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12:15 p.m. - July 27, 2006
Let Us Hope The Problem Is Solved, Amen!
It�s a little disconcerting when you come home from work and find that the entire contents of your storage room is in either the kitchen or the back porch.

There was a great reason for that, though, as Liz was thoroughly steam cleaning the carpets in that room and the formal dining room.

Why is that, you ask?

The cats.

Yes, our beloved kitties haven�t been exemplary in their litter box usage.

We had one of those motorized litter boxes when they were kittens in Zionsville, and we took it with us when we moved here.

The first one pooped out after a while, so we bought another one. It broke, so we went to an old fashioned litter box, as the local Wal-Mart didn�t sell the good motorized kind.

Well, after Kristin was born, we started to notice a few deposits in our dining room once in a while. And in the storage room (which is where we had the litter box) there was the occasional stray leaving and some stains that appeared.

And it seemed to be getting worse and worse with time.

Our storage room doesn�t have any ventilation at all. It has no ducts, so it�s pretty stuffy. You can imagine the odor it may carry from time to time.

So we bought yet another fancy schamncy litter box, and well, it seemed to work for a little while.

Then the problems started again.

And then I thought of something, it may be only one cat, since the litter box also has been used the proper way as well.

So it was either Butch or Sundance. Well, no duh, because we don�t have a mystery cat afoot, as far as I know.

Sundance is such a malleable, go-along-to-get-along cat that we don�t think it�s him. So we think Butch, who is larger, faster and sneakier, is the one that�s having the issues.

Sundance allows Kristin to pet and cuddle him, whilst Butch is always looking for the nearest exit and the nearest food bowl. Butch also is the one that will go and search for the cat food in the pantry if the food bowl is empty.

Butch is definitely the alpha cat, but they are normally very polite. If they are both hungry, the will take turns at the food bowl, and they do spend some time cuddling with each other. They also have taken up �guard� positions in the early morning, after they get tired of sleeping on Liz�s pillow. One will station himself in our bedroom doorway, and the other will be just outside, waiting for marauders or four year olds.

After the latest blast of heat and humidity, and having the pungency of the storage room start to overwhelm us a bit, Liz decided to take the law into her hands, and do her best to eradicate the odor and stop the problem.

She got some of that pet cleaning stuff from the pet store, and went to it yesterday. The rooms aren�t that big, so it didn�t take long, but the problem was moving all of the gunk out of the storage room, which took a long time.

We�ve found some stuff that we didn�t know we had, though, in there, which is always good. It�s amazing what you plunk down in storage after you move, thinking that you�ll use something and you just forget about it in your day to day life.

So a trip to Goodwill is in order!

Thing is, these cats were always pretty good when they were kittens. We had all kinds of problem with Foggy, the cat that I inherited when I met Liz. Foggy was an old cat that didn�t like change, or people, or basically anything except Liz. We achieved a d�tente, but I wasn�t her favorite person.

When Katie came along, Foggy was in mortal fear, because Katie wasn�t the gentlest with kitties. At that time, Foggy was an ancient cat, really, and it was just a matter of time. She started to use our master bathroom all of the time, and we had to get rid of the carpet and the pad because of her issues.

So we�re hoping that this won�t be a repeat, though we are thinking of putting vinyl flooring in the storage room, just in case.

Hopefully now the cats will behave, or at least contain themselves in a reasonable area. We�re not asking for perfection here; we�re just asking for some cooperation.

But what if they don�t? Well, we may have to get a separate litter box for Butch. Snow White, Liz�s best friend, had to do that when she had two male cats that were litter mates.

That would be a pain in the kiester, as I don�t know where else a litter box could go besides the porch. I don�t want to have it in our bathroom again. Hopefully it won�t come to that.

So Liz and I are now ever vigilant, and will hopefully not have to worry about gifts left to us on our formal dining room carpet as we stumble toward the kitchen in the morning.

You know, you always want a nice smooth wakeup, and stepping in that just isn�t the way to start the day!

 

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