“If you don’t quit, you can’t fail.”
Cat pee. Is there a liquid whose smell is more difficult to remove from your daughter’s favorite sweatshirt or your family’s favorite couch?
I am on week four of cleaning up from what seemed like a good idea. A neighbor needed a safe place for her cat while her house was being remodeled. We have two of our own cats, but we have watched my parents’ cat in the past with no ill effects from cat pee. Yes, the furniture and curtains were a little more loved after she left, and the basement bathroom was a bit torn apart. But no problems from cat pee. When we adopted the second cat several years ago, again, no drama from cat pee. So, while cat number one has been known to pee outside her litter box when we have overnight human guests, we have had no such problem from her with feline visitants.
As it turned out, our cats were terrified of the newcomer. So they let her have the basement, thus, all three litter boxes, and they decided to use our bathroom… rugs, tub. They then moved onto my daughter’s bedroom rug, clothes, my daughter’s clothes anywhere they were strewn about the house. You knew they were desperate when they even used my son’s rug – they are generally leary of him and try to avoid him as much as possible. So his room is one that they usually never even enter. They did still use their litter box during the day when the interloper was in hiding, so we didn’t realize that they were also using the couches until the couches were so soaked that pee was dried on the top of one of the cushions. Ack!!
Needless to say, I had to have the neighbor take her cat back. We had already watched it one more week than originally agreed upon, so I didn’t feel bad. She wasn’t done with the construction, but it wasn’t causing health concerns any longer, so it was safe for kitty three to go home.
Did you know that it takes three rinses and then two days of soaking in laundry detergent and Oxi Clean to rid a couch cushion of cat pee? Then it takes literally weeks of squeezing and fanning (with an industrial strength fan, no less) to get them dry. They are still not dry. I will be working on that week 5. It also takes days of scrubbing and soaking hide-a-bed netting and gears. Not to mention the large swath of grass that needs to be replanted now that the mattresses (two hide-a-beds were hit) were rinsed and soaked in the same toxic mixture.
All of the gentle stomping to work soap in, then out, then work out the water from mattresses and cushions has been a great lower body workout. So, if you have trouble getting to the gym like me, ask a friend if they have cat-stained cushions they need help with!
per·se·ver·ancepərsəˈvirəns/nounsteadfastness in doing something despite difficulty or delay in achieving success
I have learned from past cat pee episodes that just because I can’t smell the pee doesn’t mean that they can’t. So after everything is cleaned to human acceptance, everything gets a thorough spraying from Nature’s Miracle Cat Urine Destroyer. This does keep them from trying that same place again, for several years, anyway. Yes, as I said, I have experience in this area.
I have to admit that I had a few, why me tantrums during all of this cleanup. But at church last Sunday the sermon was on perseverance and the speaker ended with the quote I started with. It, along with God’s strength, and help from my great hubby and kids kept me plugging away.
I think the pee is conquered, and I definitely have grown in my endurance even more. I won’t know if I am definitely successful until after I let my monsters out of the basement/kitchen that they have been confined to during cleanup. But I am not letting them tell me until after the weekend. I need some couches for guests to sit on this evening!
"Most Likely to Succeed" 