Day 32 -- Back to the bowl...?

I came back home tonight, nervous, and found one piece of good news and one piece of bad news.

The good news? There was a nice, healthy pile of poop in the popcorn bowl. Check out how little litter he used!

The bad news? Apparently, Kratos has decided to pull my roommate Haru's towel off of the rack, onto the bathroom floor, and then peed on it. Yup, that towel has now also been thrown out, sitting snugly in the dump with our rug. Very annoying, to be sure -- but how ingenious! I didn't know whether to punish him or to praise him for his elaborate cleverness.

Anyways, I took out some more litter from the bowl tonight... Let's see if Kratos keeps with it tomorrow!

Day 30 -- Kratos' second accident (and third)

This last stretch will not be easy.

The plan now is to start decreasing the amount of litter in the popcorn bowl until Kratos gets used to pooping into a bowl without any litter. But if you saw any of the videos I've posted, you can see that Kratos loves his litter, always scratching at it attentively as part of his pooping ritual (unfortunately, before pooping, not after).

Which is probably why, when I ambitiously left so little litter in the bowl that you could see the bottom, he freaked.

I was stationed outside the bathroom door at the time, where I often am nowadays, doing homework on the floor with one hand clutching the camera. Kratos was not on the toilet -- and didn't even particularly show any interest in the toilet -- when that sound of streaming water caught me by surprise. I jumped and rushed in, but obviously I was too late -- Kratos had peed in the bathroom corner where the litter box used to be.

Saddened, I added a tiny bit more litter into the bowl, but Kratos had no more scatalogical needs for the evening. When I woke the next morning, I had hoped to see some comforting poop in the bowl, but alas, there was none.

I knew Kratos was due for pooping, and I was nervous all day about where he would do the deed. Will he go on the bathroom floor again? Or will he hide and poop in some secret location where the poop can only be smelled, but never be found? I rushed home after work with dread, swung open the front door, and took a deep breath -- nope, it didn't smell. I quickened my pace and walked towards the bathroom, hoping that he started using the litter bowl again.

He didn't.

I found a pile of poop on the bathroom rug. I won't show you a picture of it because, well, it pretty much looks exactly how it sounds. I cleaned up the poop, threw out the rug, and filled up the bowl with even more litter -- enough that Kratos has finally decided to go back to using the bowl again.

I had always thought that the hardest part was to get Kratos to start pooping on the toilet -- after he got used to it, it seemed clear that he would simply continue using it out of habit. I was wrong. Weening Kratos off of the litter, by far, is going to be the most difficult part of the process.

Well, at least I know that it's possible. Kratos did poop on the rug after all -- with no litter in sight. And that's progress, right?

Day 24 -- One step back

There hasn't been much progress made in the past two weeks because I was gone last weekend to Sundance, and will be gone this weekend as well for Chinese new year, and I didn't want to do anything too drastic when I wasn't there, watching Kratos' every move.

Meanwhile, Kratos had a leisurely two weeks where he could get comfortable with pooping on the toilet. I noticed an unfortunate trend, however -- Kratos was starting to stand in the popcorn bowl while pooping now, instead of having all four legs on the toilet seat. I guess he has decided that the popcorn bowl is a safe place to place his weight, and while I appreciate the implicit praise for my worksmanship, this is one step back from perfect litter-free existence!

I tried to correct him by moving his leg onto the seat:

But Kratos doesn't always appreciate my correction, often just leaving the bathroom altogether when I intervene. I guess you can't blame him -- I wouldn't want someone moving my limbs around when I poop. Sigh.

Anyway, next week, I'm going to move the process along by drastically decreasing the amount of litter in the popcorn bowl. Nowadays, before using the bowl, Kratos always first scratches the litter for quite a while before he is comfortable pooping into it, so this is really going to test his tolerance. Things are going to start getting very exciting... and very smelly.

Day 14 -- Improved litter bowl apparatus!

Nowadays, I have a smile on my face every time I see a bundle of joy left by Kratos in the popcorn bowl. But I also have a frown every time I myself need to use the toilet. Detaching and reattaching the popcorn bowl with duct tape was starting to get really annoying, and, well, the sink was starting to look mighty attractive. I had to fix the situation, and fast, before I did the unthinkable.

I switched to a different design. Instead of taping the popcorn bowl to the toilet itself, I taped it to two steel rods bought from Home Depot:

The two rods are sturdy enough to hold up the popcorn bowl and, when placed onto the toilet bowl, is very secure:

And now removing and replacing the popcorn bowl takes only a matter of seconds! 

Man, how did I ever get that D in wood shop in middle school?

Day 11 Part 2 -- Kratos's first time pooping on the toilet!

Understandably, Kratos was confused about the missing litter box. He sees the new litter inside this mysterious bowl blocking access to his favorite water source, but he is unsure about how to use it. For many many times, he enters into the bathroom and examines the toilet at length:

As you can see, he even reached his paw in between the popcorn bowl and the toilet just to get to his water! But eventually, necessity got to the best of him, and -- yes, he pooped!!

