I Hope It's Not One of Those Mornings...

…because one of those mornings implies that there are more like it.

I woke up at 3.30 a.m. to the sounds of Renn about to wretch. This happens from time to time: mornings are a time when cats suffering kidney issues tend to throw up. Also, my big boy is prone to hairballs, which he usually discharges without difficulty. That was the case this morning. It is usually little trouble. Renn gives me fair warning, and I can almost always reach one of my shallow boxes - kept in every room for the purpose - and push it under his nose before he throws up.

I walked to the front door to put the soiled box there for disposal later, congratulating myself on catching the hairball before it landed on the bed, and noting that there was still more than an hour to go until I had to get up. I could go back to sleep. That’s when I realised that Renn’s hairball was the lesser of my problems.

Neville has been having very liquidy poop lately. I am not sure the cause, though I suspect it might be the new feeding arrangements. While he has eaten the Acana before, he is probably eating more of it now, and it could be having a disadvantageous effect on his digestion. That will be experimented with presently. Whatever the cause, the effect was plain.

There was litter-encrusted crap all over the floor of the store-room, where the litter-boxes are, the floor of the dining area, and the rugs of the corridor between, as well as in the sitting room. It had been ground in to the carpet, where Nev had obviously attempted to rub it off his fur. This of course meant that worse would be seen when I examined his fur. Worse was indeed seen.

All his backside was covered in debris, and both his rear legs. This despite the fact that his bum had been shaved recently. When a cat has liquid faces, it will cling not just to long hair, but to short; indeed, to skin. Feeling that he needed to cleanse himself, the Nevsky had tried his best. He had failed.

For the next hour and a half, I washed Neville, wiping, combing and trimming wherever was necessary, and cleaned the floors and the rugs. Only after that could I start on the normal routine of the morning: feeding the cats, scooping the litter-box, and the few things that pertain to me in preparation for work. I lost count of the number of times I wished my hands and arms… And Nev used the box again for number two before I left, necessitating another, albeit much less severe, cleaning.

I have taken away the new hard-food for the day, and will supply the cats with some of the former product. Nev will stay have access to his ‘dietetic’ food, which he prefers, anyway. He has been eating that with no ill-effects for years. In the meantime, I will watch, when I can, his litter-box visits, wash him immediately when it is required, and hope that he doesn’t need to go often when I am absent.

I was late for work and I am tired.