries on like this for the rest of his life I'm sure I'll get a bit tired of it but for now any usage of the CK is a little miracle so I'm finding it very cute.

I went out for a bit in the evening and when I came back popped the CK onto the bidet next to the toilet so I could pee. Blue hopped in and peed in it while it was there. I wasn't sure whether to stop him because I don't want them using bidet and toilet interchangeably but decided against it as I don't want to do anything to discourage him from using the CK.

My other half is due back at the end of the month and, although I know it would be a miracle I'd love, love, love for training to be done by then (it's the 9th of February now). With that in mind, I think ring one will be coming out tomorrow... wish me luck!

Day 6

The CK on Ring One

And the first ring is out! Both cats but especially Blue were fascinated by the hole and spent a while peering through it and fishing around it with their paws. I cooked up some beef mince, making sure the cats smelt it and saw me put it in the bathroom cabinet where they know the CK treats are stored. I was expecting Blue to be a bit hesitant about this step but as soon as he saw the mince being put away he connected it to the CK, knew what was expected of him and peed right through the hole! I made a huge fuss of him and 10 minutes later he also pooped, again right through the hole. This is amazing, not only because he's progressed seamlessly to the next stage but also because keeping the CK clean looks like it just got a whole lot easier.

I've been getting through so much litter since we started this experiment in an effort to keep it as clean as possible. As the CK is much smaller than the litter box, holds less litter and gives the cats less scope to scratch and cover pee up themselves the silica gel crystals just don't seem to be coping that well. Fingers crossed if it carries on like this it's looking like all I need to do from here on in is press the flush. I'm not counting my chickens though and know we're still a long way away from the finish line...

I spoke too soon. The first ring came out at 2pm, it's now 10pm and I'd noticed Bowie holding his pee all day so I've been keeping my beady eye on him. He started to scratch at the bathtub so I put him on the CK and filled the tub with a few inches of water. 10 minutes later and after scratching several other places (with me repositioning him each time) he started to pee on the floor behind the toilet. I grabbed him immediately and he finished the job on the CK but DAMN, he was doing so, so well. I thought if either was going to have an issue it would be Blue not my clever Bowie. Still, I'm determined not to go back a step unless we have another accident so will be keeping my fingers firmly crossed...

Day 7
Having a black day today. Spent a horrible night last night... I didn't sleep at all and headed into the bathroom what feels like a hundred times to check Bowie wasn't doing anything he shouldn't. This morning Blue hopped up and peed perfectly. Bowie spent 40 minutes looking all round the bathroom for somewhere else to pee with me grabbing and repositioning him each time. Finally after having been grabbed from under the loo in mid-pee for the 4th time he finished the job in the CK. Well, I thought... that's not totally an accident and unless he poops somewhere he shouldn't we're not going back a step. 10 minutes later he poops on the floor by the toilet. The training insert is back on and we are officially back to stage one :(. Blue doesn't seem to happy about it, he loved having the hole in the CK and when he pooped he seemed to be trying to scratch a hole back in the insert, but we have to go at the speed of the slowest team member (Bowie) for now. Blue also decided to poop while I was in the shower so I had to race out with a head full of shampoo to make sure I got him his treat as soon as he'd finished :(

It's entirely my fault for trying to rush the process, but I am hating life with the CK. Loads of mess, pee, tonnes of kitty litter, a revolting bathroom, sleepless nights and days where catt butts rule your world making it hard for you to think about anything else. I shouldn't have rushed things and shouldn't be expecting super-kitty feats from my little boys but right now I would give anything to just have both on ring one, even if we have to stay at that stage for a couple of weeks. It's so much easier having the majority of the waste going straight down the toilet rather than into the litter!

I WILL see this process through and I WILL have two toilet trained cats and things WILL get better from here. Just please, please, please god let it happen sooner rather than later???

Day 8
Both boys being absolutely brilliant and totally happy with the CK. I was worried that the unsuccessful attempt to remove a ring might have freaked Bowie out and we'd have trouble but if anything they both seem even more secure and happy with it now. I won't rush things this time and we're staying on this level for a little longer. A lot of the criticisms of the CK system you'll find (eg on Amazon) saying that once you progress a level there's no going back seem to be aimed at an earlier version of the product. They now provide an extra insert just for this purpose and in my case it's been mighty useful. Thanks for listening to your customers Citi Kitty and improving your product... I for one am very grateful!

