Hm. Animals
We've had large (probably about 4-quart-sized) plastic food bowls out there (two bowls) for the dogs. They were cheap, the cats didn't need them, hooray. Except that they're plastic, so when Schnapps decided to chew one of them to pieces, we had to find an alternative. So far she hasn't chewed up the other plastic one we put out there, but she has shown interest in it. So we decided to get them a big metal bowl instead. Now they've got one 10qt big-ass metal pan out there, which they may or may not destroy.
Because of the way the dogs play (they grab each other's skin and pull, mostly), Schnapps's collar has become absolutely shredded. No way we could take her out on a walk with it like that. Course, even besides that, her fur's so glossy and slick a collar would have to be uncomfortably tight on her neck to not slip off her head. Copper's collar, now that she's fully beefed up and her head is the same size as her neck, won't stay on her, either. Solution? Halters. Works great, but so far Schnapps has managed to pull her leg out of the right side and get it stuck out in front, hobbling her. And we've only had them since yesterday. We'll see.
The cats poop on the floor in the powder room. I can apparently have *just* scooped that litter, and they'll poop on the floor anyway. So I've just purchased a Cat Genie online, and we'll see if that works any better. This is a litterbox that scoops, drains, washes, dries and sanitizes itself. On a timer. So you *never* have to touch it, unless you want to wash the exterior yourself. It'll be here Wednesday; we'll see how it goes. They shouldn't have a problem with the wash cycle.. it'll take some getting used to, but they'll figure out what time of day it runs, and will just stay out of it for that half hour. Pretty soon it'll just be another noisy thing like the dishwasher or the laundry. Mostly I question if they'll actually keep their poo in the box, or if they'll insist on pooping all over the rim and edges of the thing like they do now. I'm *hoping* the only reason they leave yucky bits on the edge of the pan is because they don't think it's clean enough, which this thing scooping itself twice a day (it could do four times a day, if it needed to) should avoid. I hope their issues are all dirty litterbox ones, and that this will take care of it. I've been letting the boxes get a bit dirtier than usual lately in hopes they'll get very very happy about one that gets scooped multiple times a day, and will be better about using it. But if they poop all over the rim and sides of that thing I'm going to be irritated :P
If it works out, we could probably find a way to route plumbing upstairs to get some more of them in the cat room, but these boxes are kinda pricey to get more than one at a time. Another five of them, plus shipping.. we'd be looking at a payment plan on that :P Altho I guess if the boxes were scooping themselves four times a day, even with a dozen cats we wouldn't need more than three or four. That'd be something, at least. I just hope it works.
Because of the way the dogs play (they grab each other's skin and pull, mostly), Schnapps's collar has become absolutely shredded. No way we could take her out on a walk with it like that. Course, even besides that, her fur's so glossy and slick a collar would have to be uncomfortably tight on her neck to not slip off her head. Copper's collar, now that she's fully beefed up and her head is the same size as her neck, won't stay on her, either. Solution? Halters. Works great, but so far Schnapps has managed to pull her leg out of the right side and get it stuck out in front, hobbling her. And we've only had them since yesterday. We'll see.
The cats poop on the floor in the powder room. I can apparently have *just* scooped that litter, and they'll poop on the floor anyway. So I've just purchased a Cat Genie online, and we'll see if that works any better. This is a litterbox that scoops, drains, washes, dries and sanitizes itself. On a timer. So you *never* have to touch it, unless you want to wash the exterior yourself. It'll be here Wednesday; we'll see how it goes. They shouldn't have a problem with the wash cycle.. it'll take some getting used to, but they'll figure out what time of day it runs, and will just stay out of it for that half hour. Pretty soon it'll just be another noisy thing like the dishwasher or the laundry. Mostly I question if they'll actually keep their poo in the box, or if they'll insist on pooping all over the rim and edges of the thing like they do now. I'm *hoping* the only reason they leave yucky bits on the edge of the pan is because they don't think it's clean enough, which this thing scooping itself twice a day (it could do four times a day, if it needed to) should avoid. I hope their issues are all dirty litterbox ones, and that this will take care of it. I've been letting the boxes get a bit dirtier than usual lately in hopes they'll get very very happy about one that gets scooped multiple times a day, and will be better about using it. But if they poop all over the rim and sides of that thing I'm going to be irritated :P
If it works out, we could probably find a way to route plumbing upstairs to get some more of them in the cat room, but these boxes are kinda pricey to get more than one at a time. Another five of them, plus shipping.. we'd be looking at a payment plan on that :P Altho I guess if the boxes were scooping themselves four times a day, even with a dozen cats we wouldn't need more than three or four. That'd be something, at least. I just hope it works.