Wednesday, September 30, 2020

Started toilet training for Robbie today.  I used the method in this video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jPWact5M_nA 

I was able to skip the first step because he already climbs up on the seat and drinks from all three toilets in the house.  So, I took the office toilet and proceeded to step 2.  Within an hour he had peed in it.  Once I get a poo, I’ll remove the on-floor litter box.  Stay tuned. 

P.S.  Robbie is still 22 days shy of six months. He’s precocious.

Sunday, October 4, 2020

Five days into it and everything that comes out of Robbie is found in the litter container inside the toilet bowl.  No litter spread around the place like there always is with a litter box, either.  He is absolutely fabulous.    

In a few more days we go into phase three. 

Monday, October 5, 2020

And I promised to show you how he is growing into his ears: 

      Aug 4 – 3 ½ months        

Oct 4 – 5 ½ months

I sent this to a few cat loving friends and one of them wrote “Way to go, Robbie” and another wrote “Great job, Robbie”..  Everyone’s a punster. 

Thursday, October 8, 2020

When we left our hero, he was using the toilet lined by a turkey roasting pan containing cat litter. 

This morning I switched that one out to one with a hole in it, and flushable litter.  He was very interested.  He was so interested he put his paw down the hole and came up all wet, which quickly got mixed with kitty litter and made a clay mitt of his paw.  Undaunted, he cleaned himself up and a couple of hours later, he rewarded me with a pee, which was actually aimed at the hole.  That got him a nice stinky dried minnow treat.  He is one very good boy.

The plan is to enlarge the hole every three days or so, forcing him closer and closer to the rim, until he sits on it to do his business.  Stay tuned. 

Friday, October 9, 2020

A good friend, who is also a good photographer, told me I needed a white background for pictures of Robbie.  I trust this was what she meant, because it may not be the last of these.  I hope you are suitably impressed.  Note front paw on rim.  One down, three to go.

Sunday, October 11, 2020

Wednesday, October 14, 2020

By the terms of our crazy Quebec lockdown, Canadian Thanksgiving parties all got canceled, but one person who lives alone, is allowed to receive one guest.  I chose that to read one human guest and both Robbie and I went to my friend, Monique, on Ile Bizard.  Her living room is all patio doors looking out on the back river.  Celine Dion recorded a TV show on her riverside deck, once, long ago.  Squirrels, chipmunks and bird life abound.  Robbie was on safari.  He loved it.  He loved it so much that when we took him outside on the leash, he forgot to dig his heels in, like he did in the halls of Cours Mt Royal,  and just trotted along happily taking it all in.  He’s still using the toilet litter box, with a larger hole in it, too. 

Voting day for me.  I took my ballot to the US consulate, a block and a half from my condo. 

For Robbie, Step 3 continues.  Note the size of the hole in the roasting pan, now, and the nice large turd that just missed it.  It’s a little hard to see.  Look between his right front paw and the hole.  Or, just take my word for it. I don’t think he’s all that happy about sharing this photo, but that’s what you get when you have a faithful scribe.

It’s already easier than the litter box.  I don’t have to vacuum the bathroom after every go.  I just help the solid stuff down the hole and flush.  There’s not that much litter in the game. At least not with Robbie.  He aims at the hole.  I use flushable cat litter and, after the first week, very little of it.  The trainer in the video recommends “Cat’s Pride”.  I couldn’t get it in Canada, so I just bought a local flushable brand. 

Thursday, October 15, 2020

Today could be a turning point.  I enlarged the hole again and now he doesn’t feel quite safe in the roasting pan.  He mews and gets off the pot.  He showed too much interest in the sink, so I put Feliway in there.  That’s pheromones that make the sink smell like a nest of cats, and there’s a saying about shitting in the nest.  He tried the pot again, but he isn’t happy with it.  Now he has gone off.  Hmmmm   must check the other sinks…

Five hours later…  no evidence of any output.  Either he is aiming so well I can’t tell he’s using it, he’s holding it, or I just haven’t found it yet.  This is disconcerting, to say the least.  I trust he’s not peeing on the sofa or in my bed. 

