The Cat's Ass Journals
the fourth installment of an irregular series
In case you missed them:
Tuesday, 2 September 2003
Another long gap! I wanted to get started on the BSC-to-toilet route before the cat forgot everything she'd learned, but the stove started giving us small electric shocks and then the tub refused to drain. This wasn't directly connected to the cat, but Matie informed me that if the landlord saw our Space Cat Toilet in action he'd assume we were insane. She hid it in the corner and arched the guest mattress over it.
The stove was pretty quickly replaced (the new one does not give us electric shocks at all, as well as heating up much more quickly), but it took forever for the tub to be fixed. Next time we will not have a plumbing emergency over Labor Day weekend. Luckily, the apartment next door was empty and our landlord let us use their shower.
Anyway, everything's fixed now. I filled the BSC-cum-litterbox with litter, but have had no luck locking its brakes. It's on wheels, and I personally would not like to poop on something I suspected was about to careen across the kitchen. I think I am closer to the cat on an empathic level than Matie is, so I will attempt to find some way to fix the brakes before I remove the normal litterbox.
I put the BSC next to the litterbox, though. If she should decide to try it, it's right there.
Wednesday, 10 September 2003
Did I mention it's finals week, and I am lazy? Anyway, jamming things into the wheels didn't help, nor did tying them up with duct tape. I finally figured out how the wheels came off, but it was a little tricky to accomplish due to my having already filled the top with litter. Great idea, that.
It's a few inches shorter, but it's a training toilet, after all. I put the overturned bucket that she'd been using as a step in the bathroom next to the BSC in the kitchen and removed the litterbox, which Mom, visiting, had already refilled with scary pellet litter she'd purchased. Neither the cat nor I were sure what to make of the pellet litter, which can't be scooped or dug in, and that provided some of the impetus to get the BSC-litterbox operational. A little play:
CAT: [translated] Hey! Hey! Hey! I have to poop and the litterbox is all weird! Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey!
ME: [gesturing] You can poop there! It is okay! I have no idea what Mom was thinking with the pellet litter, but it is totally still okay to poop in the litterbox!
CAT: Hey! Hey! Hey! I still have to poop! Hey! Hey! I'm just going to go in the box; you'd better not be mad at me! Hey! I can't dig in this! Hey! I just pooped and now I can't cover it up! Hey! Hey! Hey!
ME: What the hell; this stuff doesn't even strain through the litter scooper. Okay, time for the new litterbox.
CAT: Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey!
Anyway, she figured it out pretty quickly and is now going on the litter-covered seat of the BSC, as planned. We got more of the regular sandy litter. The other stuff looks like a magnified version of bran cereal pellets, and was just too much for the cat to handle.
Monday, 15 September 2003
Not much to report; she's still using the seat of the BSC. She's peeing mostly in the left rear corner, like she was on the toilet, but she's also going in other corners. Usually the poop ends up in the middle, which is heartening. I think she likes to hang off the edge a little.
I've been replacing the litter in the middle but not on the seat. I don't think she's noticed yet, though.
Mom and Matie picked up a plastic gadget that purports to be a foolproof system for teaching your cat to use the toilet. I find that hard to believe, especially since its (cartoon format) instruction booklet suggests several times that you lock your cat in the bathroom for twelve to fifteen hours, as well as pick the cat up and hold it on the seat until it pees. Those both sound like terrible ideas. Matie reports that the store clerk asked about her plans for the training system. When informed the intended cat was 12 years old and deaf, she just laughed and laughed.
Thursday, 18 September 2003
No change. She's still using the corners of the seat in which to pee. I think I'll put on gloves tomorrow and clean out the seat entirely, then see if she tries to use the litter-filled center. I'd remove the rim around the outside of the seat, but I have a horrible suspicion that that would end in cat urine everywhere.
Amusingly enough, our landlord talked to me for several minutes while standing in the back door with only me between him and the Space Cat Toilet, now litter- and poop-filled. He didn't say anything about it, though.
