Jim Dandy: Some other factors and ideas...but no guaranteed solutions, I'm sorry to say.

I've been through this (well, not quite through yet) with one of my

Some ideas I've read (and some that I've tried):

Offering various kinds of litter.  Their textures vary a great deal, and some cats sure can be fussy, can't they?  Wow...box styles vary greatly, as well.  One of my girls can't stand those enclosed ones.  Another likes the enclosed style that's entered from the top!

Cleanliness of the litter box.  One vet insists upon this.  I usually only manage cleaning once per day; some insist on doing so even more frequently than that.

Number of boxes available.  One vet suggests a formula: have (n+1) boxes in the house, where n=the number of cats you have.

One of my girls seems to lie in wait in the middle of a narrow hallway that needed to be passed to get to the usual litter box.  Like some kind of troll one planning an ambush.  I think the girl with "the problem" was sometimes just steering clear of a showdown.

Large sheets of tinfoil placed on areas where the dirty deeds have tended to happen.  (I placed these across half of my bed for a couple of months.  My newest  was peeing there!  At least she's gotten over that problem.  So my bedroom's foil bedspread won't be featured in House Beautiful; no big deal.)

If you can be stealthy and patient, have some idea when it happens, and have good aim with a water pistol, catch your little darling in the act and shoot from a bit of a distance.  I think the idea is to get him/her to associate the unpleasant spray with their activity--but not associate it with YOU being angry.  Don't be yelling...or anything worse...when this takes place.  You've already got one problem to deal with.

(I can't believe this link still works after several years!)

So...do you look like your dog?        http://www.dogdaysproductions.com/lookalike01.html

The Karma of Cats

The judgment of cats is at hand:
how neatly God has arraigned them!

You there, my silken mistress,
how many dead birds must we put
to your credit?  And you, the rangy tomcat
with cauliflower ears and a nose
that's seen better days,
whatever became of those goldfish when
your people were gone for a week?
Oh, how the cries of field mice,
slaughtered in thousands, rise up against you!
Where will you turn?
Where will you turn?  Even now
the furnace of wrath glows hot
for vengeance against your sins.

But Lord, they cry, purring and mewing,
Lord!  with plaintive uplifted faces,
we did not know, we could not help it!
It was our nature to kill soft things,
shining things, whatever would move,
whatever ran from before us!

Well, says the Lord, you may plead
and pray, and say with some justice
that you could not help it, that it was your nature,
but the surprise is, my children,
you're no less accountable
for that!

[Gail White]

 Show went well...he got a "G" rating with high possibility of "SG" in his future...so,I will get his title and reshow him in a few years.We had a great time this weekend too!! There was a race for the dogs...Niki won her puppy division,lol.....she has her Mommies speed that's for sure.

 Now I have to focus on getting him ready for his November trials.I decided NOT to run him in the AD as it was in the mid 80's and much to hot for him to run any distance..I will run it with him in November.

Jim Dandy: Best of luck to both of you.  And keep us posted.

My youngest and I paid a visit to the kitty cardiologist today.  Some insurance coverage might have been helpful!  But she's really okay--nothing wrong that couldn't be explained by her heart beating at about 240 bpm when we visit the vet.  She's just an excitable girl...but a surprisingly good patient.  Now that we've both had ultrasound, we know my murmur's worse than hers.

http://www.mytrialphotos.com/2007MERConf/09-18to24MonthMale/slides/071006-0757.html

Sorry,lol..I am a proud mommy and want to show them off!!