Wednesday, June 24, 2020

Cat litter, blog mysteries, and whatever else I think of

I've not dealt with cat litter except for one spell when I was single and tried to bring an outdoor cat into my apartment.  She'd had a taste of freedom before I got her, so she let me know how bored she was by knocking over my two scrawny house plants repeatedly while I was at work.  I took her back to my parents in the country.  Then almost four years ago when I brought two kittens onto the property, I had a litter box in Cliff's shop for awhile when the kittens kept using the oil-dry in the pans under his tractor.

Because Blue was so young and tiny, I have been shutting him in our back porch at night to prevent foxes or coyotes getting him.  During the day, I block the outside door of the porch open and he spends most of his time outside, but he can still come in to eat if he gets hungry.  When he thinks he really wants to be inside, he goes around to the front door and starts trying to climb up the metal screen door, which has no screen (because other cats ruined the screen) but only glass.  He makes such a racket doing this, we can't help but hear it, and let him in.  We will not be letting him in when he's grown, unless I can get by with it in bitter cold weather; a cousin of mine in Iowa told me cats don't shed in winter if they are normally outside cats.  Of course, then there's the problem of fleas:  If I'm going to let him in, am I willing to buy the expensive stuff that repels fleas?

Back to the cat litter:  First of all, I winced at the price of the stuff.  Good grief, the prices are so high!  I finally just gritted my teeth and picked up a large box, as well as a tub for a little box.  Blue had no problem using it from the first, and by the third day, when he was inside with us, he'd even go to the inside door of the porch and meow for me to let him out if he needed to go; I go open the door for him, he runs to the box.  This amazes me.

It surprised us that the scented litter in the box made the back porch smell good, even after days of the cat's deposits therein.  I still don't know for sure how long you are supposed to wait to toss all the little deposits over the fence, and I have even less idea of when I should throw out the whole mess and start over.  It's so costly, I want to get as much use out of it as possible.

Yesterday I fixed Blue up with new litter and a cleaned-up box.  When he came in, he had a genuine litter-box party all by himself.  He must have danced around and played in it for half an hour before he finally deposited the biggest poop I ever saw him make.  Even after that, he'd come in from outside, and party again.  At this point, the new batch has been used enough that the partying has ceased.  If any of you, my readers, have cats in the house... is it normal for them to celebrate fresh litter?

Here's a thing that drives me crazy about my blog:  When I go to other folk's Google blogs, there is a way in the comments for me to reply to anybody else's comment directly.  For years, I've looked for a setting that would allow me to do this, because sometimes people ask me questions about an entry and I can't answer back to their comment.  The other day, while Cliff was inside the John Deere dealer's getting a tractor part, I stayed in the car and played on my phone.  I'd done a blog entry that morning and wanted to see if I had comments; there were a couple; I was amazed to see that on my phone, each comment had a place to reply to it!  I don't see this on my MacBook or the iPad, only on my Samsung phone.  I've tried using other browsers, but nothing lets me see that "reply" option.

So I guess I'll keep my phone handy.  As long as someone's comment only needs a brief reply, I'll answer them with my cell phone.  I hate trying to type on that phone, so there will be no lengthy replies.

Enjoy your day.  Yesterday was great here, not awfully hot, with a nice breeze going that managed to dry four loads of laundry.  Take that, Evergy!  (It used to be Kansas City Power and Light, but they sold to Evergy.)

I'm going to add one of my Sunday Singing videos to this entry, for the person who asked me to share another one on my blog.  Many of my blog readers are not facebook friends, so they don't see my videos unless I place one here.  I usually make these videos around 5 AM on Sunday morning, so I'm in my nightgown and house coat and probably didn't comb my hair.  

I'm just keeping it real, folks.

 

10 comments:

  1. I had cats for several years, but never saw one so happy to see clean litter in their box. I could usually tell when it was time to change it by the smell. Mine wasn't the kind that lasted days after use. And thel litter would tend to clump up badly when it got wet. Glad your little guy is giving you so much joy !

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  2. Donna, you'll want to clean out that litter box on a daily basis. Cats are very clean animals and since this kitty is using the box so faithfully, you'll want to foster that habit by keeping the box clean. As I look at it, would you like to pee or poop in a toilet that hasn't been flushed in days? *lol* Probably not .... and kitties are no different. Enjoy your little feline friend and don't forget to get her spayed. Love, Andrea xoxo

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  3. If you've bought hard clumping litter, it's easy to keep it cleaned out, and then just add a bit more new litter when needed. I use the same litter for a fairly long time. Cats like the litterbox to smell like them. (I'm not so fond of that) It sounds like you're adjusting well to the kitty, and vice-versa.

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  4. Hi Donna, I have multiple cats but I still clean the box out a few times a day. They don’t like stepping on poo so I get it out. I change my litter every 7 days. I take the litter box outside and put dish soap and water to clean and scrub with a toilet cleaner ( just theirs) . I use cheap cat litter from IGA. They watch me every time. I got mine fixed too. It just helps. Mine are 15 years old. I enjoy your singing and strumming. Thank you for sharing!

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  5. My days are often difficult and want you to know I love when you post a song. It lifts me a little. Guess I’ll never be ok again. I have been really down since Fathet’s Day.

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  6. Sister-Three, I totally understand, as much as anyone can who loses a husband. I have a feeling, though, that your husband would have fared worse. Women handle certain things better than men do. I know for certain my husband would be a basket case, He's always told me he hopes he dies first, because I'm such a loner, where he needs people around a lot. Of course, we don't really know what we can handle until it happens.

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  7. Should have said "as much as anyone can who has NOT lost a husband.

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  8. I had Missy for 16 years and cleaned out the litter she deposited every time she did it. I flushed it down the toilet. I added to the litter then and that kept it smelling fine. Every couple of weeks I would empty the litter box and start fresh.

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  9. I have two litter boxes - one for each cat - and I always buy the cheapest litter I can find in a 30 lb. bag (usually in Walmart or the local supermarket). I always try to remove the poop as soon as the cat makes a deposit (I would NEVER flush it down the toilet). Cats really do like to have clean litter boxes.

    I HATE expensive scented litter that clumps. For some strange reason the clumping annoys me.

    I enjoyed your song!

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  10. I have 5 cats and a fennec fox that use litter, so I have three boxes in their "room." I use whatever litter is the best buy -- I really don't have a favorite, but there are some I prefer over others. I like clumping, scented or non-scented, and multi-cat or heavy-duty, something like that. I use a slotted scoop -- large. I scoop usually every day. If I miss a day now and then, it is no big deal, but it's usually a quick daily operation when I feed them. I sprinkle a bit of new litter over the top -- say maybe a cup or two in each pan, since I have big pans and 6 "Littles." Then twice a month or so, I'll clean the pans out completely, switching out the litter totally, cleaning and drying the pan. Don't ever flush litter. If you don't like scented or don't want to spend a lot of money on a scent that you like, get unscented and then get a container of Arm & Hammer Cat Litter Deodorizer. It doesn't take much. I like some scents and not others. My Littles LOVE new litter and love to get their box scooped. They wait for me to finish, and then one of two specific ones -- whichever gets there fist -- will initiate the new box. I have neve known a cat that didn't litter train quickly and love to use their litter box.

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