things to do...

*update*

How I capture Chum's pee:

Chumley, more often than not, is "litter box challenged". On top of his many other behavioral issues (attacking people as they enter our home, humping his bear several times a day, knocking things off shelves/dressers, slapping our faces and biting Tom and I for no reason, hogging Wrigley's water, etc.) he also likes to urinate on our beds and couches. So after our 3rd mattress purchase (4th if you count the guest room) we had to come up with another way to save our beds. For several years now, we've been covering our beds and couches in plastic shower curtains. Luckily our couch in the family room is leather and he's not too keen on pissing on that. (See, he can be a good boy!) So we just cover the 3 bedrooms upstairs and our living room couch. This also makes selling the house gobs of fun because we have to make sure all the shower curtains are removed and then put back as soon as the people leave. If not, Chum would go on a pissing frenzy to each open bed.

So we keep a stock pile of shower curtains handy because after a few pee sessions, we need to replace them. We either shower them off or just spray them with cleaner but then they start to smell so we just have to toss them and replace with a new one. Target sells them for about $2 which is a small price to pay for keeping your mattress and furniture soil free.

When he pees on top of the shower curtain the pee sort of puddles up into little pools in the folds of the plastic which makes collecting a sample quite simple. I just use a regular sized Turkey Baster (Happy Thanksgiving!) to suck up his pee and then I squirt it into these little plastic pots I use to make lip gloss. It saves my vet the aggravation (as well as facial reconstruction surgery) of trying to get a sample so this is how we test his urine. There was a time last year when Chum was peeing on our windows in the study, (you can read that here), and I was able to turkey baste the pee as it was dripping down the windows and walls.

I realize as I type this out, it must sound somewhat ridiculous but it's really all I've ever known with this cat so you just learn to live with it and make concessions when you can. Tom has been a saint through all this because as he always says he, "married into this situation" but he truly loves Chumley too. Sometimes late at night when we're in bed about to fall asleep he'll say, "You know I don't remember seeing Chumley for a while." and he'll get up and search the house until he finds him and then come back to bed and sleep. I try not to make a big fuss out of it because he'll say, "Oh whatever, it's no big deal" but that is one of the things that makes me love my husband soooo much. He loves animals as much as I do too and that melts my heart.

So anyway, to make a long story even longer...that's how I capture Chum's pee!!

Special Delivery on its way:


(I just realized the last time I had Chum's pee tested was 7/9/07 - exactly ONE YEAR AGO to the DAY! Time to celebrate.)

these 2 things have been added to my "to do" list for tomorrow:

Vets office:

1) drop off Wrig's poop

2) drop of Chum's pee