Blue's treating it all like a big game. I heard scraping in the litter box, grabbed the box of treats (raw mince today, I've run out of prosciutto) and headed for the bathroom. The second he saw me, he flew off the CK towards me ready for his reward. I gave it to him, then checked the CK... empty. I'd obviously got there too early. Two minutes later, he was back up and peeing and this time when I came in he jumped around me like a playful lunatic ready for another treat and obviously very pleased with himself!

Day 9
Okay, this is trickier with two cats than one. Both cats were scratching around in the CK this morning, then Bowie got down and Blue peed. I turn around and Bowie's peeing in the sink. There's no space for both at the same time on the CK so what could I do? I either had to shout at Bowie and scare him, get him off the sink to finish on the CK (not an option with Blue on there) or just ignore it. I went for option #3. I just hope this doesn't become a habit...

Day 10
All going well and I'm getting impatient to try removing a ring again... but this time I WILL take things slowly! I lied. I wrote that in the morning, by the afternoon I'd realised the insert has a hole a little smaller than ring one on the main device so I took that out to see what would happen. Bowie still hates it, Blue loves it. The solution? Plug the hole up with toilet paper for Bowie, leave it open for Blue. Both are happy and Mum only has to clear up 50% of the pee in the CK. Yay for compromise!

I was getting a little worried about the huge quantities of salty prosciutto we were getting through as rewards and the effect it might be having on two baby Devon Rexes. I tried raw mince which they got bored of after a day, cooked chicken which Blue liked but Bowie wasn't interested in and have finally found a great alternative. Cheap KiteKat pouches of wet food. My premium-brand only boys think the cheap crap is amazing and although I'm sure that nutritionally it's not a patch on the Royal Canin they have at meal times, it must be better for them than salty ham.

Day 11
All going well... Bowie's aim was off and he managed to poop all over the toilet seat but it's better than the floor at least!He made up for it this afternoon by peeing in the CK before I had time to plug the hole up with toilet paper which is brilliant. If I just had Blue on his own I would have tried removing another ring by now as I think he's ready so if Bowie's catching up I'm really pleased!

Day 12
Bowie pooped on the seat again, but I can deal with that for now... as the rings come out he'll be forced to reposition himself anyway so I'm HOPING this is a temporary thing. I also just found out I'm going to have to move house in a month and I'm praying that's not going to cause us a huge setback. Ah well, I'll keep plugging on for now and deal with that when it happens... For now we have NAILED stage one (well, 0.5 actually, the hole in the insert is a little smaller than the one on the main CK)

Day 13
Blue loves sweetcorn. I fed him some. I won't be doing that again until he's pooping through the hole and I don't have to see it.

Day 14

Ring one on the insert (also known as ring 0.5) compared to ring one on the main CK. Doesn't look like a big difference but trust me, it is!

Okay, back to ring one on the main CK which is bigger than the first hole on the insert (which both boys are now just fine on). Both have used it today with no problems... YAY!

I can just imagine what is going on in my cat's heads...
Blue: "Guess what Bowie, Mum wants to buy our poo!"
Bowie: "What the hell are you talking about?"
Blue: "Watch this... you see, I poo, Mum gives me a treat and hides the poo somewhere"
Bowie: "OMG you're right... Mum, Mum, Mum, I've got something for you.... Wow, this really works!"
Blue: "See, I told you she was crazy. Poor thing, guess we should humor her, look how happy it makes her"

Day 15
All going well. I've decided that I'm going to ignore the CittiKitty instructions. This may sound foolish but bear with me. The CittiKitty has five rings in it and the instructions say to pop one out a week (well actually every two weeks if you have two cats but never mind). The size difference between holes is fairly significant so I've decided to go off-piste and shave a few millimetres off the hole every other day.

I reckon this will help in two ways. One, my cats will hopefully not even notice the difference and I won't have to go through the whole "wow, a huge hole just appeared in my litter tray and I'm going to poop on the floor" thing that happened last time we followed the CK preformed holes. Secondly, I get to feel like we're making steady progress rather than wait a week at each step then have a huge readjustment and subsequent backtracking when the cats freak out.

So I have a new battle plan, I've armed myself with a cheap stanley knife and I shaved a few millimetres off the CK today . As far as the cats are concerned, there's no problem and they barely noticed the difference. Both of them used the CK just fine. Both of them managed to put a leg through the hole which hasn't happened before and just goes to show the difference even a small change can make. Luckily it didn't seem to put either of them off.

One problem is that the little bit I shaved off is the raised lip which previously helped stop litter falling into the toilet so we're getting a lot more litter in the loo. Not the end of the world though, and hopefully this process won't last long enough to cause any damage to the plumbing. On the bright side the very slightly bigger hole means both boys have used the CK without dirtying the litter and I've just had to flush to get rid of the pee/poop. My first taste of what life will be like when we're completely toilet trained and I'm loving it!

