Good Idea, Or Just Weird?

[charliana]

My husband's allergies, & asthma seem to be getting worse. The doctor's thought he might have COPD. He doesn't believe that he has COPD, but I think he does, he has been having trouble breathing. He got sick last weekend after Rocky came downstairs. Would it be completely crazy to build a big she-shed with cat fence around it for the cats to stay in part of the time. It could even have a tunnel connected to the house if they don't have to be out all of the time. My husband is driving a truck now & is gone during the week. I have seen where some people fix them up really nice like guest houses. I could actually sleep out in it with the cats during the week. My in-laws will think I have lost my mind if they see that. I am in the country, so they are the only ones that might figure out I am doing that.

I have new air cleaners/filters running now, and I am going to shampoo the carpet & give cats a bath this week & see if that makes a difference. I am not sure if I will survive the cat bath part. But I don't know if that will be enough or not. I am also going to try to convince him that instead of replacing the carpet upstairs, we should just get rid of the carpet & have a wood floor.

I just bought an air quality monitor which is supposed to pick up allergens. I don't know if that will really tell me when the allergens are high or not. If it works, I could just make sure that the air tests clean when he is coming home.

 

[denice]

We have people here with allergies and they have cats, of course allergies come in various levels of severity. Getting rid of the carpet at least in the bedroom will help. From what I have read having a bedroom as free of allergens as possible really helps. No curtains just blinds and the cats can't be in the bedroom.

You can get moist disposable towelettes to wipe down the kitties with but you can also just use a damp towel. That helps keep down the dander buildup and it is the dander that is usually the allergy trigger.

I don't know how much you are able to spend but if you can afford it you might want to look into a Rainbow vacuum. They have another out now called Sirena but the reviews I have read on them haven't been very good. You can get a refurbished Rainbow, still expensive but it brings the price down out of the stratosphere. I think forcing the dust and dander that is picked up into water would do more then any hepa filter alone.

A lot of people have an enclosed outdoor area for their cats just so they can have time outside and still be safe.

 

[Daisy6]

I am not a fan of putting cats in sheds at all. Like people, they need air conditioning, heat, and big windows that open. You can buy a catio that is ready for installation in your backyard Some catios have tunnels; others double as indoor porches. Living in the country gives you the freedom to do anything within your budget.

 

[charliana]

It wouldn't be like a shed as much as an addition to the house, or like a guest room. They would have air conditioning & heat, & I would probably actually move my office out there.

The air quality monitor seems to work. I held it in my hand while I cleaned the cat litter box, and the more dust I stirred up , the higher the numbers went. The rooms I thought should be cleaner showed lower numbers than other areas of the house. I think it will be accurate enough to tell me whether the air is clean enough or not.

I thought I brought it with me to see what numbers I get at work. I am wondering if one of the numbers it is picking up is from my husband's cigarette smoke. Apparently I just brought the empty box though.

 

[Daisy6]

"Cigarette smoke." That explains everything. Your husband is more likely to have at least one respiratory problem - including COPD and asthma - with t hose evil things. So it may not be the cat's saliva at all.

 

[charliana]

What a wonderful weekend. My husband was supposed to put up a screen door so the cats couldn't get into the basement. That way he has a cat free zone. It didnt get put up, but he was still mad about the cats going in the basement. So I made a temporary door out of wire racks. He tried tying it shut when he left Monday, but the cats can still push through, they just cant get back out to get to the litter box. So I left it open until I figured something else out. I have been sick this week and didn't figure anything out, so the husband went ballistic and is giving me the silent treatment now. He refuses to listen to anything I try to say and wont read a letter I left for him. I looked and didnt see any messes. I found them stuck down there when I got home from work, and I am not sure how long they were down there. I am wondering if I missed a mess. Sometimes I call his temper the twilight zone, I walk in the house expecting normal and he is so mad he wont speak to me. Sometimes it takes a few days to figure out why he is so mad at me.

I have no choice now, I waited too long for him to put up a screen door. I would have put it up, but there isn't a door frame so we have to build something to hang the door on, and I dont know how to do that. I have to either put up a shed, rehome cats, or put them outside. Bam Bam and pebbles have always been inside so I dont want to put them outside.

And since cats make him sick he decided to say I was sick because of the cats. I didnt get sick until I spent the entire weekend shampooing carpets in the house 2 weekends ago to try and make it better for him. Of course he wants to act like I dont do anything to make it better. I am actually at the point to where I dont leave the house on weekends he is gone because I need to get the house clean enough to make him happy.

I actually asked him about a shed awhile back, but he didn't give me an answer and I didnt know what to do because I didnt want to spend that much money without asking. All he had to do was help me come up with as solution instead of just being mad. Or at least say it was ok to do it.

 

[1 bruce 1]

I hope this is just a bump in the road before things get better for you. You're trying.
I actually thought the part time cat shed thing idea sounded pretty cool. Our cats are people persons but they spend all the time they can in their catio, which isn't easily accessed by us. They just enjoy the peace and enjoy being in the company of one another.
Hang in there friend.

 

[Willowy]

I have opinions about people who are so punitive toward people they supposedly love. I'd be making a different decision.

Can you hire a handyman to put up the screen door?

