For the most part, pets are a joy to have around the house. They can make you happy when you feel awful and there are few who would turn down regular, unsolicited snuggles. Yet from time to time, living with pets can be taxing, stressful and downright irritating. Especially, as in my case, when your little furry friends seem to have a vendetta against objects in your home. One of my cats seems to be seriously uncomfortable with lampshades and has taken out several lamps (recently a personal favorite turquoise mid-century reproduction met its demise. RIP lamp.) with extreme prejudice over the years. She also has a tendency to stomp on poor, unsuspecting plants for a reason I haven’t been able to figure out, even if those plants are covered in loads of prickles, resulting in trauma to both the plant and the cat.
Aside from their quirks, living with animals in general requires some concessions. I can’t use tablecloths because that’s been a recipe for disaster with rambunctious cats and the white furniture I once had is slowly being phased out because it becomes instantly coated with gross amounts of incredibly visible cat fur. And lets not even get started with the office chair that has to be covered with an unsightly blanket because when it’s not, even for a second, it becomes a scratching post. At the end of the day, however, when you see them doing something ridiculously adorable or sometimes even obnoxiously mischievous all the little annoyances melt away and you remember why it is you invited these little weirdos into your home in the first place.
What about you, readers? What kind of concessions have you had to make around the house to make it pet-friendly?
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I had to roll up all of our rugs completely and buy a steam cleaner because of how much one of my foster dogs pee’d inside right after he got out of the shelter (for the entire 3 weeks we had him). For most foster dogs we’ve had to make concessions, usually consisting of rearranging our furniture so they can have space to get their oh-my-god-i’m-alive craziness out and keeping a pair of shoes directly outside the door, ready to be slipped on when the dog’s having accidents and needs to be rushed outside.
We can no longer have our shoes inside our apartment because Penny will still try to chew them up when we leave the house. I lost a pair of $90 heels that I only wore once when I made the mistake of leaving them out while we were gone one night.
And of course we can’t have guests over without it being a huge production with the dog getting muzzled and Pat or I spending half the time micromanaging her every movement because of her protectiveness of the house/us. That sucks because I love having people over.
Yes, luckily with cats I’ve never had to deal with them peeing on things. That’s one thing they know how to do right. Of course, they do barf on just about anything and everything, so that’s always fun.
My kitties don’t chew shoes, but they do like to eat cashmere sweaters and electrical cords which sucks just as bad.
I also hate managing my pets when people come over. Mochi loves to show off for guests or is a little too aggressive with her affections and she often gets to spend the night having a time out in the bedroom.