I like to put these, uh, “special interest” topics together, since not everyone is special-interested.
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Car business:
You remember the dealer who said the minivan needed $4500 of work, despite running beautifully and not showing any symptoms of anything being wrong? My since-before-blogging friend Firegirl is a car girl, married to a car guy and friends with other car guys. AND, I have a dad who is the kind of person who READS MANUALS. My crack team of Car People looked over the estimate and said “PSHAW.” Firegirl suggests saving up for the timing belt and water pump, but all the rest of it is stuff that gets fixed WHEN IT BREAKS, not FOR FUN. So that’s a relief.
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Cat business:
Update on the cat-peeing-on-the-bed situation. Several of you suggested ideas such as closing Mouse into the bathroom, or closing our bedroom door, and it all seemed too overwhelming: we can’t keep our door closed at night because we need to be able to hear the kids; if we try to keep anything closed during the day, the kids will open it and forget to re-close it.
But there was a load of cat-pee sheets that kicked me over that edge and made me willing to try it: she peed on a pile of CLEAN sheets I hadn’t even PUT ON THE BED yet. So at night, Mouse is in the bathroom in her beloved linen closet, and we shut the door; during the day, we shut the door to our room. It doesn’t work consistently (the kids DO open the door and then leave it open), but “closing door sometimes” turns out to be less opportunity for peeing on our bed than “closing doors never”—see also “frustrated perfectionism, and the importance of thwarting that tendency.”
Not only has there been significantly less peeing on our bed, today she came into the living room and JUMPED ONTO MY LAP and PURRED, and we haven’t seen that kind of thing in awhile.
Also, in addition to the litter box we put in the linen closet, I’ve put a bowl of kitten food in there (more calories than regular cat food), and she’s gained a little weight, which is VERY GOOD considering she’s been at less than half her usual weight.
Well, less peeing is definitely better! Also, phew! on the car!
You should contact 20/20 about that car guy. Sounds as if he was trying to getcha. You know those under-the-hood hidden cameras? That’d be awesome.
I hate to say it, but when our cat was having trouble peeing in places other than the litter box, I read that you can’t get the smell of pee out of things without some serious intervention like an enzyme-based. It might not smell like cat pee to us when it’s clean, but cat noses are far more sensitive. Of course, you probably already know this.
I’m so sorry for her bladder troubles.
er…. ‘enzyme-based cleaner’.
Apparently I need an editor.
So glad Mouse is peeing less on the bed, and is eating more. We fed Abby kitten food for quite awhile to help her put on weight too.
Argh – car stuff. Jason once had a car that he took into the dealer and they told him it would cost $2,800 to fix something with the steering column. He took it to another mechanic who fixed the issue for $28.
I totally hear you about having to change the protocol in your house about closing doors during the day to keep the cat out of your room and closing the cat up at night. We, too, have to lock up the cats at night or they use all of their nocturnal energy to race up and down the hall and then they jump on my head whining for food at 4 in the morning. I know it’s not peeing, but it’s definitely annoying. My family has learned to not keep food on the counter because our 60 lb. Australian Shepherd will jump up there and eat EVERYTHING. Good luck. Hope it continues to get better with Mouse.