Next, we have had this nasty problem over the past two years with our sweet cats. They go to the bathroom, you see. I wish they would stop but as that is not a reasonable option, we have had their litterbox in our spare bathroom and have let it stink up the room and make a mess. Well, we both got tired of that. So we tried an automatic litter box. It smelled worse (I know - hard to believe and another $170 bucks down the drain...) So the inevitable conversation of the cat porch came up. Jared has been talking for a couple of years about making our covered porch an enclosed potty room for the cats. I LOVE our covered porch - it was a real selling point for buying this house, so I was reluctant to let that happen. Not to mention it would have cost us thousands of dollars. Then I suggested we put a cat door in the garage and let the cats use that. But when I got out there - I was even more selfish. It would mean parking the cars outside and being extra careful (our cat, Meowfish, has a problem with eating items not meant for consumption as we have found out this summer 3 surgeries too late). I told Jared we needed to come up with a little enclosed area where the cats could do their business and go back inside. So I pointed to a general area and Jared made it happen. He was kind enough to give me credit for the idea. But he built it. And it's fabulous. At least I think it is. No bad smells, no litter mess.
Cat Door
How it looks completely finished
You can see how it is set up here - it doesn't take very much of the garage.
Inside the Cat Box
All we had to do was train the cats to use the thing. But putting all "my useless psychology degree" behavior plans into place, they were trained in no time. I have actually found that while the degree itself was useless, most of the principles I have learned are extremely helpful. At least for me as a teacher. I can't tell you how many times I have thought back to my behavior training to extinguish and promote behaviors in my classroom.
Okay, I'm done. If you want to see other stuff we have been doing - I put pictures in. I'll probably throw in some from Yellowstone, Meowfish's surgery, Jared's new bike and golf clubs (both great grad presents from his mom), and other random things we have been up to(beach trips and the like).
Click below to see the pictures.
