03/12/2018 – The Finer Points of Our Routine

Going over the finer details of our cat routine that we posted about back at the end of Febrary, before Quint became our highest priority, we’ve included here some reasoning and stuff you probably didn’t want to know but it’s here anyway.

Our Routine – The Long Version

Every morning, seven days a week and well before dawn, Dad gets up and feeds our three* wet diet food cats – Sunny, Miss Newton, and Ruby. Sunny and Miss Newton are usually howling down in the kitchen already, making it easier for Dad to get up long before his alarm clock goes off. He likes it that way, saying he gets more done the earlier he gets up.

Sunny at her feeder – © Colehauscats.com

Ruby, who lives in the closed master bedroom with us, is usually snuggling with Mom. Ruby always has some of her wet diet food dinner left over from the night before. Plus, she’s a night owl and isn’t fond of early mornings.

Morning snuggler Ruby – © Colehauscats.com

All our cats use SureFlap/SureFeed microchip-activated feeders which keep nosy noses out of wet diet food and wet diet food eaters out of kibble. All kibble feeders (only three two contain kibble) are filled each night before bed. Tessa, Pia, Quint, Olivia, and Viola eat kibble. Tessa and Viola eat any left over wet diet food from the night before. Pia, Quint, and Olivia despise all wet food.

When Mom is up and comes downstairs a little later, four cats rush into the kitchen and mill about waiting for Mom to say the magic phrase.

“Who wants a snack?”

Sunny, Pia, Tessa, and Viola rush to their own special spots to sit and wait for a few pieces of “special” kibble: Sunny on the floor in front of the cabinet, Pia next to the kitchen island, Tessa up on the counter, naturally, by the sink, and Viola on top of the island at the southwestern corner. The other three corners just won’t cut it. It MUST be the farthest left corner. And she has to be up on the island because sister Tessa is up on the counter. *sigh*

Gimme that snack! – © Colehauscats.com

Wellness kibble is the “special” kibble dry food we hope to transition all kibble eaters to later this year from Iams Pro Health kibble. Wellness has lower phosphorus and sodium levels and though we’d really, REALLY like to get everyone on a Wellness wet food diet, three two Colehaus Cats absolutely will not touch wet food. It’ll be a tough switch for them but we’ll get there eventually.

Wet food. Ugh – © Colehauscats.com

After everyone has had breakfast and their “snacks,” Dad cleans all the litter boxes and Mom goes outside to put out feral food and squirrel food, and checks the feeding stations, the feral shelter area, and the entire backyard for anything amiss or anyone new. Sometimes, late night raccoons are still lumbering through the yard, stopping for a last drink from our fountain, on their way down to their sleeping den under the deck of the house behind us. Often, one or two of the neighbor’s cats are waiting for kibble in the feeding stations, and almost always, groups of Stellar Jays are waiting in the big Arborvitae to steal nuts from the squirrel feeder. Someday, Mom hopes to befriend one and in a move that would make Snow White proud, get it to hop onto her hand. And then, it’ll probably poop on her. Oh, the things Ms. White never told us…

Early morning visitor – © Colehauscats.com

During the day, Mom checks the feeders and cleans up spilled food on the SureFlap feeder mats. This is often needed multiple times because Miss Newton, while looking like a dainty, little, seven pound girl, is in real life a complete and utter slob. Sunny comes in as a close second. Mom also redistributes any leftover wet food at the back of the SureFlap dishes to the front so it can be easily reached and eaten.

Sweet Miss Newton – © Colehauscats.com

Depending on how the laminate floors look days after our usual Sunday vacuuming – we have off-white maple-grain flooring, Mom vacuums the entire house again either on Tuesday or Wednesday, sometimes pushing it out until Thursday which she always regrets but that’s what she gets if she can’t settle on a second vacuuming day.

Some days, depending on how much is eaten between breakfast and noon, Sunny will get an extra half can of something, sometimes Wellness minced turkey (her favorite), sometimes Fancy Feast because she lost over a pound during her double UTI adventure last month and we’re still working on her regaining that pound.

Around six in the evening, Dad repeats the morning feedings and hours later, just before bedtime, cleans the litter boxes again. Then, it’s play and brushie time.

Bedtime Brushies for all – © Colehauscats.com

Sunday, every Sunday, is deep cleaning day. From top to bottom, everything in the house is cleaned, wiped, picked up after, and/or vacuumed. Then, all floors are steam mopped, and during all this, the washing machine and dryer are going with load after load of blankets, coverings, and towels.

And that is it. Obviously, medications, when needed**, are doled out and ear cleanings are done every other month or so as is nail clipping. What fun that is.

But no, we don’t run our lives around our cats. Really, we don’t. Why would you think that?

* With the addition of Quint after his health scare, now four wet food eaters.
** Quint’s three-times-per-day medication routine starts at 7 a.m. and ends at 10 p.m.

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Lastly, Tessa wants everyone to know she’s not a fan of our daylight savings time change.

Grumpy Tessa – © Colehauscats.com

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A Colehaus Cats flashback:

2017 – No post
2016 – No post
2015 – No post
2014 – Worry and Wonder
2013 – Ruby Tuesdays
2012 – All Greens Belong to Zooot