Piss in the Pantry
For the last few days, I’ve been finding piss in places I really would prefer not to find it. The pantry, the closet, my magazines (again!). Once the smell gets started, cats keep finding it no matter how well I clean.
It’s the boys. Oh-Oh, I think. I don’t know if he’s marking to prove his manhood or if he might have an infection going. I saw him and Zo-Zo in the pantry and let them be. I figured they were sniffing out the food.
Because the peeing is about six to eight inches off the floor, there is considerable clean-up to do. I’ve learned how to wash with an oxygen detergent to get the smell gone enough to satisfy my sensitive nose, but I’m sure cats aren’t fooled. Some things, though, I just toss. The sprayed pasta packages, for example, were so saturated that I didn’t want to fool with them. In the closet, a white handwoven got soaked. It went out.
My Threads magazines had gotten it before, probably from several cats, so I ordered replacements of the ones that wouldn’t air of the smell, and then put white index cards in front of them to keep track of new spraying. Indeed, the tell-tale yellow showed up. Now I’ve taped plastic across the bottom shelf of the bookcase. My guess is that the bookcase came with cat pee. I got it second hand from a house with cats. I’ve since painted it, but the smell from the magazines I kept may have attracted more activity, or the smell on the shelves comes through paint.
The barn I’ve been longing for would help. I have a strong aversion to cat piss, but in a barn it would be more tolerable.
My aversion probably explains some of my aversion to perfumes. Many companies apparently use cat urine to sustain the fragrance. I met someone whose tenant spilled Eternity perfume on a carpet and she ended up replacing the carpet. She called the company to get their advice for cleaning and they informed her there was cat urine in it. They weren’t very hopeful she could successfully remove it.
Oh-Oh seems a bit out of sorts, so perhaps I’ll take him in to have his urine checked. He’s nervous around the big boys, like Beemer and Harley. He stays out most nights these days, but I don’t think he’s curled up with others in the clan. He also looks a little lopsided to me. He seems his usual vigorous self, though. He prances through once or twice a day for strokes and any extra food that might be around.
I’m reluctant to take him to the vet for a number of reasons: the stress on him; the stress on my pocketbook; prescriptions for antibiotics or other drugs I have reservations about using; advocacy for vaccines I don’t like to have given; and the fear of another fatal illness diagnosis.
Somehow, I foolishly thought that doing the TNR thing was the extent to my involvement with these fine four-legged beings. I don’t mind, but sometimes I feel a little lonely in the decisions I need to make. Since I’m not inclined to strictly follow the conventional treatments, I have to discover for myself what I’m willing to do and not do. With Vespa, for example, I came to the conclusion that taking him to the vet would only stress and not relieve. They would advise isolation and euthanasia, as they did with Louie-Louie. On the other hand, I don’t follow alternative advice in a strict way either. I don’t serve raw food, regularly give supplements or try to find appropriate homeopathic remedies beyond a few I feel comfortable using.
If I want understanding about my choices, I won’t get it from my vets. They don’t oppose, but neither do they advocate for my hands-off policy.
In the case of Oh-Oh, I’ll do a little more research on my own, maybe try a homeopathic, do some meditation to see if any action comes to mind, and keep an eye on him. Maybe he’s just doing the boy pissing contest, which seems to be in the biology. I’ve gotten more vigilant about access to the rest of the house. I keep doors closed and stay in the studio now when I have the outside door open. I get down on my hands and knees to sniff if I have any suspicion that fragrance has been applied again. I keep plenty of Odor Be Gone, Citrasolv, and other cleaners around.
And, I’ll keep visualizing that barn. Maybe this dream will come true and the days of cleaning up cat piss from the pantry will be over.
It’s the boys. Oh-Oh, I think. I don’t know if he’s marking to prove his manhood or if he might have an infection going. I saw him and Zo-Zo in the pantry and let them be. I figured they were sniffing out the food.
Because the peeing is about six to eight inches off the floor, there is considerable clean-up to do. I’ve learned how to wash with an oxygen detergent to get the smell gone enough to satisfy my sensitive nose, but I’m sure cats aren’t fooled. Some things, though, I just toss. The sprayed pasta packages, for example, were so saturated that I didn’t want to fool with them. In the closet, a white handwoven got soaked. It went out.
My Threads magazines had gotten it before, probably from several cats, so I ordered replacements of the ones that wouldn’t air of the smell, and then put white index cards in front of them to keep track of new spraying. Indeed, the tell-tale yellow showed up. Now I’ve taped plastic across the bottom shelf of the bookcase. My guess is that the bookcase came with cat pee. I got it second hand from a house with cats. I’ve since painted it, but the smell from the magazines I kept may have attracted more activity, or the smell on the shelves comes through paint.
The barn I’ve been longing for would help. I have a strong aversion to cat piss, but in a barn it would be more tolerable.
My aversion probably explains some of my aversion to perfumes. Many companies apparently use cat urine to sustain the fragrance. I met someone whose tenant spilled Eternity perfume on a carpet and she ended up replacing the carpet. She called the company to get their advice for cleaning and they informed her there was cat urine in it. They weren’t very hopeful she could successfully remove it.
Oh-Oh seems a bit out of sorts, so perhaps I’ll take him in to have his urine checked. He’s nervous around the big boys, like Beemer and Harley. He stays out most nights these days, but I don’t think he’s curled up with others in the clan. He also looks a little lopsided to me. He seems his usual vigorous self, though. He prances through once or twice a day for strokes and any extra food that might be around.
I’m reluctant to take him to the vet for a number of reasons: the stress on him; the stress on my pocketbook; prescriptions for antibiotics or other drugs I have reservations about using; advocacy for vaccines I don’t like to have given; and the fear of another fatal illness diagnosis.
Somehow, I foolishly thought that doing the TNR thing was the extent to my involvement with these fine four-legged beings. I don’t mind, but sometimes I feel a little lonely in the decisions I need to make. Since I’m not inclined to strictly follow the conventional treatments, I have to discover for myself what I’m willing to do and not do. With Vespa, for example, I came to the conclusion that taking him to the vet would only stress and not relieve. They would advise isolation and euthanasia, as they did with Louie-Louie. On the other hand, I don’t follow alternative advice in a strict way either. I don’t serve raw food, regularly give supplements or try to find appropriate homeopathic remedies beyond a few I feel comfortable using.
If I want understanding about my choices, I won’t get it from my vets. They don’t oppose, but neither do they advocate for my hands-off policy.
In the case of Oh-Oh, I’ll do a little more research on my own, maybe try a homeopathic, do some meditation to see if any action comes to mind, and keep an eye on him. Maybe he’s just doing the boy pissing contest, which seems to be in the biology. I’ve gotten more vigilant about access to the rest of the house. I keep doors closed and stay in the studio now when I have the outside door open. I get down on my hands and knees to sniff if I have any suspicion that fragrance has been applied again. I keep plenty of Odor Be Gone, Citrasolv, and other cleaners around.
And, I’ll keep visualizing that barn. Maybe this dream will come true and the days of cleaning up cat piss from the pantry will be over.
posted by Forgive the Dream at 6:56 PM
1 Comments:
hey joan
i like this note...
i will let my brother read it.
they are coming to visit in two days...and he is leaving his cats with a friend.
he cleaned everything before he brought his cat back home from the pound...he seems to think all is well. hope so.
i hope oh-oh is okay...
thanks for sharing.
e
forgive the dream
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