WHY Must They do THAT??!!

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   DzyMsLizzyposted 8 years ago

   Cats have hairballs from time to time (or sometimes eat something they should not have).  It goes with the territory of owning (or rather, being owned by) a cat.  I get that.  I also understand that if a hairball issue "arises," (no pun intended), right after the cat has eaten, there is going to be a bigger mess to clean.  Fine.  Poor kitty.  I understand.
   
   What I do NOT get, is why they must insist on heading for the carpet!!!!   Why???
   
   If I catch them early enough on in the process, I will grab them and escort them to at least the hard-surfaced floor of the kitchen or bathroom; so much easier to clean.
   
   If I get to the bathroom, and there is still time left, I will take the further step of holding them with their head over the litter box.  THAT's where you are supposed to deposit messes, kitty--all types of messes!
   
   I once had a dog that I trained to 'ask out,' if he had to 'urp.'  I know cats are trainable--why can I not train them to do this in the litterbox??
   
   (I wish I could afford to rip up all the carpet and replace with hardwood floors!  Then, they would not be able to pull that stunt!)

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      Deborah Sextonposted 8 years agoin reply to this

      _____________________________
      My kitten learned to use our human toilet by herself.
      We have a movie of her using it.
      It's really easy to train them too

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      1. 89

         DzyMsLizzyposted 8 years agoin reply to this

         Hello, Deborah,
         Yes--cats can be trained to use the toilet for elimination functions, but not to throw up hairballs or anything else, and that is my issue.
         
         That said, it's a 'trick' we cannot teach our cats, because the process involves beginning with a litter pan on top of the toilet, then shifting to a special pan that fits under the seat, with litter in it, then gradually cutting holes in that pan, larger and larger as you reduce the amount of litter.
         
         Since we are on a septic system, and not city sewer, that option is not available to us, as we cannot have litter going into the septic tank.
         
         (Also, it ties up that toilet permanently for the duration of the training period, until the cats learn to just balance on the seat. Even if we could allow litter into the toilet, we still need both bathrooms available, due to hubby's medical issues.)

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            Deborah Sextonposted 8 years agoin reply to this

            _______________________
            My cat learned by herself to use the toilet for everything, and not for just for one thing.
            So far, It's all I have been able to show, in a movie....and I added that cats can be taught to use the toilet for everything, even hairballs
            That's all I have to say

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            1. 87

               MizBejabbersposted 8 years agoin reply to this

               I had cats that used the toilet. A friend of mine went one better and said her friend's cat would actually flush the toilet when she finished. I was never able to train mine to flush.

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            2. 89

               DzyMsLizzyposted 8 years agoin reply to this

               I think we have retarded cats!  LOL  If we leave the lid open, they are liable to fall in, as they often jump up there en route to the windowsill.  LOL

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                  Deborah Sextonposted 8 years agoin reply to this

                  ________________________
                  I left only the smallest bathroom open for my cat.
                  My cat was never a window sitter (we also don't have windows in our bathrooms)
                  and I've never witnessed her falling

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2. 81

   ii3rittlesposted 8 years ago

   You can train your cat to puke on paper. My one cat does this. You just have to keep at it. When they start to puke, move them to some newspapers to puke on. Allow them to move the paper in an attempt to bury it. This will register in their instincts and they will take note. Just be sure to leave paper out. Place a plastic back underneath so it doesn't go on the carpet at all.

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   1. 89

      DzyMsLizzyposted 8 years agoin reply to this

      Thanks for that suggestion.  I'll see what I can arrange.  We don't get newspapers, so maybe paper towels might work...??

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3. 87

   MizBejabbersposted 8 years ago

   Heck, humans don't always know when they are going to barf to make it to the toilet, so how can we expect a cat to barf on paper or the litter box? I don't have carpet anymore, so my Tas always deposit his hairballs and freshly eaten food on the sofa. I have a slipcover with a quilted pet cover on top of that on the sofa. The pet cover has to be laundered on a regular basis.
   My cat, Cici, that I think is an ocicat sheds so little that in the 2 1/2 years we've had her, I've never seen her barf up a hair ball. Tas is part Persian or Himalayan and gets hairballs as regular as clockwork despite regular brushings.

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   1. 89

      DzyMsLizzyposted 8 years agoin reply to this

      I can imagine!  My most frequent hairball-barfer is part Maine Coon, a big, fluffy boy, and as if that were not bad enough, he has had the habit, ever since he was a kitten, of sucking his tail!!!!  Talk about hairballs on a regular basis!
      He's 13, now, and has had some issues, and I THINK I've finally broken him of the tail sucking routine...Perhaps it happened coincidentally as he was doing a lot of puking up even his food with the issue he was having.  Thankfully, we seem to have that under control; he's on a prescription diet, but I haven't seen the tail sucking in a month or so.

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         MizBejabbersposted 8 years agoin reply to this

         A built-in pacifier, now that's funny! Our Tas is 13 and is on a prescription diet, too. We lost our part Main Coon about 2 years ago. She was 19 1/2 and rarely ever barfed up a hairball, but on the rare times she did, she would let out a wail like she was dying. My husband is furious at Tas because we can't break him from  peeing in the avocado plant. We've covered it, but somehow he manages to scratch around it. But as I told husband, for some reason, avocado plants are cat magnets. I've never had an avocado plant in the past that my cats haven't "fertilized" to death.

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         1. 89

            DzyMsLizzyposted 8 years agoin reply to this

            LOL  Overdose of wrong kind of fertilizer, eh?   
            I've heard you can blow up some small balloons and bury them just under the soil ; when kitty digs, balloons will pop, and startle the cat away, and they usually won't return to that spot.
            I don't know if it works; I've not had occasion to try it.  We don't have houseplants--our gang would think they were salad and get sick.

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            1. 87

               MizBejabbersposted 8 years agoin reply to this

               Wow! I'll tell hubby about the balloons and let you know if it works! Thanks.

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