Now, I'd be lying if I said I hadn't seen it coming - my heating bill is already through the roof and the rabbit took up permanent residence under our kitchen table over a month ago - but then I'd also be lying if I said I'd prepared myself for the house altering change that will be winter turning my outdoor cats into indoor lovelies.
The problem? The oldest has decided she is above using a litter tray, and apparently only the carpet will do. With that in mind my 'indoor lovelies' title is a little far fetched, as the little one (Charlie) is the only one of the two who knows how to behave.
As cleaning up cat mess is not one of my more favored daily duties I spent a couple of minutes of my work day researching why cats can suddenly change their mind about where they relieve themselves, and have come to the conclusion that it is one of the following reasons:
♥ She doesn't like sharing with Charlie any more, because 95% of the time, she hates him
♥ She is too used to doing her business outside
♥ She is evil
I was kind enough to let her off with the outdoor excuse. Luke, however, went for option number 3. Obviously to his mind, we have raised the devil.
Anyway, I have come up with a plan to resolve our issues, which Luke agreed to once I had e-mailed it to him, along with an official industry standard timing plan that included steps like 'approval from cats' (no-one questions a girl working on Microsoft Project)
Here is the e-mail/plan:
"I have a plan.. we are going to get the spare litter tray and place it in the kitchen near the door for use when we are out of the home and Colbie is in the home. Charlie can carry on with his dignified hooded tray but obvs she isn’t that classy. Then we can keep him upstairs and her downstairs and work out if it’s a problem with sharing the litter that is causing her bad behaviour. If it’s not then we consult a vet who should be able to prescribe something to beat her with
I bring this news to you after seeing the bad weather, and realising that if I’m not warm enough in a parka, they aren’t warm enough prancing around in the buff
Thoughts? Concerns?"
Once I've written this I'll be setting the house up for operation litter tray.
Wish me luck.
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You just made me smile! Thanks. :)
ReplyDeleteAnd you just made me smile because I made you smile! Thanks for letting me know :) xx
ReplyDeleteI hope she does realise that she has to go indoors. We got Kadie about a year after we got Garfield (my other cat, Kadie is the outdoor one I mentioned on my blog) and we had to get them separate trays but ultimately they started going outside or sharing a tray. If Kadie becomes more indoor I am slightly worried she might start messing everywhere now though.
ReplyDeleteReading this entire post, all I was thinking about was that I gotta introduce you to Mark and his cats - then I noticed he's already found you so I didn't have to do a thing!
ReplyDeleteAnd now this comment has become redundant...
Good luck! Cats can be so difficult when they want to! A few of my cats growing up were real pains!
ReplyDeleteUnfortunately I don't know anything about cats, but this just made me laugh a lot, so thank you...
ReplyDeleteThank you for visiting my blog, and for following! Hope the carbonara went well!
Mona x
My cat is strictly indoor, so typically no litterbox problems. Also, she's the only pet, so no real jealousy issues either.
ReplyDeleteGood luck with your "devil cat"! lol
Aha i hope operation littertray goes well! When we first got our kittens they used to fight over the litter tray and try and simultaneously use it! Silly puddies. We got them one each since then (partly cos of this and partly cos Ralph started pooing on the bed in protest! O_O) and it's worked out fine for them :)
ReplyDeleteFunnily enough my rabbit is the MOST litter trained! How is your bun with your cats? My cats love her and she really doesn't care for them hehe. She is so spoilt, she gets jealous when i'm stroking any other animal that's not her O_O. xx
Mark - I hope you manage to get Kadie to stay in, operation litter tray has so far been unsuccessful in our house (found a lovely surprise on the sofabed in the spare room this morning). To be honest i think Colbie is just being stubborn, our other cat, Charlie, is completely fine with the transition. Colbies clearly just a bitch
ReplyDeleteHazel - this made me laugh :) feel free to recommend cat blogs though, I'm clearly obsessed with them!
Sara - thanks! I'm spending the day indoors with her today to try and train her. Not going well so far, she's currently staring out of the window and feeling sorry for herself
Mona - thank you :)
J - Mine used to be indoor and it was so much easier.. but she would look out of the window at other cats and get sad so when we moved to a suburban area I set her free lol
Tilly - This made me laugh, so glad she hasn't gone on the bed! i'd be horrified! The rabbit is so funny with the cats, they are both afraid of her but she loves them so she follows them everywhere! She even sits with them when they're eating and attempts to share their dinner! xx
Well she was at the door at 7 this morning yowling to be let in. I hope she knew I was awake and that if no one will let her in she doesn't just sit there yowling. The same happened when we got Kadie, Garfield was indifferent most of the time, it was usually Kadie that started (and won) their fights. I got lucky in that both cats came from my sister, and she had already house trained them, although Garfield had most of his house training here when she lived here for a bit. It was how I came to have him, she decided that he had gotten to used to the place (plus I loved him to bits and he made me happy)
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