I got up and made some coffee and fed the cats. My one cat was meowing to go out, but since the dog was already barking I told him he had to wait. The cat continued to meow and I figured he had to go to the bathroom so I began to get dressed to take him out anyway. I gathered my coffee and cell phone and began to head downstairs but didn't get very far. When I set my foot on the top step I heard a squish. The cat had already peed right at the top of the top of the stairs. So I spent the next hour soaking up as much pee as possible with paper towels, cleaning the area with cold water and soaking and respraying the area with an enzyme cleaner...and cleaning my left Birkenstock.
In defence of my cat, he usually doesn't have such problems because he's used to being allowed to go outside. He doesn't like to use the litter boxes, but in the past he's always been able to go out first thing in the morning to take care of business, then comes back in to have his breakfast. He's never out after dark, but I used to let him out peridically during the day and after dinner. When he's out I check on him often and he is usually under a shrub sleeping or watching the yard. Occasionally he wanders into a neighbors yard to check out the shurbs and rodents but if I don't see him when I look outside I go out immediately to find him and he always comes to me when I call him. I've talked to all of my neighbors on our block about my cat, they have my phone number and I've told them to let me know immediately if the cat is causing a problem and I'll collect him and repair any damages or clean up any messes. In the 8 years I've had the cat (not including the year I forced him to be an indoor only cat) none of the neighbors have called to complain about him, nor said anything about him being a problem when I've periodically asked them face to face.
However, since I've complained about their dog barking, out of revenge and hatefulness Mrs. Sociopath Barking Dog Neighbor threatened to trap my cat and send him to the shelter so I haven't been letting him out on this own, and he's only been able to go out when I take him for supervised walks in the yard. These walks, while he seems to enjoy them, are never long enough for him and he often doesn't take care of business before I'm ready to come back inside even though I try to hold out until he does. A big problem right now is the heavy pollen in the air which bothers my eyes and sinuses, which I'm sure some of you can relate to. That is, of coure, beside the problem of having to sneak around so Harley doesn't hear or see me and start barking at me like I'm an intruder, and recently the other 2 dogs have started in on treating me like an intruder, although they don't carry on nearly as much as Harley does.
So on top of the 2+ years we've been forced to listen to Harley barking through out the whole house, day & night, and being ferociously barked at like intruders in our own yard, I have the added stress of a stressed out cat and cat pee in the house and the worry about him being harmed if he gets frisky and runs into the neighbor's yard when I take him outside. The other day he peed in the kitchen by the trash can; yesterday I found cat pee in my laundry basket and today at the top of the stairs. The cat doesn't know why he's being forced to stay inside. All he knows is that he usually gets to go outside where he does his business, in his own yard...and doesn't make any noise.
Of course, the installation of this cat enclosure will cause more problems with my bully barking dog neighbors. Our driveway is U-shaped and travels up from the street on both sides of our property around the back of our house, and our neighbors on both sides use part of our driveways to pull into their own parking areas rather than use their own driveways. Both neighbors have a lot more traffic going in and out than we do (we just have one car and few visitors) but we we've maintained the whole driveway ourselves, all the way around. To keep the peace we've never complained about this. Prior to all this mind shattering dog barking, we tolerated a lot to keep the peace around here but that barking became intolerable.
But anyway, the best way for me to set up the Purr...fect Fence is to run it (on the side of the house opposite the barking dog) from the back end of the front porch which wraps around the sides of the house to the corner of the house on the other side of the back door as this will give my cat some shady garden area to hang out in at the side of the house where he can't bee seen by the dog, and some sunny areas at the back of the house, and I can let him right out of the back door (or maybe even install a cat door for him in the window at the side of the house). This will not block the front portion of the drives so the neighbors (including the barking sociopaths) can continue to use them, but fencing will have to come out in back toward the edge of the driveway and will sufficiently block enough of the space between the house and another building on our property to make it impossible for the Sociopath Family to pull their camper/RV around our drive so they can back it into their parking space, which they've been doing for years because they can't seem to get it in any other way. I didn't really like them doing this as it would tear up a tree and vines on one side of the curve, but to keep the peace I just let it go. There is no other way to attach this fencing to the back of our house without cutting off the space they require to get their RV around, but at this point in time we don't feel compelled to accommodate their needs any longer, as they thoughtlessly forced us to listen to their shrill barking dog day and night for over 2 years, they continue to awaken me very early in the morning by allowing their dog to bark between 6-6:30 a.m., they've already ruined our neighborly relationship, and they have made us absolutely miserable in our own home with absolutely zero regard for our well-being or comfort. In the past, to be neighborly we've tolerated a lot of crap and did a lot of favors for them, but we owe them nothing so if they are inconvenienced, boo-fucking-hoo.
FYI - I'm not doing this in retaliation because they've ruined my life with their barking dog or for threatening my cat; I really can't afford this cat enclosure and I don't want to be terrorized by these people any more than I already have been because it's too stressful and it's killing me. I can't make that dog stop barking and I can't change his ignorant owners, but I can give my cat a safe enclosure so he can go outside. I just need to be able to let my cat run out of the door and know that my cat is safe while he is outside on his own, like he needs to be. That will be a big weight off my shoulders and reducing my stress is at the top of my list.
P.S. The barking dog owning neighbors should be glad that I can't afford to put up a wooden privacy fence because if I could afford to do it, that fencing would go from either side of the front porch, over to the property line on both sides, which would totally cut off their side of our driveway, and all the way around the whole back yard. That way I could work in the gardens at the side of the house and in the back yard without being barked at, and the cat would have the whole back yard as his safe territory. However, the estimate for the wooden fencing alone is just under $9500 (large yard) and the Purr...fect Fence cat proofing attachment for an existing fence would run about $2360. If I put up the wooden privacy fence with cat proofing around only half the yard it would still run a good $5930 and I can't put that much on my credit card.
