Joys of Pet Sitting

One house, 2 cats, 3 litter boxes. Taking care of all this in 30 minutes should be simple, right? I walked in to multiple hairballs on the entry rug. Fine, I have a project in mind, so I'll clean those up in a bit. These cats kick and track an unbelievable amount of litter around, which I need to sweep up to get to the project. Do that, then I scoop all 3 boxes. The project is to completely clean and refill the stinkiest box. That takes a while because I have to find an outside spigot, I can't find a scrubbrush, and the scoop also is filthy enough to need cleaning. Then I clean up the mess by the food dishes (looks like somebody decided to mark her territory by the dishes) and wash all the food and water bowls at the kitchen sink. Bowls refilled, I put down new paper towels under them.

Whew! I'm almost done! I go to locate the second cat (she hides under beds, but the other keeps me company while I work). I check in the master bedroom. She's not there, but I find puke on carpet and then puke on catbed. Must clean those up. Must clean up the mess on the entry rug. Go upstairs. Locate the second cat and decide to check on the carpet upstairs. Why, why, why do I do this???? Now I must clean up a spit spot in the hallway and three more in the bonus room. Sigh.

Now I'm really almost done. I go to the mailbox and bring the mail in. I write my note to the owner, then I glance into the dining room and find several more spots to clean. One week into this assignment and there are only 3 carpeted rooms in which the cats have not expressed themselves. I hope they are not saving those for Thanksgiving.

Seventyfive minutes after arriving, all known carpet spots are cleaned up, the boxes are clean, etc. I leave!

I get home and go in the side door because I forgot to put a pee pad by the front door. Sleek, for some reason known only to her, likes to lie on the vinyl floor when I'm not home. The good news is that the vinyl does not absorb urine. The bad news is that, with no pee pad, only Sleek's fur is available to absorb urine. This was a large puddle, since I was gone longer than expected, and Sleek's tail has been lying in it. Sleek comes running to the side door with her tail wagging happily. Another sigh. I scoot the dogs out the back door and clean up the spray.

Whose idea was it to let my life go to the animals?