It was not as messy as we thought it would be. Since the tile shop could not supply the tiles on the same day, the work had to be split into two days.
Day One was purely hacking the wall. We decided to do just 5 feet of tiling, not the whole wall, as I doubt Cow and Bunny would spray beyond 5 feet high! Or, would they?
To prevent it from looking like a bathroom, husband said to make a wooden skirting above the tiles. That would only be done next week. We also had all the sockets elevated to 5 ft high so that the twosome cannot spray on them anymore. Yes, they spray on EVERYTHING and everything gets destroyed in time.
So, on Day One, I put Cow into solitary confinement in his single cage while the rest of the family (Bunny, Pole and Cleo) went into the 3-tiered condo. Tiger, Tabs and Indy went upstairs to my daughter's bedroom.
I thought Tiger, Tabs and Indy would enjoy the comforts of the room but no, they were SO stressed and kept asking to come back downstairs. Bunny and gang were okay even when the workers came in to hack the room.
By noon, the hacking was done and everyone was released back into the room after I cleaned it up.
The hacked wall and a pile of materials right in the centre of the room after Day One.
Everyone was stressed. What has happened to our room??!!
Day Two was tiling day. This time, everyone made a racket. I mean, one day is enough, right? Another day?? No way, so downstairs and upstairs made a total racket this time. It was quite tolerable, though and also, the workers finished in barely 3 hours.
The gang was released back into the tiled room after I did a massive clean up (which was also the day Raven escaped (and came back after an hour)).
To them, this was a totally "new" place. Something was not right anymore.
Where are our smells???
Oh no, this is not our room!! Where have you taken us to??
Pole and Cleo were completely stressed and went berserk. Just before Raven went missing, I could not find Pole and Cleo. I was frantic. Could they have escaped somehow? Oh gosh, why on earth did I even bother tiling up the room if it could result in so much stress and now, Pole and Cleo had gone missing!
Where were they? How could they have escaped? I searched and searched....
Finally, I found them both. Cleo had curled into a tight ball under the bench (almost unnoticeable) while Pole was hiding behind the washing machine in an extremely narrow space. Phew...what a relief!
THEN, Raven went missing. You can imagine what a day that was!
The wooden skirting is not done yet so it might look a bit like a bathroom now, but really, it doesn't matter to me.
Also, the contractor took one look at my chipboard (brand new, hardly a year old) table and said it was going to give way anytime because the two panel legs were already badly warped (yes, thanks to Cow & Bunny's daily, five-times-a-day spraying), so I thought I might as well get it changed to something a bit more durable ie a plywood table with stainless steel legs. The contractor forewarned me that he cannot guarantee complete feline urine-proof with his stainless steel but he said if ever I need to change the legs, he could do it for me. This is not specially tailor-made stainless steel as that would be far too expensive. It's just taking from whatever stock he has. He said it should be good enough if I wiped off the urine. Well, okay. I'm used to wiping already.
Sigh...the things we do (and have to spend!) for our stubborn cats! It's like making Bunny's Place Pole-proof...that cost a bomb as well, with all the additions. But recalling Bosco's plight, yes, it's worth the money keeping the seven of them safely confined.
Cow did not spray on the first day....(fingers crossed).
Everyone had to find their own spaces again. It was quite tough on them.
No more high places, so Pole had to lie on Pabuka (the toy clown).
Bunny wondered if outside may be better for him...
The table won't be ready till next week, so right now, there is a lot of space in the room. Still, the cats had to look for their personal space and that's not an easy thing to do, especially when there is no much empty space.
As usual, the pink box and blue box were sprayed on...massively.
It took Tabs a whole 24 hours before she "found" her space again.
Cow started spraying the very next day. It was back to square one. But at least I could easily wipe the tiles now.
My friend, Megaa, so kindly offered to give me her extra Feliway diffuser to try (thank you so much, Megaa!). Megaa came all the way just to give it to me.
I plugged it in to try. It would be great if it worked.
The verdict: Day One - no effect yet, Cow continued spraying. But I'm not giving up, of course. After all, I have nothing to lose. Megaa said all of them should be "calmer" and more relaxed. I have not noticed that yet...not yet. Bunny was still picking fights with Tabs and Indy.
Everyone has not quite found their own space yet. This must be quite stressful for them.
I'm now thinking if I should have shelves made, but again, where? Cow & Bunny would stand on them and spray and that would be quite a nightmare as well. Maybe we could bring back the Ikea shelf that we moved out earlier. It's still outside the house now. Pole and Cleo used to love sitting on the topmost shelf where they felt safe. It was like their "throne". Yes, I might just do that, otherwise, the mother and daughter seem very lost without their elevated spaces. But Cow & Bunny would spray on that shelf again and it would be massive cleaning up as it's wooden. How now, brown Cow?
We miss our old place and our old smells...
This IS your old place, Cleo.
On Monday, when my new table comes in, it would be an adjustment process all over again...But at least, I will move back in with them. I hope that would bring back some familiarity.
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