Boyfriend v. Kitty

I have written about my attention whore of a cat before, but at the request of a reader I’d like to take a moment elaborate on yesterday’s “training my boyfriend and my cat to coexist is going to be an uphill battle” comment.

I’d like to first point out that Boyfriend loves animals. However, owning pets does not quite fit in with his obsessively clean, borderline OCD personality. So the following items have been constant issues since the three of us moved in together:

• Kitty sometimes darts from one end of the condo to another – This causes Boyfriend to freak and examine the brand new hardwood floors for scratches.
• Boyfriend then suggests getting Kitty declawed – This causes me to freak, because I think declawing cats is incredibly horrible and mean.
• Kitty lounges peacefully on Boyfriend’s couch, contentedly kneading the leather – Boyfriend does not appreciate all the tiny scratches and holes in his couch this is causing.
• Boyfriend hates the idea of a litter box, but this is obviously unavoidable with an indoor cat – I’m attempting to clean said litter box on a daily basis.
• Even though the litter box is always clean, I can’t seem to stop Kitty from tracking litter all over the condo – Boyfriend (obviously) hates this.
• Boyfriend will not allow Kitty to sleep on our bed, because she leaves fur all over the bedding – However, Kitty is used to sleeping on the bed with me.
• Kitty has since been locked out of the bedroom at night – This causes her to cry, scratch at the door, and cause mischief all night… Boyfriend is not pleased (we’ve even found litter tracked up on top of our brand new dining room table… eek!)
• Kitty has managed to completely tear up Boyfriend’s area rug, using it as a scratching post – I think she does this during her midnight mischief.
• Boyfriend is constantly threatening to throw Kitty off the deck – This annoys me to no end and has caused me to start throwing back nasty comments at Boyfriend (who I generally adore).

However, apart from these general annoyances, I think Boyfriend generally likes having Kitty around. Kitty is very talkative and the two of them sometimes have quite animated conversations. Kitty also appears to like Boyfriend more than she likes me, often choosing his lap over mine when we’re lounging on the couch. It’s just all those bothersome “cat behaviors” that I’m going to have to figure out. So far, I’ve done the following:

• Researched how to trim a cat’s claws (have not gotten around to actually doing it yet).
  Purchased a cat bed, which we now place at the foot of our own bed and have trained Kitty to sleep in it (thereby alleviating midnight mischief and meowing).
• Set up a scratching box thing (not working at all, need to purchase an actual scratching post ASAP).
• Bought a “litter box rug” that supposedly catches litter as Kitty exits the box (not absolutely sure this is working yet, but it seems to be at least helping).
• Threatened to leave Boyfriend if he mentions throwing Kitty off deck one more time (I wish he thought I was serious).

Bottom line: Kitty needs to start cooperating. Frankly, she’s completely spoiled and has no idea how good she has it. I rescued her from the Humane Society for a life indoors eating all the food she wants. I even clean up after her when she shits… can you imagine a better life? I think a little appreciation is in order. Also, both Kitty and Boyfriend need to take a little lesson in, “Can’t we just all get along?”