One of my current cats, Snoogle, has this nasty habit of marking her territory. You wouldn't expect it as much from a female, but she's worse than some of the males I've had before. Usually she just reminds me to not leave dirty clothes on the floor by claiming them as hers. However, on one particular occasion, I was sleeping in late, and I had left my bedroom door open. I was half asleep when she jumped up on the bed, I remember thinking it was cute that she was being affectionate while I was completely out of it. I dozed back off, waking up later to roll over. When I did that, I suddenly found myself in a puddle. I was absolutely soaked in what was now cold cat urine. Thankfully, our mattress pad is rubberized on the back (we're required to use it because of the warranty on our bed), so there was no serious damage to the mattress, I just had to wash my pajamas and every bit of bedding we had. You wouldn't think such a small creature could pee so much, but I think half of Snoogle's body weight is her massive bladder. I still can't prevent her from peeing on things...
It's a Box, So that Counts, Right?
When we first got Cthulhu, she refused to use the litter box. I don't know if it was the feline pine, or Snoogle's scent, but Cthulhu would not use the litter box. She used the lid to a shoe box, the shoe box itself, everything remotely box shaped, just not the litter box. One night, we left our bedroom door open, and Cthulhu snuck into our room. I was working mornings at that time, and I was always a zombie when the alarm went off. I had to drag myself out of bed and into the shower. That morning, it wasn't until I was already wet and I had shampoo halfway lathered in my hair that I realized Cthulhu had left me a present, which was now soggy and wet. The shower was the biggest litter box she'd every found, and she just had to utilize it. The worst part is that I was running late. I opted to finish showering (on the opposite side of the shower), and woke Ryan up to tell him to clean it out when he got up. He still won't let me forget that I left him that mess, no matter how many other things I clean up (and I've cleaned some pretty nasty things). But that mess lives on. Cthulhu's better at using the box now, but when we first got her, she was in danger of being returned to the cat adoption team with a bow around her neck. No refund of adoption fees, just as long as they would take her back...we were tired of having to guard any box shaped possessions. I love her now, and she's much better behaved, but she will never be forgiven by Ryan for using the shower as a litter box.
