Day Care

Reluctantly, we made our way from Gunnison yesterday to Loveland. We arrived in the late afternoon at DM RV Repair. Owners Don (The "D") and Mary Ann (The "M") welcomed us and graciously offered a space for us to hook up the moose and get a good night's sleep before things really got going this morning.

Today's forecast in Loveland wasn't pleasant. The forecast highs were into the upper 90s.  On a day when our moose was expected to go hours without AC we were faced with an important challenge: What to do with our cats?

Anyway you looked at it, the outlook for any being to survive, much less thrive, in our rolling home today was poor, at best. With temps in the upper 90s and the Front Range sun a blazing, the mercury inside an AC-less Bullwinkle was projected to approach or top the century mark.

And, life inside our mighty Jeep didn't look much more promising today.

So, today, we looked for alternatives.

After a quick online evaluation of feline day care facilities, today's winner became obvious. It was five minutes away, the folks were oh-so-pleasant when we called in to inquire, and they had space available today for our feline friends to hang out in cool comfort today.

Done deal.

So, after checking in with the good people who had the power to restore cooling power to our moose, we crated up the cats for their first-ever kitty day care experience.

We drove up, met the lovely people, handed over our critters and asked ourselves this question.

What parents in their right mind would hand over their nine-year-old children to complete strangers?

Scary!

The good news is it all felt right. With clear kitty parent consciences we headed out to kill way too much time in Loveland.

We went to Target, and Bed Bath and Beyond, and Smashburger (Yum!) and Super Cuts and TCBY and JAX (a place we'd never heard of) and Kohl's and we even checked out our egress out of town tomorrow.

Yes, we were definitely killing time. And, when it comes to that we don't do it very well.

We went back to the shop and checked in on our progress. Things were moving slowly. But, they were moving.

With our pick-up deadline looming, we checked in with our tech. Everything was coming together. By 6 o'clock, everything would be wrapped up. We made a quick dash to the vet center to pick up our babies before the magic hour of six. They seemed happy, well, and a bit wiped out. We so wish they would answer our many questions about how their first-ever day of day care went. Alas, they can't. But, based on their desire to rapidly devour dinner and hang out with their parents, we're assuming it all went well.

At just about six, our heat pump was in place. With an inside temp of 98 degrees, our magical technician Don gave us the go ahead to fire things up. Within 30 minutes, the temp was down to the low 90s. Within an hour, we were into the low 80s. The cats were happy and so were we.

Both compressors are firing. The temperature is dropping. The cats and peeps in our house are definitely happy.

It's been 14 months since our heat pump worked properly. It's been a long, ugly journey. Maybe someday we'll tell the whole ugly story. But, tonight we're just appreciating what we have.

Our heat pump works. Finally.

Kudos to Mary Ann and Don of DM Mobile RV Repair in Loveland for wrestling the "Heat Pump From Hell". At least one Winnebago dealer and folks at the factory couldn't conquer this beast, but DM did. We're so grateful for their skilled craftsmanship and warm hospitality. For all and any of our RVing friends passing along the Front Range, is you need service, these are definitely the folks to call. We're so glad we did!

Three cheers for Coleman, the manufacturers of our heat pump. You folks get a bad rap that isn't always deserved. Thank you so much for stepping up and honoring your factory warranty long after many others would have passed. We really appreciate how you've gone the extra mile.

We have nothing, and I mean nothing, good to say about Winnebago Factory Service through this ordeal. Y'all screwed up. Plain and simple. Enough said.

Finally, after nearly 14 months we have a heat pump that actually works. And, we're so happy.

And, our cats have had their first taste of day care.

Tomorrow, after three completely unexpected months in Colorado, we're heading to Kansas.

Wahoo!

Feliway!

While the peeps in our household have been basking in the splendid isolation of Gunnison (and, it is awesome), it seems that one of our furry friends has suffered some stress.

