Tuesday, July 20, 2021

The Library Receives a New Floor

By Monday, Portia’s wetting outside the litter-box reached proportions unheard of in the Cosy Apartment. She was urinating on soaker-pads as almost as fast as I put them down. I didn’t believe she needed to wet at most of these times, but did so because something psychological compelled her to do so. I also knew that, though the pads had been irrelevant to her wetting for two months, they were now a target. But if I removed them, what would assure me that she would not then wet on the rug and carpet underneath, items impossible to throw in the washing machine?

The answer was simple: put in a new floor. Well, sort of. I was speaking with a friend about Portia and we agreed that if there were no soaker-pads, Po probably wouldn’t wet on the floor, though there was no guarantee of this. But we were much more certain that if I had bare floors, rather than carpetted, there would be no problem. What simulates hard-flooring, I wondered aloud. The reply was “linoleum”.

Today, therefore, I bought a swath of linoleum, admittedly cheap, along with a new rug, even cheaper, to place underneath it. Up went the old rug – leaving, of course, the fitted carpet – and down went the new coverings. It wasn’t easy. I had first to remove four tall bookcases’ worth of books, stack them elsewhere in the suddenly shrinking apartment, and then remove the bookcases themselves from the library. But it was done. Because it was late, I was tired, and no longer twenty-five, I postponed the return of the furniture and its contents until tomorrow. But the essence of the new set-up in the library is in place.









You will note that there are no soaker-pads. I am betting that Portia won’t wet outside the box and, if she does, my wager won’t cost me cash in the apartment building’s laundry machines, as I can just wipe up the result from the vinyl now on the library’s floor.

The test – Portia’s bladder and her desire to empty it -  remains to be taken. No matter what happens, however, I think the situation and events will be improvements on what has gone before. Not only will hygiene and my finances improve but, more importantly, I think Portia’s mental health – and chances of adoption – will increase.

20 comments:

  1. Wow,the things we'll do for our kitties...sure hope that works!!

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  2. Good Golly Molly, you certainly had a lot of work getting to the point putting the vinyl on the floor. Hope that Portia appreciates what you have done. Better yet let's hope she shows her appreciation by using the litter box only every time she has to go pee. And good luck with putting all the furniture back because it looks like a back-breaking job to me. Got our fingers crossed for both of you.

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  3. Oh my gosh, my back and shoulders ache in sympathy with yours. What a job! It's like moving all over again. I really hope this does the trick, we'll be keeping our fingers and paws crossed here!

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  4. P.S. Are all your litter boxes hooded? I wonder if she'd prefer an open one. Maybe something to consider if this doesn't solve the problem (though I certainly hope it does).

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    1. That option was offered early on and didn't make a difference.

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  5. Oh! Bless! Dare l say it..
    The things we'll do for the love of
    a pussy~cat..and our own peace of
    mind..
    And! Yes! Let's hope it's a great
    improvement all round! :).

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  6. Excellent! I feel good about this choice.
    Sorry, however, that you had to mess with your bookshelves.
    So, what are you reading these days? Am always looking for recommendations!

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    1. I tend to read mostly non-fiction, and one field of interest leads to another. I was reading about the Boer War in Bechuanaland (now Botswana), and that led into the alteration of the social structure among the Tswana due to the eradication of much of their cattle during the rinderpest epidemic of 1896-97. As you can guess, there aren’t many books on those subjects, so I have been downloading university articles from the internet.

      The latest book I’ve read was “With Methuen’s Column”, about fighting Boer guerrillas.

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  7. What a puzzling affair! I really hope this does the trick.

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  8. Wow! You've sure got your work cut out for you. Hopefully all of your hard work will solve the problem. Please keep us posted.

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  9. That will be most interesting if it works.

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  10. My goodness! I hope Portia appreciates your efforts and the wetting outside the box stops entirely.

    I'm considering putting flooring in my sun room, not because of wetting, but due to the cat odors that get trapped into the rugs I have over the plywood flooring. It will be much easier to clean up the food and hairballs they toss up. Thankfully I have no large or heavy pieces of furniture out there. :)

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  11. I hope that works, especially after all the effort you put into it! It seems very possible that the novelty of the new flooring will do the trick.

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  12. 1000000000000 best wishes and fishes that this works; the fact that she could "smell" the "waste" ON the soaker pad, may....may have led her to believe it was OK to continue to use them for relieving herself.....much like a diaper, I know the smell had to remain in the soaker pad, and there wasn't the whole "covering up" process ~~~~~ ????? ☺☺♥♥

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    1. I actually thought about the soaker pad and how she may have thought that would be OK...

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  13. After all your hard work I hope Portia appreciates it and it works.

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  14. Tabbies have an idea there. I am curious and hopeful about your next blog. Whew. You are earning any gray hairs that come along your way!

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  15. I hope you are correct, and that this helps Portia.

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  16. Excellent idea! We have all tile here. When my sister passed I removed her and Moms years of hoarding and tore up what little remained. I then put tile in. What a nice change from rugs. I now have a "problem kitty" whose name is Einstein and am working to end his "misses" but we are making progress and no worry about a carpet. We wish Po the very best in things to come!

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  17. I mentioned Skeeter's problem in the previous post. I didn't remove the bookcases. I dread what it might look like! But I'm planning renovations, one of which is sanding and refinishing the 30 year old wood floor (it is solid oak, so can stand light sanding).

    I'll see under the bookcases then...

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