The Ancient One has now reached the point where he will blissfully pee or poop on fresh bedding a few moments after it’s been laid out. I am doing a minimum of three loads of laundry a day in a household of two people because I have to wash all of his soiled bedding, not to mention the cushions when he somehow manages to scrunch up the pee pad and tag them.

So we’re trying something new. I’ve just washed both of the cushion sets on the futon and I’ve applied a large plastic tarp over them, tucking the ends of the tarp under the cushions. The pee pads now rest on the tarp, and the bedding on the pee pads (yes, I could just have him sleep directly on the pee pads but he’s old, it’s gotten nippy here, and I don’t want him to risk catching a chill) so hopefully the cushions and the futon seat itself should remain protected from his overactive bladder.

And yes, his vet knows about this, has stated that sometimes old cats do this because they have dementia (which we already know J.J. has), and as long as he’s not showing any signs of discomfort there’s nothing really that we can do about this except cover things with plastic and wash his bedding as needed.

Which is what we’ll do. And once he crosses the Rainbow Bridge I’ll be dousing everything on the futon in My Pet Peed to discourage the rest of the J Crew from commemorate Uncle J.J. by following in his footsteps. In the meantime, I have laundry to do and an old cat to pet.