Our boy kitty has been in a state for the last three days. And, this state has involved a periodic piddle where he shouldn't. When it comes to boy kitties and piddlin', we've learned over the years that it's important to get these things checked out ASAP. So, today we did. 

This morning, we made an afternoon appointment at Tomichi Pet Center here in Gunnison. We loaded up the offending cat and headed off to the unknown (to us, anyway) vet. We received a warm greeting, and after a short wait were escorted to an exam room. The friendly tech and wonderful vet were both Kansas natives. So, we knew we were in good hands. 

With just about all of the possible physical maladies ruled out, the vet suggested that the problem might be behavioral. Actually, she surmised, it sounded like the issue might be territorial. It seems our alpha kitty might just be marking his territory at the threat of passing deer, dogs, cats and whatever other wildlife might pass our way.

And what does one do with such a territorial kitty? The lovely vet suggested Feliway. I had read about it over the years, and was a bit skeptical. But, as the doc explained the science of it all, it suddenly made sense. 

Feliway mimics feline pheromones, which are the things all kitties spread around a place by scratching,  rubbing their faces (and occasionally piddlin') here and there. These pheromones make a kitty's place "theirs". Once everything is appropriately marked, a kitty can kick back and relax, knowing that they have fended off an intrusion by any passing animals. A few sprays of Feliway are supposed to get the job done for any resident kitties, which makes, scratching, rubbing (and occasional piddlin') unnecessary. With their territory artificially marked, resident kitties can get straight to the business of kickin' back and relaxing. 

We gave it a shot. 

Thirty bucks and five strategically placed sprays later, we were absolutely dumbstruck. Our kitties were calm, cool and collected. They were definitely kickin' back and relaxing. 

Actually, our newfound vet has a great word for it. They were "chillaxin'". 

Truth be told, we all were. 

We know it's early. But, so far so good.

Three cheers for Feliway!

Sleeping In

When you wake up to find it's 16 degrees outside and the wind chill is a number you'd rather not think about, there's only one thing to do. You sleep in.

Now that it's nearly noon, we're well-rested and moving around just a bit. But, the big headline for us today isn't the weather. It's our boy kitty. You see, the real news is that he slept in, too.

Cats have amazing internal clocks. For years, our two kitties have known exactly when the clock strikes six. Whether it's AM or PM, that's when they've been fed. And, these kitties need feeding times. If we let them free-feed they'd eat us out of house and home and each weigh 30 pounds. After years of clockwork feeding, our boy kitty recently got out of sync.

We don't remember exactly when it happened, but it may have been back in October or November. We were crossing time zones and came off Daylight Savings Time. And, if that wasn't enough to screw up the poor boy, we spent four nights in a strange hotel where he never really slept. By the time we landed in familiar Kansas City, our boy kitty thought it was completely normal to wake up in the wee hours of the morning and demand to be fed.

When a cat wants to be fed at 3:00 in the morning, they can get pretty creative, and loud. Call us enablers, but after several sleep-deprived nights we caved. We decided that satisfying an out-of-sync feline was worth the risk. Of course, before we knew it, we were feeding the beast at 2:30!

Some quick research revealed that this is not an unique problem. We found some common sense instructions for resetting our boy's internal clock. The basic idea is that when the kitty makes a meow in the wee hours, he gets put into isolation. Our problem, of course, is we don't have a separate room to isolate a cat. The bathroom was a candidate. But, it's too close to our sleeping quarters. And, an isolated kitty tends to cry. Besides, there are times when we need to use that room in the middle of the night!

We chose his crate as the place for solitary confinement. As tempted as we were to park it in the Jeep, we placed it in our rolling home as far away from our bed as possible. At his first peep, one of us scooped him up and into the crate he went. Over the last few weeks, we made steady progress. Yesterday morning the cat was practically putting himself in his crate around 5:00. We could almost hear him say, "Yeah. I know the drill!"

