Mess Problems

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[N.B: Originally posted by: Amber. 14 Dec 05 11:10 AM (Australia)]
My 2 cats, Sian and Sebastian, have just received their early xmas pressie - the Litter Kwitter. We've been using it on the floor for about a week, with it going onto the toilet in the last couple days. Having their litter tray in our bathroom for the last 3 years has been awful, but I'm so glad now because it will make using/finding the toilet so much easier - I hope!
Sebastian, who is a 2 year old Lilac Point Siamese, appears to be having no trouble at all, although I've yet to find one of his poop's in it - but my husband cleans the solids out as soon as they're done if I'm not home, and he never knows who's is whos! He will sit and pee, which is a relief for me (and him, I'm sure!). He is a cat who has never ever once peed or pooped anywhere BUT the litter tray - he is very well trained in that respect.
Sian, on the other hand, is our 3 year old moggy who was, from what we know, rescued from a beach, in a plastic bag with deceased siblings. We think she may be semi-feral, because she gets that look in her eye sometimes, and can be quite naughty. Her litter training, on the other hand, was nothing like Sebastian's. She will use the tray, but sometimes she prefers to go in either the laundry tub or the bath tub, which is quite inconvenient! Mind you, she only does this if the tray hasn't been scooped for a couple days. Because of this, I'm concerned that she'll choose the bath tub over the Litter Kwitter.
Sian also has a habit of digging like crazy before she poops. Ever since Sebastian arrived in our home, we have said that she is digging to Thailand in order to try to get them to take Sebastian back! She also never covers her poop - Sebastian will, without fail, go into the bathroom after Sian has used the tray, and he will cover her poop. My concern here is that the small amount of litter we have in the red disc ends up behind the toilet and all over everything. Will her desire to dig diminish over time? And will her aim get better? She can poop almost in the centre of the LK, but she pee's all over the edge of the white part, which of course, when it's on the floor, it goes everywhere. I'll try to puppy training pads/newspaper/painters sheets and see how that goes.
I apologise for the long "background story" but hopefully it will help shed some light on these little obstacles in the toilet training. Any ideas and suggestions would be greatly appreciated!
If anyone is interested, I have some pictures of my lil terrors here: http://emotionsickness.gallery.netspace.net.au/mykids

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[N.B: Original Reply by Antonio Posted: 06 Jan 06 2:12 PM (United Kingdom)]

Hi everyone. We have the same problem with our 9 year old female tabby. We´ve been on orange stage for as long as I can remember... I don´t know, ten weeks or so. At the beginning of the orange stage she used to wreak havoc with the litter. Fortunately is paper based and can be picked up easily. But with time she´s not that bothered about the digging but still does a little bit. Now, the peeing is an issue. We never had the slightest problem with the pooing. She ALWAYS pooes on the disc but pees on target 8 out of 10 times. We didn´t understand this creature. Then we found that the problem was that she would ONLY pee on the orange disc when it´s packed with shed loads of litter. It´s really hard for us to catch her in action because she gets scared very easily and jumps away once she hears someone approaching but I guess that when she puts one or two legs in the disc and pees, the pee reaches her legs and they get wet. I´m not sure if this is what actually makes the cat correct the position of the legs or makes her change the direction of the the pee but I was seriously considering making a few little holes on it to let the pee run into the toilet, like a colander. Maybe this would improve the LK´s design! I don´t know. We´ll keep putting lots of litter and see what happens.

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[N.B: Original Reply by Christine Unger Posted: 09 Jan 06 3:40 PM (N/A)]
My female is was very worried about being seen eating or toileting in any way. So, I have done the following with some success:
Made 2 strict times for my cats to be fed, morning and night, removing food when they had finished. By morning my cats were actively looking for their breakfast.
Each morning, I placed my nervous feline upon the LK and held the bowl of breakfast for her to eat and waited for her to finish eating on the LK giving lots of quiet praise. I do not take her off the LK, I just walk away quietly, not making a fuss. (This seemed to leave her contemplating the situation for a few days.)
I did this until she was not worried about the situation and felt comfortable. I then slowly returned to the "normal" eating area.
I have also trained her by putting her into the correct position and hand feeding her titbits, getting her to stretch up and out a little to get the morsel. (trying to imitate the position she would need to do the "deed"). I only do this occasionally now she has the idea.
She will now eat in front of me and I have managed (at times) to catch her toileting. She is very quiet during the act, but very energetic in the scratching department.
I have come to the conclusion that she doesn't like the water, and is endeavouring to put enough litter in to make it into dry land again. (quite successfully I might add)
At the moment I am forcing half the water out of the bowl and putting some paper in the bottom to stop the "splash". This has been successful, as she will now defecate into the bowl. My plan is to now slowly increase the "splash" factor.
(By the way, my boy worked out how to use the LK in a matter of weeks. We are waiting for her to catch up.)