Pi’s Room

Until yesterday I have been ashamed of the condition of the upstairs guest room. But after receiving an email from my San Diego cousin with photos showing the destruction some pets do while their owners are away, I decided my cat’s efforts (see photo) are worth a blog post. They represent months of work and, in my view, surpass many of the messes attributed in the photos to a series of guilty-looking dogs and one pair of large tri-colored cats.

Obviously Pi’s nails should be trimmed. Or maybe not. He’s an indoor-outdoor cat and needs his claws for protection, climbing trees, hunting, and patrolling the Mud Bay shoreline.

If I can catch him, I keep him inside at night and whenever I’m away from home for more than a few hours. He has a sturdy rope-covered scratching post downstairs. It gives him a good workout, but apparently is forgotten when he retreats upstairs for a nap in the guest room. He wakes up, he’s alone, he shreds the bedding.

To help furnish the guest room I bought a “bed in a bag” at a local department store. It came with everything to make up a double bed: sheets, pillowcases, a comforter, pillow shams, and bed skirts. At the price I paid, the comforter was filled with fiber instead of down. I felt like a cheapskate at the time although my buying decision looks brilliant now. I saved money, the mess in the room is more eye catching, and fiber will be easier to clean up than thousands of tiny goose feathers if a guest needs to stay there.

In a liberating move I am embracing the mess and sharing it with others who may also be secretly ashamed of the destruction their pets have caused. The guest room will be known from now on as Pi’s Room.

Back to my cousin’s email. I think Pi’s mess competes well against the messes shown in the photos. And he was mostly up against dogs. The winner (if I were judging) ripped down most of the wallpaper and some of the sheetrock near his [owner’s] front door. Second place would go to a rottweiler who destroyed a small pet door that looks like it was designed for a daschund. I’m biased, but I think Pi’s Room would come in a strong third.

All the two cats could manage was to knock over an aloe vera plant although the pot did break. I bet their owner didn’t name a room after them.