This morning, our boy kitty started to stir around 4:30. We remained motionless (The cat isn't the only one being trained here!) as I said a silent prayer to the patron saint of out-of-sync felines. With the pre-dawn chill providing added incentive for everyone to stay under the covers, he walked up to the head of the bed and sat silently next to me. With my eyes still closed, I reached out to pet him and he laid down. He started to purr.

Next thing I knew, Paul was asking a question.

"Mary, did you feed the cats?"

"Uh, no..." was my groggy reply as I felt the fur of our still sleeping boy.

Paul glanced at the clock.

"It's 7:30!" he exclaimed.

At last! Weeks of training and an Arctic blast have started to pay off. Setbacks may still lie ahead. But, it looks like we are on the right track.

At the very least, we just had our best night's sleep in weeks!

Pit Stop

We get a lot of questions about our cats. How do they travel? What's different from when they lived in a stick and brick house? What have we learned along the way?

The quick answers are: Great, not much and lots!

Our second travel day across Texas was actually a red letter day in this department.

Let me explain.

First off, cats are waaaaaay different than dogs. Dogs love to go for a ride. And, all you have to do is put 'em on a leash and go for a walk and they'll do number 1 and/or 2 practically on command.

With cats, guess what? It's different.

First off, our cats ain't dogs. And, they know it. They don't go outside and they aren't big on leashes. They go number 1 and 2 when they feel like it. And, their location of choice is the litter box in the place it's always been - under the steering wheel. They are, after all, creatures of habit. And, this is exactly how they like it.

So, here's how a typical travel day goes down. The cats wake up way earlier than we do. We feed them before or about dawn. Between feeding time and us getting out of bed they usually do their business. With that, they're pretty much good to go. We put them in their crates and hit the road.

What we've learned is that our cats are good for about four hours. If we go beyond that, they need a potty break.

Good idea. And, guess what? They don't get it.

Many, many times we've broken up a long travel day by finding a place to stop, letting the cats get out and stretch. Then we cross our fingers that they'll find their way to their not-in-its-normal-place litter box to do their business.

They get out, they stretch and they never - that's NEVER - go.

Until now.

The other day we stopped between Fort Stockton and Las Cruces. We let the cats out to stretch and they began to wander. It had been a long day and we knew at least one of them needed to go. Before too long our boy kitty wandered into the bathroom and toward the litter box. Anticipating the red letter day I made a declaration: Any cat that pees at a pit stop gets two treats!

With that, the stakes were set. And, our boy kitty was game. He did his business, cleared the area and stood ready to receive a snack. Yes, he got two treats!

Wa-HOOOOO! If you don't count us, it was our first successful pit stop on the road.

Let's hope this is the start of a really good trend!

What The Heck Do They Know?

It's Thanksgiving trip eve at our house. So, lots of activity, of course. Boris made a trip to the moose tonight to drop off a few things and lessen our load for tomorrow. We are definitely just about ready to go.

The most interesting observation around our house tonight is our cats. They are wound up! Running to and fro they have definitely let us know they are excited. And, they make us wonder, what do they know?

They've been through a drill that looks something like this twice now: mom and dad are in a really good mood, organizing things here and there, asking them from time to time "Are you kitties ready to go?" We're thinking they might have a sense of what's to come tomorrow.

Or maybe not.

After all, they are cats.

We'll keep you posted.

Hide-n-Seek

We've done lots of research about how to travel and live in a motorhome with cats. It was all very helpful! One of the consistent pieces of advice warned that cats are experts at finding mysterious hiding spots in an RV. On our pre-cat travels, we did our best to size up spots where our furbabies might hide. Our biggest concerns were the footwells. So, we stuffed the driver's side with leftover memory foam, and the passenger side with a pillow. With that, we were set.

Under the driver's seat was the first hiding spot of choice. Both cats took turns savoring that safe and secure spot. Then, moments after finishing yesterday's post - while we were basking in the joy of successful cat travels - we heard a scurrying sound behind the glove box. And, sure enough, our boy kitty was out of sight. In the blink of an eye, he managed to squeeze his 16-pound frame in between the pillow and the 4-inch tall passenger side footwell. From there, he wiggled his way up into a hidey hole that was impossible to reach.

