Rusty's Big Surprise

Since I let the kitties post on their own once a month, I try to keep kitty talk to a minimum. I don't want to be the crazy cat lady who substitutes her pets for human children. This, however, seemed worthy of making an exception.

Rusty is a good kitty with very few exceptions - he likes to retaliate against Tonya's lack of hospitality by chasing her up the stairs attached to her tail, he smashes the blinds in the middle of the night so we'll open the windows, and he poos in the tub.

Yeah, ew, he poos in the tub. Not all the time, mind you. And it doesn't matter if his litter box is in dire need of cleaning, if it's just been scooped, or if it's a completely fresh box. He just randomly decides not to use it and instead hops over it (litter boxes are in the guest bathroom) to use the tub instead.

In the scheme of things, this could be a lot worse - he could barf in my shoes (oh wait, he already did that once). But still, I'd really rather he use the litter box like a proper puddy tat.

We've tried yelling, we've tried scrubbing the tub until it's spotless, we've tried keeping the shower curtain closed. All to no avail. Suddenly, last Friday night, inspiration struck - the whole point of a bathtub is that it holds water. And cats HATE water! Joe immediately ran upstairs and filled the tub with about two inches of water.

The trap set, we waited. And waited. All evening we waited with no results. Off to bed we went, disappointed.

Then around 7am, I was jarred from my sleep by the most horrifying noise! What could that be? Were the cats killing each other? Had Tonya fallen off the stair ledge in her sleep (again)? As I ran up the stairs, the answer came flying down the stairs - Rusty, soaking wet, making a hasty retreat.

He spent quite awhile licking his stripey fur, drying off. And glaring at us. But he hasn't tried to use the tub since so we may have been successful. Now we spend our time praying to the Ceiling Cat of Cheezburgers that we haven't created a new problem by inspiring him to go somewhere else.

Wish us luck.

P.S. I want to make it VERY clear that Rusty was not hurt in any way and there was not enough water in there to be dangerous to him.

P.P.S. And even though I kinda laughed at him, I also felt really bad about doing it. So I hope it's all over now. Poor little dude.