Sh** Happens ... Literally

It’s been an interesting 24 hours. Wait, interesting isn’t the right word. More like exhausting, exacerbating, mind-blowing. I have plenty more adjectives that fit how I'm feeling, but I digress.

Yesterday, my husband and I threw caution to the wind and treated ourselves to a 15-minute dip in the pool. It was 42 degrees celsius with the humidex … and we don’t have central air. We have a window air conditioner in the main bedroom, which, at the best of times, struggles to maintain a reasonable temperature of 22 degrees. 

It’s an acceptable temp for the little furballs. So I set up the gates, I put down the pee pads on one end, and the crate on the other end. They had toys and water. And they were peacefully resting together in their bed.

“Fifteen minutes will be fine,” I thought to myself. I mean, how much trouble can they get into in such a short time? Well … let me tell you.

After 15 minutes on the dot, we came back into the condo and I headed straight into the bedroom where we left the kids. 

The thunder rolls

It looked like a sh** storm raged through the playpen. The pee pads were all torn up and strewn about as though a tornado had passed through. In the corner were the remains of what would otherwise be a harmless poop. Whoever was responsible at least used the pad!

Unfortunately, they proceeded to wrestle in it. They were covered in sh**. The carpet was covered in sh**. The toys and the bed were covered in sh**. It was a sh** storm of epic proportions.

So we picked up the kids one at a time, bathed them, and then I sent them outside to the lanai with my husband to dry them (and keep them out of my way) as I cleaned up the mess. 

Ew.

But that was just one small moment yesterday afternoon.

The eye of the storm

After a relatively easy night (emphasizing the term “relatively” since it is all relative), I awoke to the kids asking to be let out of the night time crate. They were ready to play and eat breakfast. No problem.

Into the living room pen they go, where they also have pee pads, water, toys and a bed. This routine has worked well for the past 2 weeks. Until today. Turns out, night time was just the eye of the storm.

I turned my back for no more than 5 minutes (to prep their breakfast) and I returned to find the second half of the sh** storm had just blown through.

This time there were two poops -- both on the pads (well done, kids!). But again, they decided a mud-wrestling session was in order. 

I couldn’t believe my eyes. My first thought? What the hell am I doing wrong?! My second thought … why are they suddenly so keen on rolling in their own sh**?!

An answer to either question wasn’t going to help. The reality was, it happened. Clean up time. Same deal -- wash, dry, clean carpet. And all this before 6am. 

It’s a learning curve. A steep one.

Live 'n learn

These are my takeaways from the past 24 hours:

• They’re just babies -- and technically, they did the right thing by going on the pads.
• I take full responsibility for leaving them alone -- even if it was for a short 15 minutes. It was 15 minutes too long.
• They need to go potty within 2 minutes of being awake. Not 5 minutes, not 10 minutes. Instantly. And they need to be supervised.
• Don’t leave them in a carpeted area. Duh.

Here's my new strategy (I’ll let you know how it goes):

• I’ve set up the playpen on the tile floor just outside the kitchen. If there’s a mess, it’ll be easy to clean.
• The playpen is sectioned off with a door to the potty area. My hope is that they’ll do their business then come back out to wrestle. We’ll see.
• Any time I need to leave them alone for more than 5 minutes, they go into the locked crate. Period.

Live cam …

I believe my biggest mistake was giving them too much freedom too fast. I thought they’d be able to handle it. Now I realize it was me that wanted them to handle it. To be grown up enough to handle it. That’s on me. They’re barely 10 weeks old, after all.

And now I’ll return to my trusted Google bots to help find some more solutions that not only keep my fur-babies safe and happy, but might just make my life a touch easier, too.

Have some suggestions for me? Please share! 

If you haven’t yet signed up to follow the journey of Roxy & Chance, do it now! You don’t want to miss a moment of this crazy adventure!

Until next time … 

Out of the mouths of buggs

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