The writing on the wall

Or better yet, the poop in the sink.

Sweet little Twist had to go live in the barn.  Sadly, she began showing all the hallmarks of being a chronic litter box problem cat.

First there was the diarrhea in our bed overnight.  I get it, she's young, accidents happen.  But when I got up to take her back to her room she then also peed in the bed.  Strike one and two.

Then we witnessed her peeing in the bathroom sink.  Strike three.  We proceeded to take her directly to her litter box every time we saw her in the sink. We tried to keep door closed.

A week or so later I caught her pooping in the other bathroom sink.  Strike four.  We limited all access to sinks and basically shut off as much of the house as possible and kept them confined to a bedroom most of the time.

She had a round of diarrhea last week.  Not her fault, but she pooped next to the box (and not in it) no less than four times during this episode.  Strike five.

She does not cover her urine or stool when she does use the box.  Strike six.

We have been down this road before and quite frankly we are not willing to live like that again.  It wasn't fair to the cat or to us and really ruined our relationship with her.  I know the risks of an outside cat but I'd rather have an outside cat I still like than one that's ruining our house and everyone's quality of life.

Of course we are keeping her crated most of the time at first and letting her adjust.  This afternoon she got to spend several hours out with us and seems to be happy and adjusting well.  And I must say that the 24 hours since we have put her outside have been so much less stressful.

This one shows a little sneak peek of our new deck project.

Meanwhile Twix is turning into a lovely house cat, at least so far!  They don't seem to mind being separated and are both finding ways to entertain themselves.

Barney seems to be the only one disgruntled over this, but he seems to be getting over it.