Day 16
All going well!

Day 17
A few more millimetres shaved off the CK and no problems

Day 18
A little more taken off and looking good. My boys barely seem to notice!

Day 19
A little more off again and no problems. So what if according to the Citti Kitty guidelines we should be on ring 3 by this stage. My boys are happy and not in any way stressed out by the process, I'm happy because the hole is big enough for the majority of their pee and poop to fall straight into the toilet rather than messing up the litter, we're making slow but steady process and we haven't had any accidents. I'd much rather do it slowly with no problems than rush things and have problems!

Day 20, 21 & 22
Still sticking to the plan and making the hole a teensy bit bigger each day, still no problems, still all going brilliantly!

Day 23
And we've made it to the next ring, no issues at all :) I'm a very proud mum today.

Day 24
Still no problems. This makes for a very boring blog but I make no apologies for that and am just loving my boy's progress

Day 25
Still plodding along, still no problems. Both my boys have developed very different ways to use the Citi Kitty. Blue prefers the feet-in-the-litter-and-pee-through-the-hole approach while Bowie prefers to put his front feet on the toilet seat and pee in the litter. I obviously prefer Blue's approach as it means all I have to do is flush whereas thanks to Bowie I am still needing to clean the tray out completely at least twice a day.

It will be interesting to see how they both adapt as the hole gets bigger and the tray smaller. Blue is going to have to start balancing on the toilet seat which he might find tricky although he's obviously completely relaxed about the hole... every time I flush the loo, he's up there and sticking his head through it to watch the water swirling round the bowl. Bowie probably won't have any trouble at all with balancing on the seat but he's clearly not as comfortable with the hole. Only one way to find out...

Days 26 & 27
Still making baby steps and the hole is getting bigger every day. It looks huge now! I'm slightly worried about the impending house move in just under a week and the effect it could have on training. Before I started this experiment I read a load of forum posts and discussions on the experiences others have had. Every time I came across someone who had had a setback in training due to a house move or holiday I rolled my eyes and thought "how dumb can you be?"  It's obvious that if you're already making one stressful change in a cat's life (ie toilet training) the rest of their life has to be as consistent and stress-free as possible to make it work. To me, people who started training and planned a move or time away before the end of the process were just asking for trouble. But now I find myself unexpectedly forced to move halfway through toilet training my cats. Just goes to show you shouldn't judge others... life has a funny way of making you pay for it when you do!

Days 27 & 28
Still making progress, still no problems. At this rate we'll be on the next ring by tomorrow which will leave just two rings to go. I think I'll stop there until we've moved house and I've seen how my kitties are coping with the big upheaval.

Only two rings to go!

Blue has been managing to pee and poop straight into the toilet every time for weeks now, but Bowie has been using the Citi Kitty tray... until today! He has finally nailed the "four paws on the toilet seat and poop down the hole" trick and I couldn't be happier!

Day 29
On the next hole and all going well!

Day 30
Ooooops... poop on the floor next to the toilet this morning. Naughty Bowie! To be fair though, this is the very first accident we've had in weeks and it happened after both kitties had had their morning pee and I hadn't had time to clean the CK out so I'm hoping it's just because the CK was wet and dirty. There were, ahem, skid marks down the outside of the toilet so he had obviously been on the CK when he did it, just facing the wrong way. Anyway, I'm hoping it's a one-off and won't happen again!
Afternoon update: Yup, looks like this morning's mistake was a one-off. Normal service has been resumed :)

Day 31 & 32
Got a video of Blue peeing up on Youtube now too if you want to check it out 
Note the bidet full of cat litter packages and poop scoops... I told you this wasn't a tidy process. Also check out the way he jumps straight off when he's done looking for his reward :)

Day 33
It's now Saturday and the house move will be happening Tuesday/Wednesday so no matter how tempting it is to keep removing a little of the CK every day I'm trying to control myself and leave it as it is!

Day 34
Bowie has pooped on the floor next to the toilet again, and this time it is too far away for him too have been sitting in the CK when he did it. I have no idea why he has suddenly started doing this as I haven't altered the size of the hole in days now. When Blue uses the CK he goes nuts for a good minute beforehand, scratching away at the litter like his life depends on it, flinging it around the bathroom and making tonnes of noise so I always hear him and can be ready to give him his reward when he's finished. Bowie on the other hand has become a CK ninja and doesn't scratch the litter at all either before or after so I've missed it a few times and he hasn't got a treat. Maybe that's why he's started pooping on the floor?

