Because A Gallbladder Isn't Enough of a Project

I just realized I'm writing about this on Friday the 13th. It's a good thing I'm not superstitious, because otherwise I am pretty sure I'd be freaked out about jinxing this.

So for lo these last 12 days of 2017, you've been reading about our doctor visits and medical tests, and it probably would lead you to think that the mere juggling of such adventures would be project enough for us right now. But we're the Shaffers, so you'd be wrong about that.

Ryan actually had a project lined up for these mid-winter months, but it requires a bit of manual labor, so it's been delayed in light of the gallbladder debacle. But the delay of one project merely makes room for another project, and if you listened to this week's podcast, you already heard what the filler project is.

Because we talked about it on the podcast, Ryan didn't think it was really blog-worthy material, but I disagree for two reasons. One, I use this blog as a reference point when I go back to write the story of our life, and it would be a true travesty to not include this piece of Shafferland history in full detail. Two, pictures are worth a thousand words, right? And pictures don't blend well with podcasts. So this is indeed blog-worthy.

So if you missed the big announcement, here it is: Ryan has decided to potty-train Braeya.

Braeya? How do you feel about this new adventure?

 About like I figured.

To clarify, Braeya is potty-trained in the manner that cats are generally expected to be potty-trained. She turns eleven in May, and she came to live with me when she was just six weeks old. She learned about the litter box the first day she joined our family, and the only time I ever recall her not using it was that brief stint after we moved to Kokomo without consulting her for her opinion, and she paid us back by christening every square inch of the closet in the office.

Though I'd be hard-pressed to say she apologized (or felt remorse in any way) for that choice, she did change her ways, and we changed the flooring.

We moved her litter box into the guest bathroom, bought an aesthetically pleasing box that conceals it, and that pretty much catches you up to last week.

And that is when Ryan reached his saturation point (see what I did there??) with the litter box. In the division of household chores, he took on the maintenance of the litter box, which I'd like to point out was his choice, not my insistence, and he's tired of sweeping up superfluous litter from the bathroom floor, replacing the air freshener, and cleaning out the box itself.

So he began to research (because of course!!) his options on actually toilet training cats. He read reviews, watched YouTube videos, and came to me with his pitch.

I appreciate that he always brings a pitch to me before making a purchase, because it makes me feel like we really are a team, but I know when we've reached pitch-level that literally hours of research have already been invested, and let's face it: he's employed and I'm not. So if he wants to make a purchase, I'm not going to stand in the way.

He informed me that you can purchase an actual kit to use in toilet training cats. And to save time on explaining the level of research that had gone into this decision, he led with, "It was on Shark Tank." Done. Good enough for me.

So he ordered the kit and promptly sat down to have a talk with Braeya. Preparation, he called it. He talked with her at length about why we were doing this and his expectations on her application to learning new tricks. How YouTube showed it was possible for cats - even old cats - to learn new things.

(Her thoughts.)

He further informed her that we had already completed phase one of this adventure, because phase one involved moving the litter box to the bathroom and ours was already there.

PHASE TWO!!!

And so it was that I woke up the next morning and the litter box had migrated from inside its aesthetically pleasing box to the top of the toilet. And because he has compassion on the aging joints of a 10 year old cat, he'd brought in a folding chair to help her get inside.

It was at this point that I asked my role in this project, because while I appreciated his enthusiasm, the truth is that he goes to work, and I'm the stay at home mom monitoring the potty-training on a daily basis. He assured me I could handle it.

So we've been in phase two for a week. It's best described as "it gets worse before it gets better." Not because she's missing the box. On the contrary, she leaps gracefully from the floor to the chair to the box, and I have a picture to prove it, but it seems mean to post it to the world wide web. But when she leaps gracefully out, she does so spraying litter like confetti all around the bathroom.

I asked Ryan if we were pausing before advancing to phase three because of his upcoming surgery, but he looked at me like that was just crazy talk. Pause? When phases one and two have gone so well?

And when phase three has arrived in the mail?

That is how we have come to be the first couple in America (I'm sure) to potty-train a ten year old cat while convalescing on gallternity leave.

Stay tuned. You won't want to miss it. And let's hope she doesn't.