#2 accident -- oh no!

My husband called me yesterday on my way home from work. He said Sunshine went #2 in the sink and in the dog bowl on the floor! Shawn wasn't happy because he had to clean it since I wasn't home. The RP already had a #2 and #1 in it. Shawn's usually really good about scooping when he's home. He just missed this one. Sunshine must of really had to go because on days were both me & my husband are working I find that the cats usually hold it if the RP isn't up to par. Then I come home & clean up their RP and walla they usually go potty within the hour. Also this morning, I found half of Eleanor's #2 on the toilet seat. She's still having a difficult time with positioning.

I'm not making any changes to the RP setup anytime soon.

Several things I want to do:

• get black light for pee finding
• start clicker training
• get a better laser light for playing
• fix Eleanor's positioning problem

My little Sunshine!

Here's my Sunshine, my star pupil. I swear she gets bigger every day. When we got her last year she was just skin & bones. She's now a healthy weight and I think she's still growing at 2 yrs old with part Maine Coon in her.

Sunshine taking a nap in her fav chair

Sunshine went outside in the snow the other day!

Oh no.. I found an accident

So yesterday, I was going to a baby shower and was rummaging through the gift wrap that is in one of those gift wrap plastic containers that is made to roll under your bed. I found the gift wrap shriveled up and dry with old cat pee. EEWWHH! The last time I used the gift wrap was around Christmas time and I left the lid open on it. I remember Eleanor being really curious about it during that time & we also had many house guests during that time period. Eleanor still hasn't been adjusting to TTing as easy as Sunshine. I think I should get one of those black light pee detectors.

4" hole as of yesterday morning

Here's some pics of the new litter dam. I used a huge 4" wide cardboard tube that we had lying around. I had to use a hack saw to cut through it & then lots of duct tape to attach to RP.


Here's my first attempt at a video below with our new fancy Kodak EasyShare Z812 IS. Does your cat do this? Eleanor makes these "fake attempts" at trying to go potty. She jumps up scratches around and sometimes even tries to get in position and then jumps down without going. She'll go do something else and come back later & do it all over again. Eventually she will go but boy is she a weird one!


Earlier today, Eleanor went #2 but didn't position herself properly. She ended up going #2 with her behind over the side of the toilet seat. It landed on the seat and rolled onto the floor. YUCK! Luckily I was there and as soon as I saw what was happening I was able to reposition her. I really need to work on her positioning. Afterwards I put her on the toilet and put her in position and praised her verbally with 'good kitties'. I did this about 3 times. I doubt she got it though. I'll have to watch her like a hawk for now. Sunshine on the other hand is doing great! She's got positioning down and is fine going potty. She doesn't do fake attempts like Eleanor... she does the real deal. I'm really want to try clicker training.

Oh yes, today I noticed the toilet flushing VERY slowly. Not good since we have a septic system. Anyway I used the plunger and it's back to normal for now. SWEAT flushable litter does say that it's safe for septic systems.

Pics of new litter dam & tub treads

Here's a picture of my new litter dam using a Fruit2O container & I put some tub treads on the toilet seat. I cut the litter dam too short again and had to improvise with duct tape (love that stuff).


Eleanor jumped onto the toilet yesterday before I could put the seat down and peed in the RP but it went all down the sides of the toilet and onto the floor. She's a little sneak! Eleanor rushes to use the litter box anytime a human is using the toilet. She has also peed in the RP while it was on top of the sink. Little stinker! I added the tub treads because I think they need more traction. BTW I guess the aiming thing was just luck. They haven't gotten it in the hole since.

They're actually aiming for the hole!

Now that the hole is bigger, I've been finding most of their #2 already in the toilet. Yippee! Oh BTW I haven't used vinegar in the toilet yet. I just put the RP back in place before flushing. That way the cats don't play inside the toilet anymore. I also want to get some tub decals and put them on the toilet seat. I'm using a soft toilet seat and the cats have clawed it up a little and it still seems slippery. I figure I can put some tub decals on it to help them during training and once they graduate we'll get a nice wooden seat. My husband is in the middle of a shift change. He's a Ford mechanic on the 3-day shift and doesn't go back to work until Thursday. That's why I increased the hole the other day.

New litter dam - 2 3/4" wide Fruit 2O bottle

I decided today was a good day to increase again. There's been no accidents. Every now & then I'll find #2 all over the seat but that's just because they're either stepping in it or having trouble with their foot placement. I'll get pics soon.

new pics of my kitties

Here's my cute little Sunshine. Isn't she silly?
Here's Sunshine & Eleanor both doing the 'hen'.

Lately I've been mixing their moist food with water and a little bit of pumpkin. I mix it all up and put in the microwave for 10 seconds. It looks like gruel.. They love it.

New litter dam - 2" wide Dannon Light yogurt container

I cut the yogurt container too short. Oops! I felt like shouting when I watched Eleanor scratching half of the litter down the toilet. So I got the duct tape out and folded it almost in half and stuck it around the yogurt container

The kitties have been doing great. I've been sick for a little while so hence no recent posts. The old litter dam, the toilet paper roll, was getting soggy and ready to cave in. Today I just started using a yogurt container that has a good lip around it so it's easy to duct tape. I'll get some pics and post.

So far so good!

New reinforced RP with ledge

Okay I played MacGyver. I had some extra wooden rulers and old linoleum tiles and duct tape and scissors. I first taped the underside of the rulers to the side of the RP and then placed 3 strips above the ruler at the ends & in the middle. I also cut some linoleum to size and then duct taped it to the ruler & RP. Here's some pics below.

