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Oct. 5th, 2002 09:41 am
Wow, I might do regular journal entries for a bit. I wake up with the kitties and the boys usually sleep for another hour or so, so I get an hour of quiet time. Used to be this was reading on the sofa time, but we moved in on our new futon in the living room night before last, so for now it's surfing in the bedroom time. It was weird the first night, I really felt I would rather be in our other bed. We're doing some sleeping in there before the baby's born so Connor doesn't have so many changes at once. This seems a lot like introducing a new cat.
I certainly hope it works out better than that has worked for me in the past. Palug was a wonderful critter and I'm glad I got to know him, but the territorial urine spraying that he initiated in Tacky and Grimilkin was an awful thing. This intruder flipped that switch in their heads and it can't be turned off again. I had the following wonderful choices: a) put them outside where the neighbors were annoyed by them and where the weather in Colorado was not always conducive b) have everything in my house under the height of two feet regularly doused with cat urine c) put them on behavior altering drugs or d) have them euthanized/put up for adoption. Oh boy. Let me state here that I would not blame someone in my circumstances for taking any of the previous measures, this was truly a miserable thing and there were no good choices here, but I ended up with a) and b). This was actually part of the incentive for moving to a milder climate, so they could become completely outside cats. We've since discovered that the cats can still come in at night and will not spray in their 'nest' so long as they have a larger territory in which they can mark the boundaries as their nature now requires, and this is a great relief as they are most in danger from cars and other animals at night. The bright side of this is that it really brought home to me the notion that 'it's just stuff' as one thing after another was damaged or destroyed. This was excellent preparation for moving and parenting. I also get to feel self-righteous that I stuck by the cats instead of ditching them as many folks would have done. This is silly and prideful, but the issue has caused me so much misery, that I allow myself to scrape what happiness I can from the the matter.
My plants have not yet arrived, I feel a bit at a loss of what to do with myself or, more correctly, at a loss for things that I want to do as much as (re)plant my fishtank. Hope springs eternal I guess. There's apparently a bizillion benefit rummage sales today, maybe we'll hit a few of those.
I certainly hope it works out better than that has worked for me in the past. Palug was a wonderful critter and I'm glad I got to know him, but the territorial urine spraying that he initiated in Tacky and Grimilkin was an awful thing. This intruder flipped that switch in their heads and it can't be turned off again. I had the following wonderful choices: a) put them outside where the neighbors were annoyed by them and where the weather in Colorado was not always conducive b) have everything in my house under the height of two feet regularly doused with cat urine c) put them on behavior altering drugs or d) have them euthanized/put up for adoption. Oh boy. Let me state here that I would not blame someone in my circumstances for taking any of the previous measures, this was truly a miserable thing and there were no good choices here, but I ended up with a) and b). This was actually part of the incentive for moving to a milder climate, so they could become completely outside cats. We've since discovered that the cats can still come in at night and will not spray in their 'nest' so long as they have a larger territory in which they can mark the boundaries as their nature now requires, and this is a great relief as they are most in danger from cars and other animals at night. The bright side of this is that it really brought home to me the notion that 'it's just stuff' as one thing after another was damaged or destroyed. This was excellent preparation for moving and parenting. I also get to feel self-righteous that I stuck by the cats instead of ditching them as many folks would have done. This is silly and prideful, but the issue has caused me so much misery, that I allow myself to scrape what happiness I can from the the matter.
My plants have not yet arrived, I feel a bit at a loss of what to do with myself or, more correctly, at a loss for things that I want to do as much as (re)plant my fishtank. Hope springs eternal I guess. There's apparently a bizillion benefit rummage sales today, maybe we'll hit a few of those.
