When My Fur Babies are Demanding

I love my fur babies, but sometimes they jump up and down on my last nerve. Tuesday night was one of those times. I have one dog and one cat. Old and set in their ways, they behaved worse than toddlers that night.

I was late getting home from work because I had to run by the big box store for something. Therefore, I didn’t get home until around 6:30 p.m., and I had a writing-related webinar that started at 7:00 p.m. I’d been looking forward to that webinar all day.

It was trash day, so our trashcan was smack dab in the middle of the mouth of our driveway. Moving the empty receptacle from the curb back to the garage in record time, I raced into the house to let Taco, my fierce tiny dog, outside. While he was taking care of his business, I filled the cat and dog dishes with food, noting they still had plenty of water.

I started a load of laundry and dashed into the study to boot up my computer. Then I let Taco back inside, grabbed a boiled egg and some cheese from the fridge (healthy dinner, I know), and closed myself in my study to watch my webinar with three minutes to spare.

Sounds efficient, right? Not so much.

The moment the author began speaking, Taco lost his mind. Barking and scratching at the study door, he refused to be ignored. So I let him in and put an afghan on the floor for him. I even gave him a little piece of my cheese to keep him quiet.

Taco Saying I Don’t Need a Webinar

It didn’t work. He wouldn’t settle down unless I held him. It’s quite difficult to take notes while holding a wriggling Chihuahua, so I put him back in the living room and closed the door. His fit continued.

I had no choice. I put him outside in the backyard where he stopped barking in favor of sniffing every blade of grass. My backyard is fenced in, and the evening was nice. I knew he’d be fine for a while.

By the time I returned to my webinar, I’d missed a fair portion of it. I was just starting to jot down some notes when Apollo, my oversized lap cat, began banging on the study door.

I love that cat, but there’s no way I’m letting him stay in the study with me during a webinar. He would have made it impossible to learn anything because he is pushiest feline I’ve ever met. If I’m not rubbing on him, he’s batting his head against my hand and letting me know about it.

Apollo Explaining He’s the King

I once again left my webinar, about which I’d been so excited, to deal with a fur baby. I gave Apollo a couple of treats, patted his head, told him I loved him, and closed myself back in the study.

Approximately ten minutes later, Taco started raising Cain outside. Because I’m a good neighbor, I couldn’t let him stay out there disturbing everyone with his ruckus. I let him back inside and gave him a treat to gnaw while I tried to salvage whatever was left of the presentation playing to a currently empty room.

I returned to my webinar about the time the author thanked everyone for watching and offered us all a discount on some online classes. I missed nearly the entire thing because my fur babies refused to leave me alone. Thankfully, she promised to email everyone a link to a recording of her presentation, which I haven’t received yet.

Frustrated and exhausted, I shut my computer down and returned to my living room. That’s when the smell hit me. Apollo had peed somewhere. Cat pee is unmistakable, and it didn’t take me long to find it.

I dealt with that mess, my stress level much higher than is healthy. Then I sat down with a glass of iced herbal tea to try to find my zen. I was finally prepared to give my dog and cat the attention they’d been so vehemently demanding.

Before I could even scratch one of them behind the ears, I felt something soak through my britches. I was sitting in dog pee. They both got mad at me and peed because I had other things to do besides love on them.

This is the point where the younger me would have yelled at them, which would have done absolutely no good. With age has come wisdom. They’re both in the twilight of their lives, and Taco is terminally ill. Yelling would only have served to elevate my blood pressure. So, I told them they were both bad and set to work.

It took a while to get everything cleaned up. By that point, I’d had enough stress for one day and went to bed.

Fur babies enrich our lives in many ways. They can also push us to the very brink of madness.

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