17/10/2020
Weebs and I have been on a journey lately. He's still the most amusing of all of my animals. You can't help but laugh at his antics and enjoy the way he still behaves like a kitten. Good natured enthusiasm is just fun. However, he's also extremely hard to trouble shoot when things go wrong.
I never adopted him out because I was scared whoever got him wouldn't stay on top of his medication, and it's not something that can be ignored. Once his heart murmur and blood pressure were an issue and more medication was added to the mix, I felt sure I'd made the right choice.
When he started to experience symptoms of a urinary blockage and there was even more expense with emergency vet visits and lots of medication and stress... I had no doubts. Cats often don't recieve the basic medical care they need. I'm the last year I've spent thousands trying to keep him healthy.
Now that we're struggling with inappropriate urination I am doubling down that he is in the right place. But that is not to say it's easy or always a barrel of laughs over here. All of the usual things don't work. I am stressed to the max and want to scream on the daily. I've cleaned more p*e than any human should have to. And I've learned so much (in no small part thanks to vet friends on fb). I can usually help with basic behavior issues, but now I have so many tricks up my sleeve to deal with inappropriate urination I hope I'm able to help when people have this issue with less... challenging...cats.
I can't imagine my life without my animals. I can, however, imagine my life involving less cleaning.
New strategy (that's working thus far...but it's an evolving thing and may not work long term) involves using carpet cleaner as a deterrent and a way to keep the areas that were marked in the past sprayed oftenwith cleaning agents. My hope is whatever draws him to the areas he likes best will eventually be saturated with cleaner enough to stop attracting him altogether. We'll see.
If you're in the middle of wanting to just burn the house down and move, I've been there. Some days I'm still there.