Failure to Thrive: Emilia

Tuesday, July 19, 2011

Steamed

I haven't been doing much of anything lately, I'm in a bit of a funk. It doesn't help that Scarlett has started peeing on the furniture. I clean the couch and recliner everyday, it's like Groundhog Day, but with cats and pee and without Bill Murray, so maybe a little bit better than Groundhog Day.

In trying to clean up the pee, I turned to steam. My Shark steamer decided to stop working entirely, so I got out my My Little Steamer. Steam is steam, right... well, not really, but in this case it would do. I filled it up, added a bit of vinegar to help with the pee smell and my very hard water, and fired it up. Now, I've added vinegar before, it's like cleaning out a coffee maker. I did not expect it to start shooting out boiling water (I would have expected that from a coffee maker, however). It burned my feet a little, and nearly got Emi, who has a fascination with steam that I really don't understand.

Because I don't learn, I assumed that the issue was vinegar related, and tried it again the next day (maybe not so much better than Groundhog Day) and again burned my toes with the fountain of boiling water that spewed forth from my little yellow steamer. And, again, Emi was nearly caught in the line of fire. I did have enough sense to scoot her out of the way, but not enough to move my feet.

Determined that steam would be my ultimate weapon against pee, I decided I needed a new steamer, though I did contemplate using the steam mop on the couch. My nocturnal nature meant that it was after 9 PM when I made this discovery. I struck out at Wal-Mart, but was able to find a garment steamer at Kohl's, plus I got some Kohl's cash and a cute dress. The steamer is great, but I'm having trouble keeping up with Scarlett.

I've started taking her to the litter-box a few times a day, because I think the issue is that Jasper and Emi like to watch her. I'm hoping it will work, because I'm really sick of cleaning up pee, and I like my furniture and can't afford new. Furniture protection and cat transport has been taking up all of my energy. It's an exciting life.

Wednesday, March 30, 2011

Emi's Whiskers

I was sitting on the couch with my laptop, trying to figure out how to add a simple, but customized follow button to my blog (I gave up, as you will see if you scroll down) and heard Emi over in the corner rustling paper. I thought she was playing with the light box I no longer use, but when Jasper got interested, I decided I should be too.

Emi loves tape, so much so that she will pull it out of the trash to play with it. Hanging from the side of her mouth was a piece of tape at which she was pawing. When I got closer, and tried to remove it from her mouth, I discovered that it was actually attached to her whiskers. I brought her out into the light, so I could remove it. The tape was folded over, with her whiskers stuck in the middle. Unable to come up with a good way to remove it, I ran to get my phone, in hopes that two people could come up with a solution more quickly.

As I raced back into the room (my house is tiny, it didn't take long) I heard a ripping sound and a squawk. She sprinted off leaving the piece of tape, still sandwiching her whiskers, sitting on the ottoman. She had panicked and ripped out her whiskers to remove the tape. When I went to check on her, she hid and hissed at both Jasper and me. Apparently, we are now both connected to the tape ripping incident, in her mind.

I feel like the worst pet parent ever. Not only did I allow her access to the tape, I didn't check on her immediately, allowing her to struggle, then I left her to panic once I had discovered the problem. She looks unbelievably pathetic, and not just because of the missing whiskers, she is scared. I hate seeing her like that.