Every Cat has its Day

The last stages of toilet have been a breeze. With only two rings left to punch out on the CitiKitty toilet training seat, I’ve been in no hurry to rush Gizmo.

She’s been aiming for the center hole, so there’s been no messy litter to scoop, no seat to clean. Life is easy.

That all changed yesterday, when I saw her squatting in an open cabinet in her master bath. A cabinet filled with white fluffy towels of all things.

“Gizmo!” I said in shock. She seemed shocked too.

She leapt from the cabinet, got tangled in my legs, looked up at me like I had just intentionally kicked her, then ran away and hid.

I followed her, telling her I didn’t kick her, still she was cowering. What next? Of course, I gave her a treat to let her know everything was A-OK.

Basically, she peed in a cabinet and got a reward. Ooops.

While it’s insanity to reward bad behavior, it’s also not good to punish cats when it comes to training them to use either a litter box or toilet.

“Do not punish your cat for having an accident. This won’t help her to learn to use the litter box, it will only teach her not to eliminate in front of you,” according to purina.com.

This morning: a puddle on the floor.

Why the sudden change? I’m really not sure. But one thing I do know is that Gizmo is a meticulously clean cat. It’s been a while since I turbo cleaned her bathroom (yes, she has her own bathroom).

So today, it looks like I’m pulling out the steam cleaner and scrubbing toilets. What a way to spend a Saturday afternoon. Let’s see if it passes the white glove, or in her case, the white paw test and gets her back on track.