Outside the Box

My blogging and facebook friend, All over the Spectrum, did the above ecard for me the other day since I've been feeling sickly and puny. I don't really know what's going on with me, but I think I've developed some sort of weird motion sickness triggered by the Murph's erratic (very careful, deliberate and always on time) driving. All I know for sure is that we've been spending way too much time in the car this summer and not enough time with our feet in the sand.

The cats are even rebelling. Phantom ran and hid under the bed this morning even though I was very careful not to give away the fact we were about to leave and his tail was going to be trapped in the cat carrier for hours.

Ed and Cadence, who we left behind for a couple of days, decided to start peeing outside their litter box. We still don't know if this was a deliberate, rebellious act or if one of them just has bad aim. I prefer to think that they are just super creative, out of the box thinkers. We got kitty geniuses on our hands. Maybe one of them will get a job!

That's all for today. My fingers are fatigued from all this typing. I do post updates on my facebook page and photos on Instagram from today's vet visit where the Murph and I had some time to kill so we went to Chewacla state park in Auburn, Alabama.

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Phantom also has his own Facebook page where he posts updates on his battle with cancer or anything else he finds interesting when he has computer access. 

I'll post more on his vet visit today soon.

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Gotta run!

Kitty Shit Ramblings

         The new litter box for the Murph's cats.  Simple, unpretentious,
 non self-cleaningso the cats have to do what Ken calls the "turd dance"

Yesterday Ken (aka The Murph) and I went to PetSmart to purchase new litter boxes for our four cats, fresh ones for the new year.  I keep one downstairs for my two cats, Phantom and Cadence and he has one upstairs for his two, Ed and Boo.  His cats have always used the basic, uncovered plastic box which is the cheapest and most economical one.  Mine use to use one of the more fancy covered ones with the filter on top until a couple of years ago when they started using the self-cleaning one.  This is the cadillac of all litter boxes and the most expensive.  They sell for around $100 compared to the most basic one for around $7.  The cats jump in, do their business and after a couple of minutes (to make sure the cats have had time to cover up their poop and jump back out) the litter box cleans itself out by pushing the kitty crap down to a special storage container at the bottom of the box while leaving the litter in the box ready for next time.  All you have to do is change out the storage container once a week and the cats don't have to jump into a dirty litter box if you forget to scoop.  Ken and I never scoop so I really liked this feature.

Unfortunately, the litter box stopped working while we were living at the beach last fall.  I'm not sure what happened, but probably the motor burned out.  That's my best guess anyway.  Special litter has to be used in it and maybe I forgot and put the wrong litter in it.  All litter looks alike to me.  Ken thought the litter box was a little much.   He said his cats were perfectly happy with their litter box and he thinks all cats should have to dance around their turds when they jump in the litter box.  Why should my cats be any different?  Personally, I kind of liked the idea that when my cats got into their litter box they weren't stepping in old poop and their paws were staying a little cleaner because of it.  Cadence slaps me in the face with those paws every morning to wake me up!  I don't want any germy residue on them!

Since I couldn't spend $100 on another litter box that cleans itself but breaks in less than two years, I had to decide on another kind of box.   Ken goes into PetSmart and picks his seven buck cheap, dark red box right away.  I decide to go with another covered one so I can use plastic liners.  This helps when cleaning the box and a cover is needed to hold the plastic liner, otherwise the cats pull the plastic liner off the sides of the litter box when they are covering up their poop.  The entire time, Ken was shaking his head, rolling his eyes, saying how his cats were perfectly happy with the simple uncovered litter box, how nice they are, how unspoiled they are, how my cats were spoiled, not nice and not very happy, how every cat should be happy to dance around their shit and enjoy it.  How his cats have a fine litter box that any cat should be honored to take a shit in and what the heck are "liners" anyway...   I heard this rambling all the way to the cashier and across the parking lot to the car and all the way back to the house.  I was laughing so hard at his kitty shit ramblings, I thought I was going to be sick.

I am happy to say all the cats love their new litter boxes and Phantom can even get his large butt through the small door of the covered box.  I was a little concerned he wouldn't be able to and I would have to go with the simple, uncovered box sans liner.

My cat's new litter box that offers a little more privacy, but the cats will
still have to do the "turd dance" since there's no self-cleaning function