Question of the Day, Sunday, October 30, 2016

good afternoon! 

just a couple days ago (friday), i moved two of my cats litter boxes. only about 8-10 feet from their previous location, and pretty much in sight of the old location too. i knew not to move the litter boxes very far all at once, and only moved two of the three boxes.

so, with this on my mind, for today's Question of the Day......

What was the last thing you changed in your home? and, How did your cat(s) react to that change?

i'll start!

for us, it was moving two of the litter boxes. we have 6 litter boxes total (for 3 cats), but i most times have 5 litter boxes set up for use.

my cats reactions were interesting, and as expected. the first day, all three cats used the one (of the 'cluster' of 3) litter boxes that was left in it's original location. jaspurr looked at the two vacant spots were the two litter boxes were moved from, trying to absorb the change.       the next day, our jaspurr used only that same litter box, but the girls used the two boxes which had been moved. now jaspurr does see where the two boxes were moved to, and has checked them out. most importantly, none of my cats has eliminated outside the litter box! 

before the two litter boxes, the last thing we changed was rearranging the downstairs bedroom. there was curiosity from my cats, but only for a day.

how about you?

Within the last two months, I completely redecorated my apartment.  I added a cat tree, a couch, shelves, curtains, rugs and a cat bed.  Paul and Chula immediately took over everything but the curtains.  They seem happier, too, now that they have more places to climb on and to sleep.

The last thing I changed was the litter box in the kitchen. The kiddoes scattered litter all over the floor, so I got a new one with high sides. It's been six weeks, and they have just started using it. It sat there clean for weeks while they both hiked down to the basement to use the old one.

I moved!  She was nervous for about an hour, then set about making the whole place  hes.

I added a new litter box and moved one of their cat trees.  The new litter box was actually one I had set up when I brought my oldest to a cardiology appointment 2 hours away.  I brought it inside and decided to go ahead and, at least temporarily, let them use it.  Well, it's of course everyone's favorite box now, despite how small it is, and I wore my arm out scooping all of the urine out last night.  Everyone had to use it.. repeatedly.  And yes, their other boxes were recently dumped and cleaned.

The tree I moved is now the hottest location in the basement. 

Timely question.

Yesterday, we had our landscaper begin working on new paver stairs to match the patio to our back door. The cats sit at the door a lot, it's a good view for them and the bottom of the slider is level with the stair landing.

The old steps were demolished yesterday, and the ground prepped to finish it off tomorrow. So now there's a drop to the ground of about 3'-4' or so.  Both keep looking out there trying to figure out what happened, or that's what it seems like.  

I'm thinking of removing one of the litter boxes. I have 3 boxes and I only have 1 cat left.  She rarely uses the one downstairs or the one in my spare bedroom but she has kidney problems and I'm afraid she might need to get to one in a hurry and it won't be there. She really pees a lot.

I have not made any real changes in years.

Hmmm. All the recent changes I have made to the house have been for the kitties's benefit. More things to climb on, new scratching posts and new beds placed in front of the heaters now that the weather is getting colder.

They gave it their grudging approval.

Oh, and I put a string of fairy lights around my full-length mirror. They didn't pay any attention to that.

We finished the bedroom, other than new blinds at the windows. Cats didn't care in the slightest. They were all very intrigued by the work that's been going on for the better part of a year, but other than that, they didn't care. 

Our cats don't care much when something's going on. As long as the food is plentiful, they have a place to pee and poop and a comfy place for sleeping, they really don't care. When we do stuff, they like to be right in the middle of things. So when I paint, a cat (or three) will have paint on their fur. I think Mollipop walked around for three days with green paint on her fur from when I did the first coat of paint in the kitchen. She was on the ladder, walked beneath the ladder, went from the ladder to the top of the fridge, tried to dip her paw into the paint. 

Muffin came into the house during our kitchen remodel. She was really curious about stuff, but other than that....nothing. She napped with Tabby on top of the furniture pad that we kept on top of the dishwasher. When we did dishes in tubs in the bathroom (we had no kitchen sink), she'd come in, stand up at the edge of the tub and watch, and then mutter to herself that her new humans were crazy. And walk away. 

When Boo was alive and the step ladder came out, he'd climb up the ladder and sit on the shelf to su-purr-vise whatever was going on. Same thing with the outdoor Christmas lights. Rick would be outside at the living room window arranging lights on the roof and Boo would be all stretched up along the inside of the window, checking things out and making sure it was done properly.

