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Who Pooped in the Crawl Space? Blue’s Act of Defiance

Amanda Lin Profile Picture

By Amanda Lin

Amanda and Blue on the couch

Hi, I’m Amanda! Read my introduction to learn more about me and Blue, my fluffy fire point Himalayan-Persian cat.

Anyone with pets understands the struggle of cleaning the occasional mess. Not a cat hair or catnip type of mess. Not a shredded toy or spilled house plant kind of drama. At Catster, we often refer to these specific situations as the three P’s – puke, poop, and pee, in case you needed a hand putting the pieces together. Apologies for the TMI that is about to follow.

Rewind

This situation requires a little past context before we can dive into the nitty gritty of today. Winter time, especially over Christmas, is an extraordinarily busy part of the year for us. The time we usually spend at home is now distributed over a wealth of new activities. Sledding, visiting Santa, parties, concerts, shoveling an exorbitant amount of snow, and then rolling it into a fleet of snowmen, chairs, castles, and balls. Wash, rinse, repeat. While enjoyable to the majority in our home, our pets unfortunately are not as keen on winter or the time lost with their humans. Although we do as much as we can to make Blue feel as included and loved as possible, there are days that bedtime seems to be the only chance we get to connect.

Blue is an expressive cat. You’ll know when she’s happy, grumpy, disinterested, or craving attention. When she’s not quite herself, it’s apparent. Blue’s been a little more needy these past few weeks.

close up of Blue

Litter-ly No Mess

On the days I was sifting the litter box, I was starting to notice that there was little-to-no waste inside the bin. My husband claims to scoop daily, so I chalked this up to him being extremely diligent, but when I mentioned this to him, surprisingly he had noticed this as well. I know how much this girl eats; there’s no way she’s going a few days without pooping. Curious, of course, but we didn’t read much into it at the time.

A few weeks passed, and despite frequent litter changes and completely disinfecting Blue’s litter corner, this part of our basement had a lingering odor I could not get rid of. In a fit of frustration, I began tearing the entire laundry room apart in hopes of finding the source and eradicating the smell. What I found was a secret entrance into our crawl space where Blue evidently had been sneaking in to do her business.

I wish I could say it was a single turd, that the crawl space is easily accessible, and that cleaning the area would be a simple house chore. It is none of these things. The space is poorly lit, there are mounds of dookie everywhere, and it’s a breeding ground for my least-favorite, eight-legged pets who are here against my will. An army crawl is the only feasible position to navigate this tight ground-dwelling room.

Blue walking on the carpet

S.O.S.

Instead of creating a plan of action for cleansing the space, I boarded it up. Nailed the entire thing shut with packing boxes and some screws. Thankfully, this proved to be a bandaid fix for the smell and has eliminated any risks of Blue returning to add to her current collection.

I’ve had a weekend to think about a solution. I’m looking at a porous concrete foundation with untreated wooden joists. Of course, I won’t know the extent of the damage until I get down there, but I have come to terms with the project that lies ahead. My hazmat suit, poop bags, enzyme cleaners, rubber gloves, and safety glasses are all ready when I am. Just need to find some courage.

mask, rubber gloves, safety glasses, and hazmat suit

Pet ownership has many perks but requires serious commitment and comes with many responsibilities and sometimes real honest-to-goodness hardships. If you follow Blue’s journey, you’ll know this isn’t her first run-in with the crawl space. This one happens to be far worse. However, we know we must be more attentive in these moments. Life will always be busy, but making time for every single member of our family is the priority. Am I mad at Blue? Yes. Gross. Will I hold it against her? Never, not in a million years.

Update

This is going to be anti-climactic if you came here hoping to see pictures of the poop pile, but I was in such a heightened state – small, dark space, littered with cobwebs and tiny spiders – that photos were the last thing on my brain. As soon as I was free, I ripped off my sweat-soaked suit and waited for my eyes and brain to come off the high that was a chaotic mix of adrenaline, bleach, and enzyme cleaner. Let me tell you, though, I filled a kitchen garbage bag half full of turds. It was insane how much was down there. I am happy to report that I properly barricaded the space from the inside, so there should be a zero percent chance of any repeat poop-scapades. Luckily, I have a cute picture of my boys, who cheered me on from the outside, dressed in their matching hazmat suits instead.

Amanda's sons dressed in their matching hazmat suits

How does your cat react to changes in their environment, especially when it involves disrupting the normal, day-to-day interactions you have? Has your cat ever created an impossible mess for you to clean?

This article is a part of Amanda and Blue's series.

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Amanda Lin Profile Picture

Authored by

Amanda and her beautiful Himalayan Persian mix Blue are avid product advisors for Hepper and bask in the luxury of getting to work alongside each other every single day! After a long day, the two spend their time cozied up with the rest of their family; Amanda's husband, two tiny humans and a chi named Subi...Read more

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