Just another friendly public service announcement. . .

Hi, Friends of Riley - this particular note is from Aud (AKA Riley's Mom).  As you may recall, I posted a public service announcement long ago about the dangers of Mexican blankets and 3 year old cats that eat them and land themselves in Tufts University Animal Hospital to the tune of thousands of dollars.

What prompts me to write this public service announcement isn't as dire as the warning about cats and Mexican blankets but I can personally attest to it being equally as IMPORTANT!

As you saw by Riley's previous entry, he's taken a shine to shredding my wall to wall carpet (which encompasses a hallway and three bedrooms) and whilst I agree the carpeting must go, I know the hardwood floor underneath it is junk and I'm not particularly inclined to replace the carpeting quite yet.  So, I went to Petsmart and perused the training aisle while Riley was getting his nails done to find a spray that might discourage Riley from pulling up the carpet. . .

So I ended up with a product called "Bitter Yuck", it's a water based no chew spray (I liked that thinking it wouldn't stain anything I sprayed it on) and it's good to use on the pet (for hot spots and such), furniture, wood - just about anything.  For those unfamiliar with it, the website is Bitter Yuck .

So today I used about a quarter of the spray bottle - did the trim/perimeter of the hallway and the exposed edges of the carpet in Jeff's room.  Also sprayed the kitchen sink throw rug that I'm going to throw away but wanted to keep it in place (before I replace it) to see if this stuff works.

Now, the bottle doesn't say to wear gloves when spraying.  IT SHOULD.  You know when you are using a push spray trigger that you usually end up with some liquid on your trigger finger?  Well, I washed my hands several times after spraying (with antibacterial soap, no less!) and while I was rolling the enchiladas I was making for dinner, I learned that BITTER YUCK doesn't wash off!  I got some cheese sauce on my finger, I licked it off - OH MY GOODNESS, the back of my throat and my sinuses were instantly filled with a horrific bitter taste. . .  So I'm thinking I must not have washed that fingertip quite so well and scrubbed it, thought I was OK until I went and ended up licking that finger again!  Aaaack! 

So I smartened up.  I stopped licking that finger and that's when I was unpleasantly reminded that I had used my OTHER hand to spray when my spray finger got tired from pumping - whoa, can't lick those fingers either! 

Riley has sniffed the areas I sprayed but hasn't really tried to gnaw on anything, I'm pretty sure he won't.  And you know what?  I'm not likely to chew on the carpeting any time soon either!

Anybody have some grain alcohol that I can gargle with?  Oh, the taste of this stuff is horrible! 

Hopefully this PSA will prevent anyone else from wanting to gargle with grain alcohol - wear gloves!!  And, if I end up growing a third eye or some other strange appendage from my exposure to this stuff, I'll be sure to post that too.  Although, as a parent, a third eye in the back of the head would be a welcome accessory. . .

I'm done now, I'll turn the blog back to Riley and more fun entries!  :)