I awoke this morning to find a pile of cat shit on my kitchen floor. Ew. Each of my cats have puked at some point this morning. They’re not normally big barfers. Kitty stomach bug, I guess, they seem otherwise okay, so I’m not worried.
But here’s the thing that’s starting to freak me out. All three of them keep sitting here staring at the litterbox. Just staring. Really intently. I cleaned it, and found nothing unusual (and for that matter not much of anything, since I’d cleaned it eight hours before), they kept staring. I pulled it out to see if there was something behind or under it. Nothing. They’re still sitting here staring at it as though it’s about to reveal the secrets of life.
I had a cat that used to sit on top of my stereo staring at the wall night after night. Nothing on the wall that I could see but still he sat there, looking.
I eventually hung a poster there so at least it would look like he was staring at something. It made it a little less creepy anyway.
Two of them were still guarding the litter box when I got home, so I pulled it out and looked more closely. Sure enough, there was a spot behind it where the flooring (hardwood) was a little chewed up near the baseboard. Looks like a mousehole. I’ll get it (and any other spots I find) filled in this weekend.
We’ve had mouse problems in the past, which is one of the reasons I relented to my daughter’s ten-year campaign to get a cat (which of course multiplied into cats, as they tend to). Thing is, the wall in question is a firewall, and I live on the second floor. Those mice had to WORK to get to this particular spot, and what kind of stupid mice tunnel right into a litter box? It’s the heart of Catdom!
Have you ever heard a cat vomit? They make this truly disgusting “hork hork hork” noise right before they produce. It does at least give fair warning if the cat is on the bed or something, assuming you are awake to notice and make them go hork somewhere else.
Yes. Oh, yes. I hear the beginnings of horkhorkhork and come running to find Marco doing that backwards shuffle. I make sure he’s at least on a bare floor, not on the couch or a rug. Also, wait a minute more: then comes “second verse, same as the first” but not as much this time. Cleanup tip: Throw a paper towel, or two if needed, over the vomit. Let it sit a few minutes while you go find a plastic grocery bag, put your hand in, and scoop up. Wad up the bag and throw away. I am an expert on cat puking. My cat puked ever day for a month, showing no signs of distress, appetite undiminished. Then it mysteriously stopped. Just one of those things.
Let me play cat-whisperer here. My cats would associate location to anything negative so if they got sick from the smell of the cat litter box then it’s an evil place to be feared. You might have to do some damage control by rewarding them at the litter box.
True. We have a whopping four cats and three litterboxes. Only Jet Jaguar gets particuklar. If the boxes don’t meet his standards he’ll shit right in the middle of the floor of the room I keep my DVDs in. Or in the hallway. But he does it so I’ll see it. Irs his way of saying “Hey, you need to clean up my litterboxes, dude.”.
I loved your post Diana…I was just picturing the cats all lined up,staring at the litter box.Cats are wierd…mine does bizarro things all the time,including:
staring intently at me while I am eating and then refusing anything I give her from my plate
running around the house like her tail is on fire for no apparent reason
staring at the Wii and sniffing it suspiciously,sometimes she does this several times a day
steals everything she can get into her mouth and hides it
Has twice attempted to take a nap inside my purse when she knows good and well that she doesn’t fit
Stares at me with open disdain and then comes over to kiss me
I admit I do think it is kind of cool that she doesn’t seem to give two shits whether she pleases us or not.