Tuesday, 2 September 2003
Another long gap! I wanted to get started on the BSC-to-toilet route before the cat forgot everything she'd learned, but the stove started giving us small electric shocks and then the tub refused to drain. This wasn't directly connected to the cat, but Matie informed me that if the landlord saw our Space Cat Toilet in action he'd assume we were insane. She hid it in the corner and arched the guest mattress over it.
The stove was pretty quickly replaced (the new one does not give us electric shocks at all, as well as heating up much more quickly), but it took forever for the tub to be fixed. Next time we will not have a plumbing emergency over Labor Day weekend. Luckily, the apartment next door was empty and our landlord let us use their shower.
Anyway, everything's fixed now. I filled the BSC-cum-litterbox with litter, but have had no luck locking its brakes. It's on wheels, and I personally would not like to poop on something I suspected was about to careen across the kitchen. I think I am closer to the cat on an empathic level than Matie is, so I will attempt to find some way to fix the brakes before I remove the normal litterbox.
I put the BSC next to the litterbox, though. If she should decide to try it, it's right there.
Wednesday, 10 September 2003
Did I mention it's finals week, and I am lazy? Anyway, jamming things into the wheels didn't help, nor did tying them up with duct tape. I finally figured out how the wheels came off, but it was a little tricky to accomplish due to my having already filled the top with litter. Great idea, that.
It's a few inches shorter, but it's a training toilet, after all. I put the overturned bucket that she'd been using as a step in the bathroom next to the BSC in the kitchen and removed the litterbox, which Mom, visiting, had already refilled with scary pellet litter she'd purchased. Neither the cat nor I were sure what to make of the pellet litter, which can't be scooped or dug in, and that provided some of the impetus to get the BSC-litterbox operational. A little play:
CAT: [translated] Hey! Hey! Hey! I have to poop and the litterbox is all weird! Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey!
ME: [gesturing] You can poop there! It is okay! I have no idea what Mom was thinking with the pellet litter, but it is totally still okay to poop in the litterbox!
CAT: Hey! Hey! Hey! I still have to poop! Hey! Hey! I'm just going to go in the box; you'd better not be mad at me! Hey! I can't dig in this! Hey! I just pooped and now I can't cover it up! Hey! Hey! Hey!
ME: What the hell; this stuff doesn't even strain through the litter scooper. Okay, time for the new litterbox.
CAT: Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey!
Anyway, she figured it out pretty quickly and is now going on the litter-covered seat of the BSC, as planned. We got more of the regular sandy litter. The other stuff looks like a magnified version of bran cereal pellets, and was just too much for the cat to handle.
Monday, 15 September 2003
Not much to report; she's still using the seat of the BSC. She's peeing mostly in the left rear corner, like she was on the toilet, but she's also going in other corners. Usually the poop ends up in the middle, which is heartening. I think she likes to hang off the edge a little.
I've been replacing the litter in the middle but not on the seat. I don't think she's noticed yet, though.
Mom and Matie picked up a plastic gadget that purports to be a foolproof system for teaching your cat to use the toilet. I find that hard to believe, especially since its (cartoon format) instruction booklet suggests several times that you lock your cat in the bathroom for twelve to fifteen hours, as well as pick the cat up and hold it on the seat until it pees. Those both sound like terrible ideas. Matie reports that the store clerk asked about her plans for the training system. When informed the intended cat was 12 years old and deaf, she just laughed and laughed.
Thursday, 18 September 2003
No change. She's still using the corners of the seat in which to pee. I think I'll put on gloves tomorrow and clean out the seat entirely, then see if she tries to use the litter-filled center. I'd remove the rim around the outside of the seat, but I have a horrible suspicion that that would end in cat urine everywhere.
Amusingly enough, our landlord talked to me for several minutes while standing in the back door with only me between him and the Space Cat Toilet, now litter- and poop-filled. He didn't say anything about it, though.