August 2022 – Pet Momma

I love my kitties, but I definitely hate litter boxes. With four cats in the house, the little box seems like a constant struggle. I’ve been using cement mixing trays from the hardware store for two of my boxes. I like that they are big, cheap, and relatively easy to scoop because there are no hard edges in the box, the sides slope in.

Currently, I have two, double-sized (cement mixing trays) litter boxes downstairs, and one covered box upstairs. It had been working out pretty well for a while, but lately things have been messy. I have litter mats in front of all the boxes to help with tracking, but lately the cats have been using the mats as boxes. First there were random poops on the mats, now it has been getting more regular and I can’t stand it. I also found urine on the mats recently which is definitely NOT OK.

It seems I have to keep two litter boxes upstairs. I’m not happy about it, but I’ve just ordered another box to go there. I have a standard, front open box up there now, and I’m going to add a Petmate Booda box which is supposed to help with tracking. I’ll review it in a couple of weeks when I’ve had a chance to check it out.

For the downstairs boxes, I ordered another regular, front open, covered box. I’m hoping I can fit it in the space I have with the two cement mixing tray litter boxes.

I’m still happy with the OXO Cat regular litter I’ve been using. I go through a lot of scoopable litter, and I find this one does well controlling odors, scoops pretty easily, and while I don’t think I’ll ever find a little that doesn’t track at all, this one doesn’t spread around quite as badly as others I’ve used.

Puck trying to tell me the water fountain is low

I made a trip to PetCo today to look at litter boxes to see if I was missing anything, but came home to shop on Amazon. I just can’t beat the selection and pricing on Amazon. While I was searching for boxes, I came across a system to sift litter. It’s separate from the litter box, so it works with any scoopable litter and any box. It’s a container with a sifting top, so litter is poured from the box into the sifter, chunks caught in the sifter get dumped in the trash, and the clean litter that ends up in the bottom just gets poured back in the box. I hadn’t seen a system quite like it before, so I bought one to try and I’ll post a review. It’s called the SiftEase Litter Cleaner. I’ll post a review in the next couple of weeks. Has anyone tried this sifter or anything like it? Let me know! I’ve tried sifting litter boxes and had some luck with them, so I’m thinking that I might like this. I’ll let you know!

Someday I dream of a house full of self cleaning litter boxes, but I always see mixed reviews of them, even the fancy LitterRobots. I just saw a company called CatLink that has some interesting looking boxes and water fountains. I’d love to get one of their boxes to review. Has anyone here tried this brand?

Labor Day weekend is coming here in the US, a sign of the end of summer for a lot of us. The weather here is already cooling off, but it did mean we got to take Cali for a nice hike the other day. She even went for a little swim!

Someone left a little surprise in this tree!

What’s everyone doing with their pets this summer? How are you keeping your pets cool? Does the heat make your pets feel as lazy as I do 😉 Anyone having any summer pet visitors?

A team of Budweiser Clydesdales came to visit at the University of New Hampshire. They had open barn hours where you could stop by and visit the horses, so of course I did! They are such gorgeous animals!

These horses are SO spoiled! The staff was constantly rotating them out of their stalls for baths to help keep them cool. Of course they also had multiple fans in their stalls to help with the heat.

When talking to one of the care givers, I learned some interesting things. Budweiser has it’s own breeding program, so the horses are born into the Budweiser life and don’t leave. They work from about 5 years old until about 15 and then they are retired. Budweiser retains the retired horses and they get to be turned out to relax and enjoy the rest of their days. The horses I was able to interact with all had super friendly and mellow personalities. They loved to have their giant heads scratched. I made a point of driving by the barns while they were there so I could see them turned out in their paddocks. So fun to see these giant creatures trotting around, nibbling each others’ necks, and enjoying the grass.

My own pets are enjoying the summer from the comfort of the air conditioned house.

Hector is really enjoying all the fresh fruit of summer. She particularly likes cherries this year!

We got a couple of kayaks, so of course Cali needed a life jacket. I haven’t brought her out on the water with me yet, hoping she likes it!

My son’s cat, Martin, is staying with us for the summer. He’s a really, really good cat. Super friendly – he actually demands to be patted all the time. If I walk into a room, he runs and throws himself on the floor at my feet. While I’m working, he will climb up my legs to get my attention and then throw himself on his back so I can rub his tummy.

Martin used to eat mostly dry food with some occasional canned food as a treat, but my cats get a little canned food every day and Martin has really learned to enjoy it! At first he had very little interest in any flavor of canned food, but now he starts howling and pacing the kitchen about 4pm every day waiting for it!

I’ve been doing some reorganizing and cleaning out, and this old desk chair is going away, but the cats thought it was the greatest thing ever when I moved it away from my desk. Can you find the three boy cats? Martin blends right in!

My old lady, Logan, mostly keeps to herself. I caught this rare moment of her and Puck snoozing together. I feel bad for Logan. She doesn’t really enjoy the chaos of the other cats, especially Martin who is young and has lots of energy, but she holds her own.

The new desk I set up is in front of a window, and Martin’s shelf has been in that window. Martin thinks it is fantastic that I moved a desk under the window. Anytime I go to sit at that desk, Martin jumps up, waits for pats, then purrs, and goes up to his shelf.

We set up a new patio this year and a few nights ago we were out enjoying it. Cali was outside with us, and suddenly this giant owl swooped right over my head! I think he was hunting Cali! We had a fire going in the fire pit, so I think he changed courses quickly when he saw the humans and the fire, but I didn’t waste any time getting Cali in the house. Poor pup wouldn’t have had a chance against this bird!

Cali enjoying the new patio during the day, without the owl!

Overall, the pets are having a pretty lazy summer:

Martin and Bean – they always chose the same spot on the cat tree!

Enjoy your summer and stay cool!

Month: August 2022

Kitty Stuff

Summer Heat and Summer Visitors