Friday, October 16, 2020

I woke up with a purring cat in my bed and a succulent turd in the turkey roasting pan in Robbie’s toilet.  He’s used it a lot today.  All’s well.

Saturday, October 17, 2020

All isn’t that well.  There was another turd in the roasting pan in the toilet, but not a big enough to meet my expectations and worse, there was pee soaking the red towel I had put in the basket under my desk return for him to lie on.  So now there’s Feliway in the basket and a small white towel that I can check more easily.  I put more litter in the roasting pan, and went back to school on the Internet, re-watching my video and a couple more. We are moving to clicker training and better rewards.  That was a couple of hours ago.  The litter is still dry and I am watching him like a hawk. 

Sunday, October 18, 2020

One of my best friends from High School, the one who wrote “Harvey and Helen” is now ghost-writing for Robbie.  Here’s her contribution:

Hello Everyone –

My name is Robbie and I’m an adorable black kitten with tall ears.  I was recently adopted by a nice lady and now live in a luxurious, spacious condo on the twelfth floor of what used to be an elegant Hotel.  I get cuddles and tickles from the nice lady, with good food and lots of treats to boot.  Life is good except for one thing………..Potty Training. Nobody at the shelter warned me that this was part of the deal.  For a kitten who was used to spending most of the day actually lying in a litter box, to be introduced to a cold white porcelain potty was quite shocking to say the least. Oh yes, there’s a Leash too. The nice lady tried to take me for a walk in the upscale shopping mall downstairs, but I put my paw(s) down for that.  Last weekend we were invited to lunch on Ile Bizard.  We were having a lovely time when out came the leash again. This time I cooperated because we went outside, and I thought I might pounce on some of the abundant wildlife in the area. Not much luck with that.  We went back to my forever home and the dreaded potty.  Rumour has it that the nice lady might be going on a world cruise. By then I should be completely potty trained, and what next? I guess I’ll have to learn to operate  a can opener so that I can survive during her absence.. I love my forever home – I am one lucky kitty !

Purrs from Robbie 

Monday, October 19, 2020

I keep a beautiful crystal salad bowl, with water in it, under the antique Chinese armoire in my bedroom, to keep it from cracking.  The water gets changed when it gets low.  That happens more often now, because Robbie drinks from it, as well as the toilet bowls.  It was low enough this morning that he got in there and peed.  Mercy.  So that crystal bowl went into the dishwasher and another one went under the armoire.  I went downstairs and into the next mall, where the Dollar store is, and bought a couple more turkey roasting pans.  I got my painter, who is in today, to fit one to the toilet, keeping the bottom flatter than the one Robbie has been rejecting.  I went back to a one-inch diameter hole and more litter.  I could hardly get it done fast enough, as Robbie really had to go.  During the switchover, I was pleased to note that the water in the toilet bowl was distinctly yellow, so he has been using it, aiming neatly through the hole, but he obviously didn’t like it.  All’s well again.  We’ll go more slowly now, with claws crossed.

Tuesday, October 20, 2020

He woke me up at 7:30 this morning, but I stubbornly stayed in bed until ten to eight.  It wasn’t easy.  He brought a foil ball and his favorite toy (skunk) and batted them around on my back for those twenty minutes.  When I got up and went to look at the litter box in the toilet, it contained both numbers one and two, in quantity.  Methinks the 7:30 performance was a victory dance.  I felt like doing one myself.  I settled for a very good treat (for Robbie.)

Wednesday, October 21, 2020

No wake-up play this morning but he did fetch skunk and deposit him in my toilet bowl while I was brushing my teeth.  I saved the poor critter.  Robbie is six months old today and had his first teeth brushing, with poultry flavored toothpaste on the tiniest little brush.  He put up with it just fine.  An hour later he rewarded me with a nice dump in his toilet and a couple of pees.  I enlarged the hole just a little.  We’re definitely back on track.  Stay tuned.