Oh, the places you'll go! (You'll get the joke soon enough)

In case you forgot, we moved recently. Well, not all that recently now. I guess it’s been 5 or 6 weeks ago. We’ve had a bit of an adjustment period, but I think we have worked out all of the kinks.

The animals took the most time to adjust to their new arrangements. The dogs have their own little room to sleep in with a doggie door to the back yard for their (and our) convenience. This was great until the second night when Stitch realized that he could go outside at all hours and bark incessantly. That was an easy fix. I lock the dog door every night and unlock it every morning. All in all the dogs responded well. The cats, on the other hand, had a more disturbing, and disgusting, response to the move.

Apparently the spot we chose for the litter pan was unacceptable. We put the litter pan and the cats’ food in a small storage room just off of the dogs’ room. I installed not one, but two, cat doors in order for them to have easy access to their lair. At least one of them was unimpressed.

Following the first night the cats spent in the new house we discovered that one of them used the kids’ bathtub in lieu of the long walk to the litter pan. It was repulsive, but we cleaned it up without much protest. Then it happened again. And again. Then came the finishing touch. I found cat poo in my shower!

I want to break away from the narrative for a moment for a short commentary on the situation.

I had trouble deciding how upset I should be. On one hand, the cat (or cats) refused to use the litter pan. That’s gross. On the other hand, at least they had the decency to go in a spot that is easy to clean. In my experience, that is very un-pet-like. Our dogs, for instance, will not poop or puke on the easy to clean hard wood floors. They opt for the 100 or so square feet of floor space that is covered by a rug. While I was very put out at having to clean my shower before I could bathe, I did appreciate the effort to actually use the bathroom in the bathroom.

I’m not sure what their motivation was. Was this some sort of considerate protest? Or are my cats just that lazy? Did they go there because it’s the room “the people” use?

They used the kids’ tub once more after the #2 in my tub. This was while we were gone to Gatlinburg a couple of weeks ago. The timing suggests, to me, that it was meant as a protest. They’ve broken the habit now. Apparently the trek to the back room isn’t as harrowing as they thought. After all that’s where the food is. And if you saw my cats you would know that they will go wherever the food is.

I leave you with a quick reminder: “A Christmas Story” starting Thursday at the Shoals Theater. 7:30 PM Th-Sa and 2:00 PM Sunday. Tickets are available at the door or at www.shoalstheater.com. Be sure to stick around out front after the show for the meet and greet!