Put the Christmas tree up. Most of the cats will sleep through it. Except for Tabby, who loves playing with the strings of lights. They wake up and it's like, "Oh. It's that dang tree." Yawn.

Nothing phases these guys. Nothing. They "know a thing or two because" they've "seen a thing or two". Esp the old ones.

DH tore down and rebuilt a wall and replaced the baseboards in the downstairs hallway. For the first couple of days, Mogli sat and watched the new wall. I think what disturbed him the most was that his old wall scratcher was replaced, too. :lol3:

Not too long ago DH put new shelving in the pantry, and that did bother Mogli, since it's harder for him to get on top of the freezer now.

Can't think of anything but will be divorced in 2017 & we'll be moving so big changes for them then.

I moved one of the cat trees this weekend, actually to Wurp's benefit next to the front window, and shifted the couch about 3 feet.  Wurp noticed it immediately.  He does not like things in his territory moved around, and has to investigate anything we place in the floor or something new brought in.  He sat in the floor and studied the couch's new position and the new location of his cat tree for a very long time.  Then he got on the cat tree and was fine.  It's like he was sitting there trying to figure out why I did it.

He usually just looks things over thoroughly, and if it doesn't involve his food, water, or involves keeping him off our bed, he's fine once he gives it a review.  But anything being moved upsets him until he checks it out.  He is my OCD cat.  I think him being deaf causes him to be much more vigilant to his surroundings, because he didn't used to be this bad.  Shortstack doesn't care.  As long as he has a lap and food, his potty and water, he doesn't care.  He will figure it out and move on.

I'd say the most recent change in general was bring in five new critters into our home last year. And of course, losing two of my senior kitties.

To the house itself, probably when my bedroom flooded (again) in January of 2014, and they had to replace a big chunk of my bedroom (again) and the carpet all the way up to my mom's bedroom (again). In fact, here's a picture of Lucky, supervising the carpet installation.

Margd said:

 
Within the last two months, I completely redecorated my apartment.  I added a cat tree, a couch, shelves, curtains, rugs and a cat bed.  Paul and Chula immediately took over everything but the curtains.  They seem happier, too, now that they have more places to climb on and to sleep.

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awww, that's wonderful!  and so nice that your Paul and Chula seem happier too! 

Swamplady said:

 
I am in the process of changing things because of holidays coming up. LOL They snoop into everything I do. I love my snoopers but I have to make this place cat friendly at the same time.

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very exciting, to be changing things for the upcoming holidays!    i'm sure your cats are fascinated by the goings on. 

our punky is the one who loves to 'help' me. she helps me get the wood stove going and add wood throughout the day/evening, and she must help me when i'm scooping the litter boxes. 

DreamerRose said:

 
The last thing I changed was the litter box in the kitchen. The kiddoes scattered litter all over the floor, so I got a new one with high sides. It's been six weeks, and they have just started using it. It sat there clean for weeks while they both hiked down to the basement to use the old one.

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oh wow! it's taken your cats 6 weeks to start using the new high sided litter box! great to hear that they've accepted the new litter box now! 

here, our jaspurr continues to look at the two litter boxes in the new location, but has not used them yet -- he's dug around in them though. i think he's completed absorbing that those two boxes aren't in their previous location. and he's still using the third litter box that i left in it's original location. the girls are now both using the two boxes in the new location.

That's what my two did with the high sided box. They just walked around in it, and dug and sniffed. But no pee or poop.

Mamanyt1953 said:

 
I moved!  She was nervous for about an hour, then set about making the whole place  hes.

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it sounds like your Hekitty adjusted very quickly to your new home! 

OceanBreathes said:

 
I added a new litter box and moved one of their cat trees.  The new litter box was actually one I had set up when I brought my oldest to a cardiology appointment 2 hours away.  I brought it inside and decided to go ahead and, at least temporarily, let them use it.  Well, it's of course everyone's favorite box now, despite how small it is, and I wore my arm out scooping all of the urine out last night.  Everyone had to use it.. repeatedly.  And yes, their other boxes were recently dumped and cleaned.

The tree I moved is now the hottest location in the basement. 

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your changes were very much approved of by your cats then!