I had thought by now, the insulating of the underfloor would have been done- but no one has shown up to do the work? I have called a few times, but as this is also a government program, I just finally gave in and figured when they want to come in and do it- they will. All I get is automated answers.

In the meantime, I have successfully relocated the cats’ feeding area to be closer to the main enclosure and during the day, I can see several of them just lying under the catio catching a cat nap. I think they still must feel a bit bombarded by all the chaos that recently took place for all of them.

Pigeon has turned out to be quite the challenge. Ever since his crush injury, he has started to spray. The vets believe that some nerve damage occurred with all the other injury to his rear leg and he will be a sprayer for life. I’ve had to finally decide that he won’t play well with others (he is tearing the other cats up) MK is his latest victim with a nasty laceration to her paw requiring yet another vet visit. 🙁

So now, Pigeon is all alone in one of the enclosures which breaks my heart, but he can’t stay in the house. I already tried that for a few nights and saw that in the one room he was in, there was pee in every corner of the room. I can’t adopt him out, I won’t give someone a cat with issues, and I won’t lie to a potential adopter about any issues a cat has going on.

He seems to like the small enclosure so much better that the big cage, and he is eating and drinking. This enclosure was set up years ago for sprayers. There is splashboard (no pun intended) on all four sides. Big, Rubbermaid containers with tall sides for litter pans. He has two window perches, and after the winter leaves, I will take down the wind barriers around the catio that he has access to and open up the windows and let him catch air. He has all the comforts of home, just not the constant presence of me with him.

He is eating and drinking, so he is not shutting down. He can spray to his heart’s content and each morning, I do a thorough clean of this place and get rid of his pee-mails. It’s not the ideal solution. The ideal solution would be to keep him in the house, but I can’t wreck what just got completely rebuilt. Once a cat sprays, others will come and cover that area with their own peemail even if they are neutered. It’s a stinky cycle that is hard to break. It’s instinctive for them. Nothing to get mad or upset about. It’s how they communicate with each other and it won’t change. So he will just have to realize that this is his new pad and he will in time.

Yesterday, was our 41st wedding anniversary. This will be the second one without Mike and when I felt the blues overwhelming me, I just grabbed Kota and we went for a walk in the mountains. Nothing centers you more and brings you closer to God than a walk through the pines.