To say we freaked out would be an understatement.

In the few not-so-fleeting minutes of sheer panic that followed, we tried to coax him from his hiding spot and became increasingly concerned that he wouldn't be able to come out the way he came in. Visions of googling "how to dismantle a Winnebago dashboard" filled our heads. Finally, Boris contorted his over-six-foot frame into the not-a-lot-of-legroom passenger floor and reached an arm through the maze behind the dash. At his fingertips, he felt fur. With more coaxing and a stretch, he was able to get a hand on the kitty and ease him out of the space.

The cat was free. The dashboard was saved. The tears of a grateful kitty mom flowed. And, we stuffed a much bigger pillow in the space.

Once the excitement of the night subsided, we got ready for bed. We put cats, litterbox and water dish in the bedroom with us and closed the door. With everyone safely confined, we crossed our fingers and managed to get a little sleep.

We're pleased to report both cats are present and accounted for...right now, at least.

Camping with Cats

Getting the cats on the road with us is a key step on our road to fulltiming. They embarked on their maiden voyage this afternoon. And, we are so pleased to report they are doing great!

We're just 1 1/2 hours or so from home, hanging out at the Stockton Delta KOA. It's the perfect spot for us to chill, enjoy the weekend, acclimate the cats and celebrate a milestone!

Pictures and more to come at www.bullwinklestravels.blogspot.com. But, for our current and future fulltiming friends, we're raising a toast to how well the furry members of our family have traveled so far. It's soooooo nice to have them with us. It's official: Now, we're traveling as a family.

Happy Friday to all!

Meow Meow

It's a new month, and time for a new project on our pre-fulltiming list. October is the month of the cats. They don't know it yet, (or so we think) but our two felines are in for some big changes this month as we do our best to get them ready for life on the road.

Our goal: to have them accompany us on our 10-day Thanksgiving trip.

We've done some preliminary training: taken them on short Jeep rides and attempted to go for walks wearing a harness and leash. They're not crazy about either, but both are mildly tolerable. It's time to turn up the intensity on those efforts. Sometime this month we'll hit the road in the moose for a night or two close to home. We'll bring them along and see how it goes. We're sure to learn lots.

Another project for "cat month" is introducing a litter system that's designed to be much more RV friendly. The Tidy Cat Breeze System proclaims to eliminate a lot of the muss and fuss of this aspect of cat life. (The video explaining it all is funny: "This is where the pee is conquered.") It's very different than what our cats are used to. And, cats don't exactly have a reputation as agents of change. So, we're following the "transition" instructions closely, and we'll see how it goes.

It should be an interesting month. We'll keep you posted.

They Don't Hate It!

One of the items on our "long" to-do list is to get our two very pampered indoor cats trained to "walk" (and we use that term VERY loosely) on a harness and a leash. Every cat owner knows that this is an idea that cats see as an activity that is strictly reserved for those crazy canines.

Our cats get quite a bit of activity inside our house. Between naps they manage to run laps around the place -- up and down stairs, in and out of window sills, and on to and off of counters (only when no one is looking, of course). When our living space shrinks to 300 square feet on one level, one of our concerns is that their sole activity will be their favorite: napping. With little other activity, we fear they will be destined to become a couple of really fat cats.

So, we decided to get an early start on this special project. Cruising through our local pet supply store, we found the "Come With Me Kitty" harness and bungee leash and decided to give them a try. We followed the instructions to the letter, keeping things stress-free and heaping on the praise and treats.

Much to our surprise, they didn't hate it! Over the last week or so, we've continued to make progress. We've actually been out the front door and have taken a few steps down the sidewalk. (Our neighbors may think we've lost it....attempting to take two cats for a walk.)

We have lots of time to master this technique, of course. But all early indications are positive.

And that's very good news, indeed.