From unhousebroken to toilet trained

Toilet training Gizmo has been a long process. But then again she had a long way to go. In four months, she’s gone from occasionally using the litter box (preferring the bathtub, sink, bathroom rug, and even a dustpan) to using the toilet flawlessly.

Yesterday, she made another big step. I punched out the third ring of the CitiKitty training seat. Now there’s a 5′ x 7′ oval hole in the center of the catseat exposing the water in the toilet bowl below. A 2-inch wide round rim of flushable litter circles the toilet.

According to CitiKitty’s training manual, the toilet-training process ordinarily takes around four weeks. This is at the rate of one ring per week. (Removing rings widens the hole in the litter box-style training seat.)

’Lil Gizmo, here, has been on the second ring since mid-December. That’s four weeks on one ring; a rate of one ring per month.

If you read about Gizmo’s transition from the first ring to the second, you may remember things were a bit shaky. She stopped using the toilet for a couple days. So this time, I spent a really, really long time on one stage. Patience paid off.

Yesterday, I wrestled with the plastic seat on the floor, employing a hammer a flat edged screwdriver to pop out another ring. I scrubbed the toilet until it was blinding white, poured litter in the remaining rings and sprinkled on the catnip. Then, I held my breath.

Every time Gizmo even looked like she was heading to the bathroom, I trailed behind her, tiptoeing and still holding my breath. She never did go while I was awake, but I went to bed still hopeful.

Then, in the middle of the night a trickling sound like a leaky faucet came from the bathroom. It worked. Good kitty! Oh, what a relief (pun intended).

Better still, after she was done, there was nothing to clean up or scoop out. She cleared what little is left of the the litter pan. Now that’s a straight shooter.

We’re almost there.