This is a public service announcement!

Am I the only one who gets so annoyed with smoke alarms going off whenever I cook (which isn’t often) or when the battery starts dying that I just take them out altogether? Yeah, bad idea.

The other night I received a text from my tenant after I went to bed that he smelled something burning. After I was all like “WTF, Dude? I’m trying to sleep!” I went to check out the house and lo and behold, as soon as I opened bedroom door I saw smoke everywhere!

The culprit was an outlet but the REAL culprit was a cat. Do I have to spell out what that cat did to the outlet to nearly kill us all? It was a GFI outlet near the sink but I guess those don’t react too well to piss. By the time we got down there, we didn’t see any flames and the outlet and circuit breaker had tripped, but the wall was hot and the smoke looked as if there was an actual fire.

So, a few precautions if you have bad peeing cats. Keep those outlets covered! Of course, being eternally mid renovation, we didn’t even have an outlet cover to protect the wires. That’s probably why it was so bad. Put something in front of outlets or use child safety plugs.

And the good news is that I went out and bought smoke alarms! The bad news is that I’ve yet to install them.

As some of you may know, the Reclaimed household reclaims not only homes, but cats. We have eight at the moment. They know our address. They ring our bell and run in as soon as we open the door, leaving their luggage for us to carry in. (No, we don’t want any more, thank you.)

The situation is out of control and I thought we could use some help, so I emailed that guy I call “The Cat Whisperer” to see if he does private consultations in New York. You know, Jackson Galaxy. He’s dude from Cat from Hell who carries a guitar case full of feline related items.

Casting got back to me. They want a tape, photos and application by this week, but it looks like we’re not going to be able to get to it.

How about you? Got a bad cat? Or two? Or eight? Jackson can probably help. And best of all, you don’t have to pay! In fact, they pay you to be on the show. The only thing is, you have to take a couple of hours to put together your audition material and then have the crew in your house for two or three visits.

The main page of the website has casting info. Go on, do it!

Related: When Cats Go Bad

We are working on making our basement a cat den. The goal is to make it as comfy as possible for them so they can mess up their own room and not the human living quarters. Of course they will come hang out upstairs whenever they want. So far, we put in an epoxied concrete floor and sump pump so we can just hose it all down for cleaning. Now we need to furnish it.

The Cat Trapeze (above) is such an awesome idea! It’s an alternative to climbing curtains, which we can never have because….the cats climb them. The real genius is the fact that it sits off the floor, making it easy to clean the area around it. Price range is $75-$115.

Love this kitty credenza! Modernist Cat specializes in mid century pieces that can take on the role of a studio apartment for a cat. Nice hiding spot for both the cat and the litter box. Yes, you can cut a hole in a vintage credenza, but the DIY method will probably cost as much as the $499 price tag. Not inexpensive, but then neither are credenzas.

The drawer tower is a designer DIY job. What cat doesn’t love to sleep in a drawer? Make sure to cushion it with things kitty isn’t supposed to lie on.

All ideas (and there are more!) from Modern Cat.

 

 

Shayna

After losing our beloved Lola to Lyme disease, we gave ourselves only  a week to mourn before looking for a companion for our depressed Pitbull, Greta.

On Sunday we wandered over to Sean Casey Animal Rescue after hearing they have about sixty dogs up for adoption. I don’t know why I expected to walk in and see a bunch of happy dogs roaming around free. They were in cages, some happy but some looked as if they had given up on life.

The most impressive thing about Sean Casey‘s shelter is the volunteers. When we walked a few dogs around the area, neighbors knew each dog by name. People were lined up outside waiting to give walks. In this Windsor Terrace neighborhood that borders Kensington, it seems the shelter IS the community.

As much as I wanted to save a dog from death row, I just couldn’t handle going into a kill shelter. The beautiful thing about this rescue group as well as many others, is that once a pet is adopted, it frees up a cage so they can pull animals out of Animal Care and Control.

And it’s not just cats and dogs. There are exotic animals on hand for adoption as well. Huge turtles. Huge! Some crazy vocal parrot or macaw. Snakes.

Frosty

Casey likes to take on the “unadoptable” pets. There was one dog I liked who was full of scars. Frosty was hit by a car and left for dead on the street. The vet fixed her up and she’s good to go now! She’s full of life and you wouldn’t even know it’s her second chance.

Tails

When I saw Tails flopping around as if he was drunk, I started to cry. He was born with Cerebellar Hypoplasia which causes him to have a lack of balance and coordination. When we asked about him they told us to bring him for a walk and see what we thought. He’s happy and adorable alright, but unfortunately, he would have been too much for us to handle. He needs to be held up so he can walk without falling. I just imagined going on a hike with him and him flying off a cliff, maybe pulling us along with him. Tails would probably work best as a single dog with someone who has time and energy to give him the extra care. Everybody is in love with him, but it will take a special person to look after him.

Dana

We thought Dana looked sad and sweet, sitting there quietly in her cage. We decided to walk her to see if we bonded. Oh. My. Gawd. Dana was a handful! She actually IS very sweet, but just needs some attention and training. Again, too much for us to handle. We saw a teenage volunteer running her and they were perfect together. She is a ball full of energy.

Finally, Charles, the shelter’s people person, took Tina out. She was shivering with fear. Not really our type of dog. She is pretty and quiet and not an uncontrollable Pit, but maybe we need to balance Greta’s crazy Pit energy. So we walked her and tested her with Greta and gave her a home. Tina is now Shayna and she’s not so demure after all. The cats are keeping her in her place although Greta is a bit intimidated by her.

Adoptions and donations info on the SCAR website.

A friend of mine found this 6 month old puppy abandoned on the street. She’s housebroken and verrry cute! Lilly needs a loving home as the friend who took her has a gazillion cats. Who’s in?

It’s no joke living in a multi pet household and our current situation is less than ideal. Oh, we’re working on it! But at the moment all of the pets are confined to one area.

Our lovely cats are scratching the molding and peeing on floors. The dogs are being terrorized by the crazy new feline rescue.

We took over the parlor floor (in addition to our garden apartment) four months ago but have yet to close in the stairway. This means the pets can’t go into the hallway because they’ll bother the neighbors on the 3rd floor. They would also need to go into the hallway for the backyard and basement. So, they are confined for now unless we escort them. Which is a pain in the arse.

The plan is to have them in the once-nice-but-now-destroyed room, plus basement and backyard. The basement will be a kitty paradise, as well as a human paradise for cleaning purposes. Cement floors with heavy duty epoxy and drains so we can just hose it down. There will be litterboxes galore and scratching posts and a cat door for them to go outside into the cat-fenced backyard.

Can’t wait! But for now, I’m just looking at some ideas. Hence the pics. Not mine. And to tell ya the truth, I thought I’d find way more ideas.