There's good news and bad news about this. The good -- incredibly, amazingly good -- news, is that Kratos pooped with all four of his paws completely on the toilet, instead of standing in the popcorn bowl. According to this website, which is the primary source of toilet-training information that I've been consulting:

Watch your cat using the bathroom in the metal bowl. Count the number of feet he gets up on the toilet seat (as opposed to down in the bowl of litter). The higher the number, the luckier you are and the easier your job is going to be ...

And I am very lucky indeed :-)

The thing that gives me pause is how attached to the litter Kratos seems to be.  Witness, for example, how much Kratos played with the litter before being satisfied enough to poop into it.  I will probably really have to let Kratos poop like this for quite a while before he will get used to pooping into the toilet without any litter at all...

Anyways, major milestone, and well done Kratos once again!

Day 11 -- Litter in the toilet

Okay, I got greedy again.  I just couldn't wait to go to the next milestone!  So going back on my promise to let Kratos get used to pooping with the litter box on top of the toilet for two more days, I instead immediately put the popcorn bowl to use:

Mmmmm, popcorn!!

I filled it up with litter, and secured it to the toilet bowl with plenty of duct tape:

After putting the seat down, it looks just like a normal toilet, but with attractive, comforting litter instead of water!  Will Kratos take to it?

Well...  At this point, I switched to using another camera to take a video of what happened, but I won't be able to get the camera cable till tomorrow...  So stayed tuned for Kratos vs Toilet Bowl!

Day 9 to 10 -- Inching closer to the toilet

Kratos is going through the "easy" part of the process like a champ.  The almost daily changes to the litter box has become part of his pooping routine; enter bathroom, examine carefully (many, many times), get air-lifted into the litter box by me, and poop.  He did fine when I moved the litter box right up against the toilet:

And he did fine when I placed the litter box completely on top of the toilet:

(Yes, it is now very, very annoying for myself to use this toilet.)

I'm going to leave the litter box there for the next two days.  After that will come the next major milestone -- filling up my popcorn bowl with litter, nestling it inside the toilet bowl, and having Kratos actually poop into the toilet!  Very excited now :-)

Day 8 -- New litter!

My shopping list from Target:

• Swheat Scoop litter; due to the clever pun, this litter is made from wheat, and has no crazy clumping chemicals, is unscented, is good for the earth, and above all, is flushable.  I'm switching litter so that I don't have to keep worrying about unflushable litter going down the drain.  I've also read that unscented litter is easier for cats to quit.
• Duct tape, for finally securing the litter box.
• A metal popcorn bowl, for the next major milestone in the process, where it will be holding litter and hiding inside the toilet bowl.  After this whole thing, I can always still use it as a real popcorn bowl.  That's reuse!
• A belt, because my pants keep falling off.

Kratos seems to be getting a little more used to using the elevated litter box.  His poopage frequency is still a tad low, but at least I see stuff in there, and I'm not finding any poop under my blanket.  He also transitioned to the new litter without complaints.  What a trooper!

Day 3 to 5 -- Higher and higher, and Kratos' first accident

Day 3 and 4 went by rather smoothly. I lifted up the litter box on both days, and Kratos was able to navigate them with relative ease. He started taking to pooping in them faster, though never without a complaining meow before and after he's done. Here are pictures of his adventure on Day 3:

And here's the picture on Day 4, where the litter box is already as tall as the toilet!  Unfortunately, though, as you can see, the construction on Day 4 is rather a bit of engineering failure, a disaster waiting to happen...

And happen it did.  On Day 5, Kratos jumped onto the brown cardboard box to poop, only to have it slide off the textbooks, bringing the litter box crashing down to the floor.  I fixed it up with a more secure setup immediately, but apparently, it was an experience so traumatizing that Kratos refused to step into the bathroom by himself for more than 24 hours!

I was getting really worried.  I kept air-lifting Kratos onto the litter box, but to no avail.  Meanwhile, Kratos had started eyeing his old pooping location with nostalgia, longing for the better, golden, olden days when his pooping platform did not suddenly collapse from under him.

Finally, he pooped in the litter box.  Hooray!  I breathed a sigh of relief.  I sat back down in my living room playing the wonderful World of Goo game, and then I noticed Kratos streaming into the room.  "Good job Kratos!" I said.  He ignored my presence, and moved deliberately and slowly towards the dining room.  He sat down.  "What are you doing there, Kratos?"  I asked with detached interest.  He did not move.  It was only a few minutes later that I realized he had been sitting down at the old litter box location, and...  Wait...

I ran towards him.  "Kratos, what are you doing!!"  He still did not move.  I reached my arms out to lift him up, but before I could, I hear the sound of liquid streaming out of his body.  I decided not to lift him up after all.

It was a sad, but odd relapse.  Why did Kratos go peeing in the wrong location only minutes after pooping in the right location?  I couldn't understand it.  But to make it clear that it is no longer acceptable to take care of his bodily needs in the dining room, I cleaned the place thoroughly, leaving no scent of pee or poop behind.

Thereafter, Kratos has gone back to peeing in the bathroom, but not yet pooping.  And his frequency of litter use has definitely decreased.  He is probably still pretty nervous about the collapse, and understandably so.  I'm probably going to leave the litter box untouched at the current height for a few more days to placate him.

This is going to be harder than I thought.