Treats

I’m a smart girl. I really am. Joey, for the most part, has to agree on this point. I’m smart because I finally understand Hemi and he understands me. After an almost two year long struggle with peeing and pooing outside of the litter box, Hemi and I have an understanding. We went through hell to get there, too. Joey and I tried so many things. The first was to get the kitty pheromone to relive Hemi’s anxiety (yeah, I still don’t know why he has so much anxiety—he’s a cat). That was working but expensive…and to fill the whole house with it…wasn’t going to work. We purchased all sorts of sprays, changed the litter, put up tin foil to dissuade him from going in the same spots and we finally put him on Prozac. But then the Prozac ran out after two refills and the vet wouldn’t give us anymore. We were back to square one and as much as Joey kept that litter box pristine, Hemi objected to it if there was a trace of anything in it. Stuck up and anxious.

One afternoon over Christmas break, Joey was at wresting practice and I was sitting at the computer. Hemi looked at me and then pooed on the carpet, right in front of me. It was all I could do not to throw him across the room. Seriously. I felt a trust had been broken because I never actually saw him doing any of this. The war was on, but the way Hemi looked at me…it seemed like he knew he had a problem but just couldn’t stop himself. I swear I heard his little voice start singing...

“I’m Sorry by Buck Cherry”

Oh I had alot to say

Was thinking on my time away

I miss you and things weren't the same

'Cause everything inside it never comes out right

And when I see you cry it makes me wanna die.

I'm sorry i'm bad, i'm sorry i'm blue

I'm sorry about all the things I said to you

And I know I can't take it back

I love how you kiss, I love all your sounds

And baby the way you make my world go 'round

And I just wanted to say i'm sorry.

This time I think i'm to blame

It's harder to get through the days

We get older and blame turns to shame

'Cause everything inside it never comes out right

And when I see you cry it makes me wanna die."

I read some more online and talked to God more about the situation. Sometime in January, it clicked. Treats. We don’t give the cats treats but the vet had suggested we give Cain and Titan a treat when they came in from the backyard. Why? Because at the end of last year, Cain refused to come in. And sometimes he wouldn’t just NOT come in but he would take off running the other direction and Joey would have to chase him down. So, we started to reward the dogs for coming inside when we told them, too. I thought, “maybe this can work with a cat.”

One problem with this was I never saw Hemi going in the litter box…like ever. So, I gave him a few treats in the bathroom where his litter box is located. He knew this was now the treat room. Next, any time I saw him sniffing around the litter box, assessing whether it met his standards or not, I would give him a treat. And then, I was sitting at the computer and I heard scratching…finally! He hopped out of the box and I gave him a treat along with lots of praise. Later that day, I walked into the bathroom, Hemi followed me, hopped into the litter box hopped out, looked at me and meowed. Treat. He got back in the litter box and got back out, looked at me and meowed. Treat. I called Joey and explained what was going on. Now, we could only give him a treat if he actually went #1 or #2.

After two months of this, Hemi has caught on and he’s finally doing this with Joey, too. The first time was disastrous because Joey has not kept his cool in the past. So, when he walked in on Hemi using the Tinkle Bank, he waited until Hemi got out and then Joey started to praise him. Hemi freaked and took off while Joey chased him with a treat. But now, everyone is on the same page….with peeing. We are still working on the pooing issue.

I reminded Joey what the procedure is when catching Hemi in the act (outside of the box). Firmly say no, pick him up and put him in the litter box. Do not yell, do not scream, do not chase him, do not light hair on fire with anger. Last week, Joey walked in on Hemi using the bedroom carpet as his litter box. He handled the situation well. Hemi really is understanding. It’s kind of funny though because he wants that treat so bad, he’ll wait until one of us gets there and runs to the litter box. Now the first thing we do when entering is follow him to the litter box right away.

Joey is shaking his head. He just can't believe I had trained Hemi to go in his litter box. Chessie is shaking her head, too. She can't believe Hemi has trained me to give him a treat just for going in the damn thing.

Next up: Try to figure out how to put the fat cat on a diet without harming the skinny cat.