Time for some changes

This morning I was cleaning their RP and needed to replace their 1/2" toilet paper roll litter dam. That's when I decided to go a little larger and did the full diameter of a regular toilet paper roll (1 1/2"). I filled it back up with their old 'good' litter and added some yummy new litter to the top. I'm also thinking of ways to support the left and right sides of the RP better. I have some extra wooden rulers that I might try attaching to the sides. About a week ago the one of the side of the old RP caved in & fell in the toilet. It's because it's just a smidgen too short on the left & right sides. It fits but over time it weakens with the cats' weight. I'm also thinking of creating some type of ledge for them to use for their feet. Sometimes they step in their own poo. Most of the time they try to get 3 paws up on the seat but I see them struggling.

Baby Monitor update: It's helping a bunch. Now if I hear noises I can look at the monitor to see if it's coming from the bathroom. I can also put it in my line of vision to the tv or pc monitor and if I see it light up then I know to check it out. One downfall is that if the cat is quiet and only scratching lightly in the litter it might not pick it up. So far it's definitely worth the money. I'm catching them in the act more than before so it's a plus!

Pumpkin: I only mixed a little in Sunshine's moist food this morning and she did eat some. The dog & Eleanor seem to like it. Yes, I decided my dog could benefit too.

$19.97 for Safety 1st Safe Glow Baby Monitor at Walmart

Okay my husband thinks I'm really nuts now. We went to Walmart Saturday and I snagged a baby monitor for the cats. I did some research online first and ended up picking up the Safety 1st Safe Glow Baby Monitor. There was a cheaper one for around $17 but for a couple of dollars more this one included lights that lit up too when it detected noise. I'm still testing it out but I'll let you know how it works out for me. I've noticed that there are times the kitty is so quiet that it doesn't pick up their sounds.

KITTY UPDATE: The cats are getting better at aiming & less messy with #2's. Sunshine hates pumpkin. I must have mixed too much in her moist food this morning cuz she wouldn't touch it. Tomorrow I'll mix only a tiny bit and slowly work my way up. Eleanor though LOVES pumpkin.. she'll even eat it straight out of the can.

Pumpkin rocks!

So I found out from that awesome Yahoo Cat TT group that pumpkin is great for both diarrhea & constipation. Eleanor will eat it right from the spoon but Sunshine on the other hand won't eat it unless it's mashed in her regular moist food. The cats both went #2 within an hour or two of feeding it to them. AWESOME-O!

Last night, one of my kitties went #2 but I found the RP inside the toilet. The RP was getting flimsy and must have caved in on the poor cat. Luckily I had a back-up RP. I'll have to stock up on RP's. They're cheap enough.

never thought I'd be so concerned about cat poop

I'm concerned about Sunshine. A couple of days ago, I think it was New Years Day, Sunshine had a bout of what I'd call diarrhea. She did a normal #2 & she got down & I treated her but then she got back up & did a tiny squirt of watery stuff. She then jumped down and jumped back up again for another squirt & then she tried to go on the carpet (yes the previous home owners put a tiny strip of carpet in the BR.. yuck.. it's on our project list) so I shooed her over to the toilet and she jumped back up & went again. This went on for a while. I found out that she ate some spicy human food so that may have caused it. My sister who pet sat may have fed her something or my husband is notorious for it as well. Also, Sunshine herself may have eaten a non-food item.

I read the diarrhea & constipation stuff on the Yahoo group & checked out some other web sites & I'm pretty freaked out. There are some sites out there that list a bunch of problems that your cat can have eating some of the commercial foods out there. So now I'm trying to remember if Sunshine went #2 yesterday. I pretty sure I scooped two of them so I think she did but I'm not positive. I normally feed them each a 1/4 can of Friskies wet food & their dishes have Purina Cat Chow Complete Formula (we've only been using this brand for a couple of months) throughout the day. So this morning I fed them each 1/2 can & mixed it with some water and I also gave Sunshine a good amount of 8-in-1 Hairball Remedy. My cats love this stuff & I found out that it's just the 8-in-1 stuff that they like.

Eleanor beats up on Sunshine. When they eat their moist food in the morning, Eleanor wolfs hers down & before she's even finished she goes up to Sunshine's perch (I feed them in the cat tree my husband made) and Sunshine will just jump down and let Eleanor eat her breakfast. If I'm around to witness this I'll intervene and Sunshine will get to finish and I'll make Eleanor leave the room. This morning though I saw Sunshine in the kitchen only minutes after I fed her so I checked the cat tree & Eleanor was in her own spot still. I guess Sunshine doesn't feel like eating. That's when I gave her the Hairball Remedy & then brought her back to her food & she ate a good amount.

So now I'm playing the waiting game. I hope Sunshine goes #2 soon & it's a normal one.

Secure your litter dam!

Ok I found out the hard way. My sisTER was pet sitting for us New Years Eve. I gave her the run down about TT the cats. I showed her where the extra roast pan was just in case something weird happened to the current one. When I came home the new RP was in the toilet. She said that the original RP had a hole in it. HAHA! I let her know that it was supposed to but there should have been a toilet paper roll in the hole. I grabbed the old RP out of the trash and found the TP roll and replaced it. I woke up this morning and the TP roll was missing again and this time a WHOLE bunch of litter was in the toilet. Not Happy! I scooped out as much litter out of the toilet as possible. It's supposed to be septic safe but I didn't want to chance it. This time I secured my TP roll by cutting some slits in it and fanning them out and duct taping the bottom.

I LEARNED ... SECURE YOUR LITTER DAMS!