 

[charliana]

My note backfired & I didn't get permission to build the shed, I got a note about not giving him a guilt trip. I will have to re-read my note after work, I asked if he knew anyone who would give good homes to Bam Bam & Pebbles, I reminded him he didn't say whether I could build the shed, & i mentioned something about him helping me come up with a solution instead of just getting mad.

His note said "Don't give me a !!! guilt trip & you know what I mean"

I am wondering if they made a mess I didn't find when they got stuck in the basement, or if he thinks I shouldn't be asking for permission to spend money since I make all of the house payments & other bills.

I have an idea for blocking the basement off. I can build something to attach to the banisters & lay across the stairs so they couldn't even go down the stairs.

Should I just build the shed & pen anyway. If I don't have a good solution, I am afraid it is just going to cause a fight when he gets back home. He is a truck driver so he is gone during the week with this job. It is a new company, so sometimes he is gone 1 week & sometimes 2 weeks. I haven't taken any money from his account for bills since he was at a new job & got a new car recently, so I am paying all of the bills anyway, & it doesn't cost him anything if I build the shed.

I think he would be less mad about building a shed without permission than the cats being in the house all of the time.

 

[Mia6]

I am so sorry about this issue you are having. It sounds as though you are afraid of him and it shouldn't be like that. I guess trust your gut but don't be bullied.

 

[charliana]

I bought one of the robotic vacuums that is supposed to work on carpet. My idea was that it could run twice a day and would help keep the amount of dust and cat hair down between regular vacuuming. I let it run and it is picking up dust & cat hair.

The problem I am having, is that Rocky thinks it is the best cat toy I have ever bought. He follows it, bats at the brushes he sees on the side, and keeps making it turn. So I can't let it run unsupervised since he won't leave it alone.

I also got one of the Rabbit air cleaners. I can put it downstairs and move the cheaper one upstairs.

 

[Mia6]

I bought one of the robotic vacuums that is supposed to work on carpet. My idea was that it could run twice a day and would help keep the amount of dust and cat hair down between regular vacuuming. I let it run and it is picking up dust & cat hair.

The problem I am having, is that Rocky thinks it is the best cat toy I have ever bought. He follows it, bats at the brushes he sees on the side, and keeps making it turn. So I can't let it run unsupervised since he won't leave it alone.

I also got one of the Rabbit air cleaners. I can put it downstairs and move the cheaper one upstairs.

Do the vacuums work well? Are they expensive? I bet my girls would do the same as Rocky.

 

[charliana]

I bought a refurbished one, so mine wasn't one of the more expensive ones. If you have carpet you have to make sure that it is one of the ones that will work on it because some only work good on hard floors.

I just tried it last night, & it will work good for what I want it to do with picking up the top layer of dust & cat hair. It would not replace regular vacuuming for me because there is a lot of sand in our area and we track in sand that gets down into the carpet. I need the higher powered vacuum cleaner to get the sand out. At some point I would like to just get rid of the carpet upstairs & just have a wood floor.

So I think it would work really well if you didn't have carpet & let it run often. I don't know if any of the more expensive ones work better on carpet or not.

 

[FelisCatus]

I bought one of the robotic vacuums that is supposed to work on carpet. My idea was that it could run twice a day and would help keep the amount of dust and cat hair down between regular vacuuming. I let it run and it is picking up dust & cat hair.

The problem I am having, is that Rocky thinks it is the best cat toy I have ever bought. He follows it, bats at the brushes he sees on the side, and keeps making it turn. So I can't let it run unsupervised since he won't leave it alone.

I also got one of the Rabbit air cleaners. I can put it downstairs and move the cheaper one upstairs.

Any chance you’re up for making a video of Rocky playing with the vac for us ?

 

[ArchyCat]

COPD is a nasty, serious, disease. My mother died from it over 30 year past. Now there are treatments that can slow its' advance. Take your husband to a pulmonary specialist to get a proper diagnosis.

For details, visit the Mayo Clinic web sIte and do a search on COPD. They have articles on symptoms, diagnosis, and treatment.

Otherwise, tell him to take out a lot of life insurance so you can be a wealthy widow. Good luck on this! n nKeep s posted!

 

[islander]

He needs to stop smoking and stop blaming cats..

 

[charliana]

I could just cry. I spent the entire weekend putting up the gate on the stairs. Vacuuming and shampooing the carpet & furniture to try and get all the cat hair out of the basement. And I am going to change Rocky's name to Houdini. He kept getting through the gate where I had to leave a gap for the handrail. I thought I finally had it tight enough he couldn't get through. He got through last night and couldn't get back out. So he spent the night in the basement. I have to completely start over on the vacuuming & shampooing the basement & make the gate fit tighter over the handrail.

 

[Willowy]

I really don't think a gate is going to work. Cats can outsmart most barriers. Only a real door is going to do the trick. Can you hire a handyman to install the door?

 

[charliana]

This is the gate, it would have covered everything like a door if the hand rail wasn't in the way. The number of zip tiles were probably not necessary, but I ran out of fence nails & used staples so I was worried the staples would not hold up when the cats got on it.

This is just the thrown together version, I think if I actually sit down and plan one, I could make it work better. It isn't permanently attached so it doesn't matter what it looks like.

If I have someone put the door up & someone doesn't like the way it was done I will have to hear about that forever.