When I went away last Wednesday to attend the ministers' retreat and our annual district meeting, I did what I could think of to protect the house, including sparkling clean litter boxes and a tarp over the bed to make it less inviting to little urethras. And when I came home, there was no reek and no yellow stains anywhere I could see, so I was somewhat consoled.
But I called my friend Susan, the cat whisperer, to ask for her help. She told me to get Max checked out for a bladder infection, which I have scheduled for this morning since the vet was not open yesterday. And she will come over tomorrow to get acquainted with the cats and see what she thinks. My theory is that he is somehow marking his territory and trying to discourage the other cats from encroaching, but we'll see what she thinks and what the exam shows.
In other news, it was great to see Hafidha over at "Never Say Never" briefly at the Annual General Meeting! We didn't have much of a chance to talk, but there she was and we at least got in a hug. She is beautiful!
Our ministers' meeting was in conjunction with our LREDA colleagues, the directors of religious education, and whereas such meetings have been fraught, in the past, with tension because of the attitude of some former ministers toward those "lesser" professional roles, this meeting was exciting and productive. I think we have made great strides in recognizing that our DREs are religious professionals with responsibilities as important as ministers' responsibilities. This is a major shift in attitude and I'm glad to see it.
Of course, it could be that our topic, "Classism", was an eye-opener to the ways in which we unconsciously sort people out according to class, and DREs have typically been assigned to a lower class, professionally, because so many of them work only parttime, work only with children and youth, and are seen as expendable when money is tight. I suspect I wasn't the only one who noticed that this classification process goes on in ministry as well!
In any case, the topic was timely and uncomfortable-----and very good for us! I'm certainly better informed, more sensitive, and embarking on a process of self-critique in this area.
4 comments:
Another possibility to check into is that some cats just aren't into literboxes. Our feral rescue, Laurie, (the object of several anecdotes on my blog) is one such- she just would not use a litterbox, period. Another of our cats became that way in her old age, suspected senility. Also, some cats won't use the clean box if they feel sick. We bought those "piddle pads" that are used to train puppies- they are plastic on the back, and absorbent paper on the top, kind of like a disposable diaper, and available at any pet store. Just lay them on the floor near the litterbox. Both cats understood their purpose immediately, and that was the end of all accidents! Try two pads, too- Laurie will piddle on one, and #2 on the other, never mixing uses. They are strange beasts...
That's really good advice, Joel. He's always been good about using the litterbox, but I haven't always been good about keeping it scooped, either. I'm going to add a daily scooping to my schedule. And I'm going to get some piddle pads, to see if they help.
It was so good to see you, too! I still can't get over how excited I was. My brains got all wiggly. Thank you for the hug!
One of these days, Hafidha, if we have a chance, I hope we can get better acquainted. I'd enjoy that.
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