The Cat's Meow

It's late Monday night, and as I'm putting William to bed, I recognized a slight odor in the air. I didn't think much of it. I honestly figured I may have missed the trash can and perhaps a diaper was lingering somewhere. The room was a mess from toys and clothes that he had strewn during playtime early in the night, so I quietly settled him for bed and left the room. He was asleep in no time at all.

Early Tuesday morning I began to hear this murmuring sound. "Errrrr". "Errrr". I went to check on him and let me just say that when I opened the door I thought "poor baby's been sick all night long". It smelled awful in there. I stood at the doorway with the door in hand thinking "I can do this. I can get him out and not puke!" Yes is was that strong. Then I heard the sound again. "Errrr". "Errrr". I knew it was an animal. And a pretty good sized one at that. Still standing at the door, I looked around on the floor to make sure it wasn't in the room! Sorry Will.....Mommy's not a good rescuer! But I figured if there was something in the room, he was in the crib....and I wasn't!! But I quickly realized it wasn't in the room, it was in the air duct system. I heard it right underneath the floor register vent. I panicked, then grabbed Will out of bed, quickly closed the door and called my Dad. Thank God he was home and could come right over. We got Will and Hannah breakfast and a TV show on, then went in to tackle the beast. Well...Dad went in. I opened the window and quickly went back out, shutting the door behind me. I stood on the back deck, right beside the window, so that I could see what it was. And do you know.......a darn cat came out of the vent. And not just any cat, it was my Aunt Jeanette's cat from next door. Baby is a barn cat that's been around for 15 years or so. She's near death....or so I assumed by her stinch! She jumped out the window and onto the yard. Then walked over to the carport and Dad was able to put her in a pet carrier and deliver her safely home.

Then......the real battle began! I Cloroxed, vacuumed, tried to use fans, everything imaginable to get rid of that smell. Yes, I've come to realize that cat's are NOT the cleanest of animals. And all of you cat lovers who believe that, just put one in your air ducts and you'll soon find out they will pee and poop on themselves.....and not lick it off! Not to mention that of course, with a hole in our system, there had been mice hanging out in there too. So now the smell was a mix of a variety of animal feces! Yuck. After realizing there was no way I was going to win this battle, I called an air duct cleaning service. They were available on Thursday morning, so I said "please get here asap". I'm glad to report that our ducts are clean, but the smell was still there. I paid $955 for clean ducts that smell like cat pee. So, after realizing this wasn't going to work, the guy here cleaning said "I can try pouring some sporicide down in there to kill off the bacteria, that should do it". And we did that. To no avail. Now the room smelled like formaldehide. So......the only option was to call the local heat and air guy and ask them to come replace the branch of air duct that goes to Will's room.

In the meantime, I might mention that Aaron and his Dad were able to find the hole under the house. It was actually where the airflow line had come loose from the main unit. But we still had airflow, so who would have thought there could be a 4-6 inch gap and we wouldn't have known it. So this morning, the guys showed up to repair both the unit and the 10 foot of ductwork. And now......I'm praying, hoping, believing that this saga is over. The room still smells uncontrollably like a hosptial janitorial closet. So Will won't be sleeping in there tonight either. But the mixed smell of sawdust from the flooring repair, the open window of fresh air, and the rubbery smell from the new duct is promising!!

Is it any wonder that last week when I had allergy testing done that I am highly allergic to CATS! There was one living in my air system! Who knows how long Baby had been coming and going. And for all of you more concerned about the cat than my house and the repair bill, Baby is resting at home and doing well. I'm trying to convince my Aunt that Baby always was a house cat!

And that's THE CAT'S MEOW!