The dear, clever, beautiful child wanted pets. She wanted a million pets...well just a cat, dog, hamster, fish, turtle, maybe a chicken, and probably a few more I'm blocking out. She has had three fish. They've lived what I think was quite a while, considering they're from one of the two nasty looking pet stores in town.
A few years ago we tried to adopt two cats. I thought they would be perfect. They were older, fixed and declawed. They weren't siblings (is it even called 'siblings' in the cat world??) but they had been together since they were six months old. I thought they would be settled, plus keep each other company. See the other bad thing about declawing, is that the cats need to stay inside...which in and of itself, is a nice concept. You don't have to get up in the middle of the night to let the cat in or out. You don't have to worry about them catching diseases from eating things they shouldn't and can thus get away with not giving them their needles. Not to mention, just the nice feeling you get from knowing they're not going to get in a fight with a skunk nor get run over by a car. All these positives go out the window when you think about the big, nasty, stinky NEGATIVE about having an indoor cat: The Litter Box!! Oh man, when we had those two guys I hated the litter box. They were older and set in their ways...one of their ways being the kicking of the litter all over the place. Despite TLB being the the absolute worst thing ever, I dealt with it. The thing I couldn't deal with, however, was that they were huge beggars. No meal could be eaten in peace, and you couldn't leave food on the counter or they would jump up and eat it. I have friends and relatives that have cats that don't do this.I know that this should be unacceptable. Unfortunately, these fellas were seven years old, and they just couldn't be re-trained after that many years of obviously being fed people food. They sealed their fate the day I set my Whopper down on the table for ten seconds to run (literally run) into my bedroom to grab my phone. Don't mess with Momma's food, Mofos! I sent them back from whence they came.
Fast forward two years. The child is older. Her obsession with kitties has not subsided. She has just spent three and a half months in Korea where her auntie (really Momma's best friend, but same, same) has two kitters that are brothers. I started casually looking for kittens...very casually. I also said, she could have a hamster or a turtle if we found the perfect one. Then one of my friends announced that her cat had kittens. I told her to let me know more about them later when it was closer to adoption time. A few weeks later, my cousin's rabbit had babies. Cutting to the chase, we now have two twin kitter-boys, and they have a baby bunny brother.
Here's the deal-i-o. It's winter. Either these cat-boysies learn how to use the toilet or in the spring they will become outdoor cats. Whether they're indoor or outdoor doesn't matter so much to me. I'm getting them neutered and vaccinated next month so if push comes to shove they will be going outside, but all those positives above about having an indoor cat are true. I would really like to keep them safe because damnit they are cute...and the child has become quite fond of them. It's that one big negative that I have the problem with. I hate the litter box so much!! I change it everyday. This involves a lot of bleach, the vacuum and scrubbing the floor...every.day!! At a later date, we'll get more into housework, but believe me when I say I do not vacuum and wash the floor everyday. Beginning two days ago I have started to train them to do their business in the toilet. I expect it'll take a while, but I have friends that have done it and I think these fellas will oblige. After them, I'm moving on to litter train the bunny.
The promise of the day is to work with pets everyday. Train them, try to teach them something new, have a play or just a cuddle. For now it's trying to get Ernie and Pistachio to behave like Mr. Jinx and use the big-people potty. Wish me luck...I anticipate it'll be a shitty job!!
Today I:
checked TPP...and it made me mad, sad and then hugely loved
danced with my kid to the theme song to Nickelodeon's Victorious
will go to bed with an empty kitchen sink
worked on teaching The Peanut something new. She brushed her hair and we started with tying shoes.
blogged
made my grocery list for my monthly menu plan
am on day two of training the kittens to use the toilet
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