* cababarant *

Friday, July 29, 2005

That #$!*?% cat!

I spoke too soon. This past week the pain of potty-training a cat has been, well, more painful than ever. It's almost like Smokey waited until she had gotten far enough for me to feel like, "hey, this is actually working!" before deciding to take revenge and totally regress. Aargh! Here is what's been going on:

1. Smokey gets outside. The day after Smokey had her pooping-in-the-potty breakthrough, where she didn't even use the litter in the CitiKitty litter tray, but went in the water instead (awesome!)-- she snuck outside. We've been trying to keep her in the house to make her experience consistent. She ended up actually spending the whole night outside without us noticing, then came back inside in the morning, exhausted-- probably from pooping all over the neighborhood. She ended up sleeping the whole rest of the day and not using the toilet. Not good.

2. Smokey poops in a houseplant. I don't think I even have to explain this, but this is what our houseplant looks like now:

Yes, we had to cover the dirt with cardboard to prevent her from trying it again. And this is where our other houseplants are now:

The houseplants inadvertently enjoying the warm summer weather. If plants could talk, they would probably say, "Thanks, Smokey!"

The last straw of the potty-training fiasco was today:

3. Smokey poops on the bathroom floor. I didn't think it could possibly happen, but Smokey used the toilet to #1 (good), and used the cold, tile bathroom floor to #2 (BAD). This is how stressed she is about the toilet: she preferred to go on the cold tile, rather than the litter tray on the toilet.

This is totally depressing! But, I'm not ready to give up yet. I decided to order another litter tray to go a couple steps back in the process so she can use the litter tray again, and we are putting her on LOCKDOWN. The running outside completely destroyed the process. The other night when she got out (again) Kyle went after her and one of the first things he saw her do was go through a hole in a chain link fence (where he couldn't follow her) and start digging a hole... it doesn't take a genius to figure out what she did next.

We'll see how this goes-- we're not through yet, Smokey!

Smokey: How you like me now??!!

posted by sheryl | 3:19 AM |

Comments: (1)

Smokey prefers going outside to going anywhere else. Over the years, we have managed to block most of her escape routes (she finds a new screen to push out every year). Her remaining escape route is the most obvious: the screen door. This door doesn't always latch when we come in, but appears to be closed. Nobody notices this ... except Smokey. During the summer, that cat will start at the other end of the house then run at the door as fast as she can, jumping up at the last minute and planting her feet just below the screen. This works maybe once in 100 tries. It is these odds that keep that cat going.
By Kyle 6:10 AM