Praising good behavior

[trichardson]

I have two great big male cats (6 and 1) who did very well on the red stage of LK, but have been having difficulty with the amber stage. (Only one of them, and I don't know which one, has mangage to pee but not poop on it.) I have tried so hard to catch them "in the act" to correct them and/or praise them, but they are so darn private that if they even hear me coming down the hallway, they start casually wandering away from the bathroom in that way cats have... "What? Me using the bathroom? No, I was just going for a stroll. Don't mind me." So, I pick the cat up and put him on the toilet and tell him what a good boy he is and pet him until he's purring like a motor. Then as soon as I turn my back, he jumps down and runs into the living room only to return and have an accident when I'm not looking. How can I praise my boys' good behavior (or stop their bad behavior) if I can never get them to go in front of me?

[Suzanne]

Set up a webcam in the toilet so you can see what's going on. Or you can get cheap ($99) B&W Monitor with 2 cameras surveillance system from Aldi to do same thing - or use a video camera etc.

It certainly solves the problem of not knowing what is really going on in the toilet.

Good luck
Suzanne

[Sophiecat]

Hi, this is for trichardson with the "performance anxiety boys"

We've had plenty of problems with our cat but we did manage to avoid the "who me? Visit the bathroom?" phenomenon: wander about in the room next door but don't go in the bathroom until they get used to you being around.

Then put one foot in the bathroom and just walk off.

Then I tried going in for something different, pick up the toothpaste and leave. Eventually they start to get over the paranoia (which is totally justified, I might add, Its all a bit wierd isn't it?) Now we can go in freely but we have to wait until Sophie starts to crouch before we can intervene otherwise she still walks away! sigh.