I have shared my room with a non-human animal for almost as long as I can
remember.  The animal has changed over the years, of course, as they tend to
have shorter life-spans than I.  Not long ago, I slept with my rat in his
rat cage at the foot of my bed.  When he died, I went to a lot of trouble to
move my new ferret from the tiny cage she slept in in the garage to an
expensive several-story one which has taken the place of my rat's cage.
 
It took a while, but my ferret and I did finally get used to each other's
sleep schedules, and things were going amazingly well.  Unfortunately, I
recently discovered that if I do not keep her litter box firmly fixed into
the corner which she has chosen to use to do her business, then she will not
use it.  Thus, as a solution to the dilemma I found it necessary to tape the
box firmly into place.
 
Since then, like clock-work, the moment that I climb into bed, even if she
had fallen asleep while I was preparing for bed, she will instantly jump
up - as if on cue - scurry to the bottom floor of her cage and set to work
at scratching around the bottom of her litter box in an unsuccessful attempt
at relocating the box to a place "out of the way".
 
This has been going on for a solid number of weeks now.  Each night I get
into bed, allowing her the benefit of the doubt; hoping that she will just
go to sleep.  But to my utter amazement, and agony, she goes to work at the
same time each night, as if she though trying to make a point.
 
I have tried moving the box to different places in the cage which might suit
her, but then she does not use it or else she still insists on scratching at
it's base.  If she had her way, she would be able to push and shove the
thing all over the floor of her cage whenever she wanted, but that is and
would be equally as noisy and twice as messy.
 
I am at a loss, and I would really appreciate any suggestions.
Unfortunately, I happen to be overwhelmed with school work right now (trying
to graduate) and have gotten terribly behind in my e-mails, so I don't want
to promise that I will be able to respond to everyone who writes.  But
please know that it would certainly mean a lot to me and the fact that I
will not be able to respond will not be because I am not grateful!  I just
can not handle anything else hanging over my head right now.  I hope that
you understand.  Thank you very much!
 
Sincerely,
J.L.T.
[Posted in FML issue 2329]