Tag: pets

A Threshold …

Rise & Inspire’s post, shared below, made me realize the cat that had to move on from my care, the cat that I named Moggy, that entertained us on these pages with her antics and that finally attacked me one too many times, that same cat is now sitting on a threshold between me and me ever again taking care of another pet animal.

Ownership doesn’t come into it. An animal will either allow you to take care of it or it won’t. Moggy was at my place for about two years, and she never trusted me. Maggy, on the other hand was with me for about nine years. She trusted me enough to take showers with me.

A very high level of trust, you’ll agree, here grooming herself after such an event.

Over the years, I’ve had six cat companions, starting with a cat inherited with a student house; a dog, Jesse; a lamb called Tuki, that grew too big for the backyard and went on to become a lawn mower at the local sewage works; 6 black hens and one fluffy white hen; and various pythons and bluetongue lizard guests.

So, now, Moggy is out there sitting on the the-old-woman-caring-or-not-for-a-pet-threshold. Guarding against me ever trying to take another flesh and blood animal under my care. Because she is out there, prowling to and fro, just out of reach, mowling, reminding me of my failure when she thinks I’m softening and girding myself up for another go.

I wish Moggy would go off and have an adventure with the Hand of God, Maggie’s alter ego.

What If the Best Companion in Your Life Was Never Yours to Own?

Lol, Cat Litter

We definitely have not yet hit our goldilocks moment with cat litter!

Who knew there would be so many brands and types available. I started with my usual arrogant save-the-world attitude and bought a large 10kg bag of recycled newspaper pellets. This being possible because someone else was carrying it to the car and from the car to my apartment. Newspaper pellets go sludgy.

Second was hemp pellets, left overs from the process of producing hemp for rope, hemp-crete and other products, this was another product that was going to save the environment. Hemp pellets disintegrate into a fine dust difficult to clean up and very bad for my allergies.

Third was a gravelly product made of tofu and pea flour. It is meant to ‘clump’ and so be easier to keep the litter box clean. It does clump but is also easily transported into the rest of the house by sticking between the poor cat’s toes, and is nearly as bad as the proverbial Lego block to stand on when walking around on bare feet. And why wouldn’t I?

Fourth is a tiny vermicelli-like extruded pellet made of coconut fiber and charcoal. This was probably the worst purchase yet. Very sharp, and I soon picked up a piece in the sole of my foot. Have been wearing a big band aid for a week. Apart from that, the stuff ‘clumps’ only reluctantly. The one thing going for it, it does work wonders on odors.

Above, a mix of fresh litter containing all four of the recalcitrant litter types. As by then I’d been buying a new sort every time I went shopping, and since I can carry home only the stuff I can fit on my walker, the average bag of litter weighs 5 kg.

At the present we’re trying out the mix of sawdust and wood-splinters. And when I go shopping in a few minutes I will probably–out of sheer pernickety recalcitrance–buy yet another of the still untried possibilities.

Having to send untold bags of used cat litter to land-fill is also not ideal. Before, when I lived in freestanding houses, the used cat litter went into the compost bin, or was buried in the garden and helped to build up my low-lying yard. I’ll be asking Brisbane City Council why apartement blocks don’t get green bins. It’s not as if we don’t produce any organic waste!

There has got to be a better way!