I'm going to try putting some things around the toilet to block off the space either side and see if that gets him back on the CK. With only a couple of days left to the house move this is really bad news :(

Day 35
So I blocked up the floor space on either side of the toilet with whatever I could lay my hands on (a bag of kitty litter, the cat carrier and a mop bucket full of water) and Bowie wasn't happy. He spent a good 20 minutes in the bathroom climbing over all these things, miaowing and jumping on and off the CK but in the end he did give in and poop in the Citi Kitty! I'll leave everything as is for the next few days and just see how it goes when we move to the new house.

Day 36
No accidents today either!

Day 37
Bowie pooped on the floor again... my fault, I moved the mop bucket.

Day 38
Moving day... Bowie pooped on the floor AGAIN because I was in and out ferrying boxes between the two houses. However, once we got into the new apartment (and the Citi Kitty was the first thing I set up of course) both of them were up there using in within half an hour with no problems at all. This is totally brilliant because I was worried we would have to go right back to the beginning.

The CK literature states that the tray will fit all toilets. This may well be true, but it fits the new seat far better. At the old house, the toilet seat wouldn't go right the way down over the CK so stuck at an angle and tended to wobble. Here it fits perfectly with no wobbles and as the toilet seat is wider both cats seem to prefer it.

Day 39
Both cats are using the CK again like superstars. The one problem is we won't have mains water here for 5 days. As my boys use the CK up to 8 times a day between them we're getting through huge amounts of bottled water to flush every time. I've also stopped using kitty litter... not being able to flush properly, I'm terrified we'll end up with a blockage if I do but both cats seem to have taken it in their stride and since they're being so good about it, I won't be using it again. Hopefully this means we've seen the end of litter for good!

Day 40
Bowie pooped on the floor again. Back to surrounding the toilet with heavy things and I'll see if that works...

Days 41-51
I've stayed away from the blog because the last 10 days have been absolute hell. It's not the cat's fault, they've been amazing, using the CK like superstars. The problem is that where we live, there's only one water company and as they have no competition, their attention to customer service is appalling. To cut a long story short, we've been without mains water for two weeks, and although we STILL haven't been connected by the water company (Abbanoa... I'm in the mood for some naming and shaming) a neighbour has taken pity and allowed us to pirate his water supply.

Two weeks of carrying buckets of water up to the apartment, not being able to wash properly and having to recycle the same bucket of water to wash my hair, then my clothes and lastly to flush the toilet is unbearable at the best of times... with two cats part way through toilet training it's hell on wheels. Every time I've heard the cats using the CK recently my heart sinks and it's been next to impossible to give them the fuss and enthusiasm they deserve. I've had to clean the CK itself with antibacterial wipes and haven't been able to give it a proper clean in two weeks. I haven't made the hole any bigger for 22 days now thanks to the move and the lack of water... under normal circumstances I'm sure we would have finished training by now but never mind... WHAT a difference to wake up this morning and hear first one cat, then the other poop directly through the hole and be able to flush immediately (and properly!).

Going back to where I left off, adding extra litter to the CK seemed to do the trick for Bowie and he never pooped on the floor again. It added an extra element of danger to the whole process as each time I poured a bucket of water down the loo to "flush" it, I was convinced the extra litter would cause a blockage but we managed to get away from it and this afternoon I'll start removing a little more of the CK liner every day again.

We're back on track with the training and I'm loving it!!!

Days 51-58
Whizzing through training and on the last ring now... easy peasy!

Days 58-75
We're still on the last ring. Every time I try to shave a little off one or the other of the boys has an accident so I have to pop the insert back on. It's amazing what a difference a few millimetres makes. I'm not worried though and happy for the boys to take as long as they need. The hole is so big now that I can use the loo easily myself without removing it and we haven't used any litter in ages and ages. To all intents and purposes this has been a success. I have two happily toilet trained cats, I don't have to faff around with litter being tracked round the house or stinky litter boxes that need constant attention. So there's still a plastic insert on my toilet seat... I couldn't care less quite honestly. If the boys need another year before I can remove it completely then so be it, I'm delighted we got this far!

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That's as far as the Great Devon Rex vs Citti Kitty Toilet Training Adventure has got for now but if anyone is actually even remotely interested in my cat's toilet habits (and by the number of hits the blog has had so far I'm guessing there's more of you wierdos out there than I would have guessed) I'll be keeping this updated...