I woke up this morning with a smile in my heart. I had slept on the couch rather than the bed for the first time in three months (get used to reading ‘in three months’ because I’m probably going to be typing that several times) and I woke up without a pain in my back for the first time in that timeframe. I only slept in the bed because I knew my parents would bitch if I slept on the couch and I didn’t want to deal with it.
Many things I did while they were here was with the calculated cost of cutting the bitching and moaning down to as minimal as possible. One thing I want to change back is Shadow’s litter boxes. I had four for him. One upstairs in the computer room (that I no longer used, the computer room, I mean) and three downstairs. My brother unilaterally decided that one box was enough and got rid of three of them, including the one upstairs. To be fair to him, Shadow wasn’t always hitting the box upstairs and apparently getting pee on the wood. It’s fuzzy right now. Anyway, he was really unhappy with just one box and with it being downstairs and he showed his displeasure by pooping outside the box, often in the hallway next to the computer room door.
My mom freaked out about it, but I couldn’t blame him. He’s an old cat (fifteen) and had had a box in that room for years. Suddenly, it disappears along with three other boxes? Yeah, I’d be upset, too. So I’m going to put a box back in that room with puppy pads under it. My brother bought the puppy pads for me at the recommendation of the nurses in case I had an accident, which I never did. Yes, I had them in the hospital, but it was because of the drugs and my stubbornness in not asking for help. I didn’t have any issues once I got home.
Honestly, I’m not upset about cleaning up his poop every few days. Shadow’s, I mean. It’s better than urine and throw-up (the latter which I have to clean once a week or so). And, again, he’s an old cat. His poop isn’t that firm all the time. He probably can’t make it to the litterboxes downstairs and/or he doesn’t like that there are less of them. Two, now. But both downstairs.