Cat messes causing havoc - your stories, please

[Lizzie]

Most of us have done it, stepped in cat vomit in the kitchen while rushing to get ready in the morning, skidded on it, knocked the food or water dish over, startled the cats into being annoyed with each other, etc. It's part of our lives, skirting around, cleaning up, dealing with various cat messes. Dealing with a disabled cat multiplies the messes, naturally, because you are dealing with a cat who poops and pees randomly.

I thought I had Zazesh (progressive neurological disorder of unknown origin) figured out well by now. Hold him in one arm in the morning to give him a gentle rinse under the tap before diapering him. If I keep an eye on his behind it's obvious when he's going to poop so I have time to swing him over to the litter box area, lay him on the newspapered floor and wait. Cats have a way of knowing when you think you have them figured out and then hit you with a zinger.

On Monday evening, Zazesh had pooped in his diaper so I removed it over the box before swinging over to the sink to wash him. Bad move! He was still pooping as I realized when I heard them drop to the floor and one hit the sink. I swung him back to the box trying to make sure I didn't step in any. Using one hand to hold him (as he squirmed and swore at me loudly) and one hand and a knee to grab toilet tissue, I scooped poop from the sink. Washed him, moved over to the tub and stepped in with him (use this method to contain and control him for diapering because he's a biter.) As I leaned over I saw I'd stepped in some poop and it's all over the towel on the tub floor. Finish diapering him, stepped over poops on floor and put him down in the bedroom. Only as I lean down to start cleaning the floor do I realize I have one large and rather wet poop on my shoe, just as it meets my sock and large enough for the hem of my pj pants to hit.

On Tuesday morning, while my indoor shoe is still marinating in a cleaning and deodorizing solution, I remove Zazesh's diaper and he begins to pee. I move him over the box area as the stream arches out and away and think I've done okay. Until I glance at my other pair of indoor shoes and realize there is a small stream running across the front and onto my sock.

So, please, make me feel better and tell us all your stories of cat messes you didn't expect.

[mrspunkysmom]

Nothing quite that bad or . . . . hilarious.

I'll think of some and write them out.

[kuhio98]

Oh dear. Well, my sister's didn't start out with a mess, but sure ended up that way.

Molly (long-haired tuxie) liked to sleep on top of the kitchen cabinets.
My sister was having a gentleman friend over for dinner. He liked to cook so they stayed in and putzed around the kitchen together.
He opened the fridge, bent over and stuck his head in the fridge looking for some ingredient.
Molly decided now was a good time to jump down from her perch -- and landed on his back.
He reared up, smacking his head on the glass shelf in the fridge. Food went flying all over the kitchen.
He was knocked out cold. Head wound from the shelf. And you know how head wounds bleed.
He came to. Cleaned him up and took him to the emergency room for stitches. Dinner was never finished. Never had a second date. Molly was unconcerned about the havoc she had created.

[Freedom]

I had NO idea what folks dealt with - both are excellent stories! Well written. GOLLY the worst I've had in 15 years was when a youngster - Dazzle, about a year old - flew around in my living room and knocked over a lamp which crashed to the floor in a gazillion pieces. The crash scared all the other catsas well as Dazzle, so I was left in peace to clean up.

[maid25cats]

KUHIO98
That story was so funny, I have tears in my eyes from laughing so hard
I wonder what he told people when they asked him how he got the stitches in his head

[katladyd]

Okay, Mac is getting a bit elderly (skinny, grey muzzle, the works) He's healthy, eats and drinks normally and is my most playful cat, but he is close to 15 years old! A couple of weeks ago, I had left the laundry basket out and I guess he thought the basket looked like a litter box. He jumped in and peed all over my freshly laundered clothes! I immediately moved him to the litter box and I had to rewash a few pieces of clothes. Last night I caught him peeine on an empty canvas bag I had left by the front door. Old age ain't pretty for cats.

[catmandu]

The worst things that My Found Cats do is to leaved thier little recycled food offerings in startegic places, places where their dear old lame Dad must walk, or on the stairs.
But that is the price we pay for unconitional love.

[Lizzie]

KUHIO98
That story was so funny, I have tears in my eyes from laughing so hard
I wonder what he told people when they asked him how he got the stitches in his head

I agree. I laughed so hard I could hardly breath and I saw the whole incident happen as I read through the post, it was so vivid.

[krazyaboutkatz]

When my RB Starr was still around and before his IBD/Colitis was under control, I had to clean up piles of diarrhea on a daily basis. Sometimes it would also be all over my walls. It wasn't his fault because he had a medical condition.

Ziggy needs to learn how to hike her butt up higher while she poops. Several times she's gotten poo all over her bottom and then this causes her to do what I call the "butt scoot boogy". She'll drag her bottom on my carpet and make a long poopy skid mark. Then I have to chase her around to try to give her butt bath. She'll turn into a wild cat and will start growling and hissing at me. I now try to keep her fluffy bottom trimmed so it's easier to stay clean.

Alani and Blaze learned how to open up all of my lower kitchen cabinet doors as well as my bathroom cabinet doors. They would have a great time pulling out everything that was in there like napkins, trash bags etc. They also love to play with kleenex and toilet paper too. I later had to buy child safety locks and put them on all of these doors. Sometimes they'll still try to go fishing and pull some things out. I have to keep all paper and plastic products out of their reach. They also learned how to open up the trash can and they'd get garbage all over the my floors. I now have to keep the kitchen garbage can in my second bedroom with the door closed. Yes, they're double trouble but I still love them. This is the reason why they aren't allowed in either of my bedrooms.

[Chatanuga]

When he was a kitten and came home to my place, Casey had an obsession with water.

At the time, I had a waterer that was like a cat water cooler. It was basically a half-gallon tank that got turned upside down into the base from where the cats would drink from. While he and Chessie drank from it, bubbles would go up into the tank as the water level came down. It worked fine until Casey decided to make bubbles without drinking water. You guessed it. He would paw the water out of the base of the waterer.

One of the worst incidents from this was when I was getting around for work one morning. I went down to the kitchen to find Casey since I was about to leave and needed to get him in his kennel since it was when I kept him and Chessie separated when I wasn't home. As I headed towards the kitchen, Chessie came running past. The important thing to know about that is that Chessie was Casey's lookout. If I was going to head into the kitchen or someplace where the cats were and Chessie came running past, I knew that Casey was causing trouble. That morning, I got to the kitchen doorway and saw that Casey had emptied the entire waterer on the kitchen linoleum. It might have been only a half gallon of water, but it was covering a huge portion of the floor. And right in the middle of the puddle was Casey, completely drenched from head to tail and all happy as could be.

Everybody at work got a laugh when they found out why I was late.

[Lizzie]

I have really enjoyed reading these stories, and thank you everyone for sharing. I also ended up putting safety catches on all my kitchen cupboards and drawers because, many years ago, my Artful Dodger used to pull them open and other cats would get in (and Loki would pee in them!)

Well, Chatanuga, I had an incident last night which was very like yours. Zazesh sleeps on the bed all day and I have a long chest pushed against the bed, at the same level, where he has extra food and drink. Of course, he's very disabled so it's hard for him to turn himself into a position where he can get to the bowls once he's sunk himself into the cozy covers, but it's worked out so far. However, I got home last night to find he'd pulled the heavy bowl of water over into the bed from the chest and had soaked comforter, blankets, throws, everything. It took about hours to do laundry, clean up the mess, dry out the comforter, etc.