Finally I have a mortgage I can start to pay off!

Suffolk_lass

themadvix said:

Morning all,
Final visit this morning with my furry friend. He's so lovely - I do hope I get to see him again.

I've had a reasonable amount of work this morning (i.e. more than I was expecting), but am now up to date. B&W cat and I have a vet's appointment shortly for the litter tray issues, but it's more of a formality so that we can get a behavioural referral. I'm collecting a loaf afterwards to go with our Olio soup for lunch. It's hammering down and cold here, so soup seems entirely appropriate!

Did I miss something? What are the litter tray issues with B&W cat?

themadvix

He chooses not to use the litter tray when it suits him, like when he’s cross with us… he uses it fine at other times and vet agreed there was probably nothing medically wrong, he’s just a git! Likes to wee next to it (ruining wood floor) or if we put the (integrated into wood floor) back door mat down he likes that too (so we live with bare concrete by back door). Part of the reason why trying to sell the house was so stressful!! 

newgirly

Oh I feel for you vix, we are living with this too 😩 our Siamese is 18 1/2 and now has a routine of by the front door or next to the tray (while standing in the tray) and the top of the stairs on the carpet 😱 it’s an endless round of cleaning which is driving me mad! In her case it’s her age, i hope you manage to find a way around it though, let me know if you find something that works 🙂

Suffolk_lass

We have one of those enormous square plant trays under the litter tray at the top of the stairs to cater for the periodic elective misses next to her tray. It was worse when we had more than one cat - it seems the more dominant cat used to intimidate her into not using the tray when she needed to. The advice we received was to have one more tray than cats (I don't know how big their house was but ours is not big enough for this).

Our girl has wee'd on one particular cushion on the black leather sofa and kept going back to it. We eventually found a product to clean the sofa and remove the smell (and the cushion went to the incinerator) and we concluded this was her saying she was not happy about something. We try to keep her tray as wee-free as possible and refresh it more frequently than we did.

I wonder if your naughty ginger boy has been territorial marking around their tray?

Chiglepig

Whether it's age or sheer cat-gittery that's really difficult to deal with, @themadvix, @newgirly. For us it's that time of year when I wish we had called Puss 'Villanelle', she has gone full on psychpath, and likes to let things loose in the house for doggo to play with. I've tried a collar and bell to no avail.

Karmacat

The idea of calling a cat "Villanelle" is just brilliant 

themadvix

Suffolk_lass said:

We have one of those enormous square plant trays under the litter tray at the top of the stairs to cater for the periodic elective misses next to her tray. It was worse when we had more than one cat - it seems the more dominant cat used to intimidate her into not using the tray when she needed to. The advice we received was to have one more tray than cats (I don't know how big their house was but ours is not big enough for this).

Our girl has wee'd on one particular cushion on the black leather sofa and kept going back to it. We eventually found a product to clean the sofa and remove the smell (and the cushion went to the incinerator) and we concluded this was her saying she was not happy about something. We try to keep her tray as wee-free as possible and refresh it more frequently than we did.

I wonder if your naughty ginger boy has been territorial marking around their tray?

A large tray would be great if he didn't stand up as he wees - so it hits the wall... We probably should have another tray (have two for two cats) but it's also a space issue and concern that he may then do the same there and ruin the (expensive because it's mainly wool) carpet. I think there's some past trauma between the two cats, but I think possibly B&W cat is the dominant one these days (he's smaller but he starts the fights and generally behaves as if he's in charge of all of us). He also had an issue with crystals in his urine several years ago, which I think was the start - but none now as he's been on a special diet for that ever since. He doesn't seem particularly happy a lot of the time - he'd like to be outside a lot more, but it's just not practical here. We're working on a catio for them, but it's not particularly easy to build and there's the risk it won't help! (As an amusing aside, he still cries about the fact that we changed the kitchen in 2018 - he remembers being able to jump on top of the wall cabinets and will now sit on the worktop and look up and cry at the fact there's not the space for him up there now. It fascinates me that a) he remembers after all this time and b) it held such memories - it wasn't like he spent a lot of time up there!)

We have the enzyme-based cleaner, which works, but wood floor shouldn't be soaked by either urine or cleaner, so it's tricky! The cleanliness of the tray makes no difference either - he does it even if it's just been completely washed! It's very frustrating - and we can't put plastic sheeting down to catch anything as his brother would eat it! (Other people always seem to have normal cats, why aren't mine? But it is reassuring to know we've got company!)

themadvix

Chiglepig said:

Whether it's age or sheer cat-gittery that's really difficult to deal with, @themadvix, @newgirly. For us it's that time of year when I wish we had called Puss 'Villanelle', she has gone full on psychpath, and likes to let things loose in the house for doggo to play with. I've tried a collar and bell to no avail.

Thanks Chiglepig - it is really difficult to deal with and takes its toll. Fortunately ours are almost entirely inside cats (and ginger cat is afraid of spiders ) so we don't have that to contend with. While it must be nice to know that cat and dog have such a good relationship, I can't imagine that's easy to deal with either!

themadvix

Morning all,

Was up bright and early this morning for my 7 am Olio collection! All went smoothly and a lot of the stuff is now allocated and packed ready for people to collect - from 10.30 onwards. My kitchen looked like a bakery this morning!

Have also chased vets about missing worming tablet, booked engineer for our oven again - I've asked for a replacement as this is the 6th(?) time we've had to call someone out under warranty; and had my parking costs at the court authorised for payment (they check whether it's feasible for you to get public transport - it's 1.5 hours for me, vs 25 mins by car). Annoyingly, there's no work to speak of this morning, but I did do a little bit at the weekend. Mum, Sis and niece are popping up for their Olio collections in a bit (from my personal allowance - you can keep 10%) and once my collectors have been this morning I'll head out for a walk. In the meantime, I'll get sewing - still need to finish the bunting for family before I can crack on with stuff to sell.

MS things:
* Clicks done
*NV survey done
* YG survey done
* Grapes, a loaf and a choc croissant retained from collection (less said about chocolate croissant the better, it's already disappeared)
* Am being refunded a mystery amount from Milk and More, apparently they'd overcharged me for something.
* Picked up a small cat sitting job for my favourite repeat cat
* Picked up the Correctly Delivered survey for beginning of June

Gratitudes:
* (On the whole) friendly Olioers 
* Lovely family BBQ on Saturday with all of DH's family - niece wasn't shy at all even though we've not seen her in person for 18+ months (and she's only 4)
* Lovely family time with my extended family yesterday
* The gazebo still being up in garden to protect my Olio collections!

Have a good day all!

Karmacat

This Olio collection hub thing is fascinating!  So positive.  And I'm glad you got your parking costs approved.