Keep Pets Out When Painting

By Grandma Margie (Guest Post)

This story reminded me of a "cat incident" we had years ago. I had to laugh about it again. Thanks for triggering the memory.
We had a big, loveable, extremely fluffy gray cat who was an indoor/outdoor cat. "Smokey" loved to sit in the small bay window in my bedroom and soak up the sun and survey his kingdom.
We had noticed the previous winter that there was a cold draft coming in around the window seat. While I was at work one day my husband decided to remove the lid of the window seat and see what could be done to seal it better. He had some of the spray foam insulation that comes in a can (almost like shaving cream) and filled the cavity with this foam. About the time he finished and turned away ol' Smokey came into the room and jumped up in "his" window seat.....except there was no lid......so he sat in the spray foam! He freaked out and went flying out of the house. We didn't see him for a day or two, which was normal, but then we saw him in the litter box, straining, twisting and hobbling around. It dawned on us that the spray foam insulation sticking to his long fur had sealed off his "poop chute"! We picked him up and cut off all the fur on his behind with my haircutting shears. He really didn't object to this although he got a little nervous as I trimmed near his family jewels! We set him back down and he immediately successfully completed his original mission! He was none the worse for his experience and allowed us to live in "his" house for many, many years!