I never knew my waste could cause my girl trouble. There is a disease called Toxoplasmosis which humans can get from cleaning up cat infected wastes. My girl usually is very good about cleaning out the litter boxes everyday. If she didn’t it would give the disease causing parasite a chance to cause problems in anyone without a good immune system. Vets will caution humans with weak immune systems or those who are pregnant. One way to help prevent this parasite from causing any problems is by cleaning out the litter box or tray everyday and washing their hands afterwards.
I don’t want my girl or other human servants to get sick. So, please clean out the litter box or tray often. I know I appreciate a clean box. It does get full when there are others who use it too. I strongly urge you to not forget so you don’t get sick. Oh, and wash your hands when you’re done. That’s another good way to stop the spread of disease.
If you live with a cat, you will have to deal with their poo in one form or another. All you have to do is clean it up and throw it away or even compost it. It’s something which can’t be avoided. If you’re good about cleaning it up and throwing it out, any cat you live with will be happy with you. And as long as you clean up their wastes everyday, you won’t run the risk of catching any diseases from cats.
One disease is known as Toxoplasma and is caused by the Toxoplasma gondii parasite. It can be found in infected cat poo. It is a common parasite. That’s also why it’s a good idea to wash your hands after handling cat wastes. If you do become infected, Toxoplasma can cause flu-like symptoms. You may not get any symptoms at all. But it’s not worth risking becoming infected as you could pass it on to someone else. And the cat won’t be happy you didn’t clean up their wastes. They will let you know their displeasure by leaving poo on the floor somewhere where you’ll be sure to see it.
Grooming is very important to us cats. I would hope it’s just as important to you humans as well. Although with some of you, it’s quite obvious that it isn’t.
We cats groom a lot every day. After we eat or after we come in contact with dirty things. We need to be clean. How else do you think our coats will be so shiny if we didn’t groom so much? We have to get rid of the loose hairs that are falling off our coats. We have to sharpen our claws and shed them when it’s time.
It does take a lot of time and effort to groom ourselves. Sometimes we can’t reach everywhere. That can happen as we age. We might not be a limber as we were when we were young. So, we get a buddy and groom each other.
My girl tended to brush my coat. I loved it when she did that. Certainly it helped to get rid of the excess hair that was ready to come off. And it felt great. She understood my need for grooming and didn’t mind helping me out.
Smell is very important to us cats. We have an excellent sense of smell. We know each individual human and cat has a unique smell. Sure those of you who are related smell similarly, but you still have a unique smell. You humans may not be entirely aware of it. As I understand it, cats have a much better sense of smell than you humans do. We do appreciate humans who bathe regularly. Otherwise you will smell bad. It’s not pleasant. Please clean up for us.
We also appreciate a clean place to live in. If you’re a slob, your place will smell bad to us. If you’re good about cleaning up after yourself, and usually my girl is, then your place will smell better to us. Definitely keep up with your dirty laundry. That can smell bad too. Unless, like your shoes, your dirty clothes smell just like you. Our favorite human in the whole wide world.
My girl was and still is quite the klutz. I swear the first month we lived together, she kept dropping things for no reason at all. *Sigh.* She even walked into me in the dark! It startled me so much. She apologized and said she couldn’t see me once she had turned out the lights. It was her eyes. She told me she can’t see as well in the dark as I can. So, after that whenever it was dark, I told her when she was stepping too close to me. At least she has good hearing. Otherwise, I don’t think we could have gotten along as well as we do.
Oh, it was annoying to hear her dropping things on the floor. I’d be sleeping or meditating and bam! Ugh, it was too much at times. I wasn’t used to this kind of noise unless someone was about to cause some serious harm. I honestly believed her when she told me she was just a klutz. She really didn’t spill my food or water on purpose. I could tell. She typically would get down on the floor and clean up her mess. If it had been deliberate, she wouldn’t have bothered to clean up after herself. Or had bothered to apologize.
She always cleaned up her messes. That was something new and different. The place we shared was much cleaner and neater than my first home. It was amazing, but also scary whenever she cleaned. It was loud and she would move things around. I wondered if moving everything around was actually worth it. I wasn’t kidding when I call her a whirlwind… She is one in more ways than just one…
With her cleaning so much, I bathed myself until I was clean enough to be there too. I know she appreciated it. Perhaps she didn’t need to clean every week, but she seemed to think so. I don’t know why, she believed that, but I did like living in a clean place.
The blind guy wasn’t klutzy. He had never walked into me in the dark. I don’t understand why she had so much trouble. But at least she could tell me and we worked together to prevent her from stepping on me in the dark. I am glad she listened and was willing to work with me. If she had ignored me, we wouldn’t have stayed together as we have.
After that first month, I no longer woke up from a nap whenever she had dropped something. She is still a klutz, but I’m just used to her now. I am glad she’s not deliberately dropping things to scare me or to torment me. She is kind and considerate. She is what I need in a caregiver and caretaker.
I am glad she’s a part of my life even though she’s not as coordinated as I am. And there is the matter of her violin playing…
*Sigh.* The whirlwind played a violin. When I had first heard it, I cringed. I protested. I hid. I don’t know what the problem was with the violin. I didn’t know if it was her playing. I liked it whenever she played the piano as long as it’s not too loud. Her electric piano was never too loud for me. It was always pleasant, unless she got carried away with too much force. Perhaps she was just hyper?
But the violin was different. There was a horrible and hideous sound coming from it that I couldn’t stand. I don’t know why she couldn’t hear it. Something just didn’t sound right with her violin playing. I’m not entirely sure it was her. But she didn’t stop playing and eventually that horrible and hideous sound went away.
At that point, her violin playing was quite beautiful and I could sleep and meditate in peace. She had learned how to make the violin sing. But then she stopped playing it for a long time. When she picked it up again to resume her studies, the horrible and hideous sound had come back too.
So, when she was playing it everyday she had gotten the horrible and hideous sound to go away. But after she hadn’t played it often, the horrible and hideous sound was back. I have to draw the conclusion that it wasn’t her. I would have to say there must have been something wrong with that particular violin.
I don’t think she was trying to hurt my ears. She was genuinely shocked that it bothered me so much when she played the violin. I do hope if she takes up the instrument again, that she finds a better violin that won’t ever make that horrible and hideous sound.
Sir Socks Le Chat 