Hi everyone, it’s Allegra! I want to tell you about all the excitement at our house last week!
For the last couple of weeks, Mom had been talking to me about something that was going to be happening that I probably wouldn’t like at all. Well, then why let it happen in the first place? Sometimes I don’t understand humans.
She explained to me that we needed to get a new roof because the old one was starting to not protect us properly during rain and wind. Okay, that’s not a good thing, so I could see why maybe something needed to be done about that.
She said it would be really loud for a few hours. I hate loud noises, and so does Mom, and I could tell she was really worried about the whole thing, both because I could hear her talking to her friends about it and because I felt it in her energy.
Then one day last week, there were big giant thumps and the whole house shook. Mom said they were delivering something called shingles and dropping them on the roof. Why on earth didn’t they just gently lower them? Did they have to drop them? Anyway, I got scared, and ran to my safe space, which is the shower stall in the downstairs bathroom. I used to be in there a lot when I was younger. Thunderstorms, trash trucks, any loud noise would send me running for cover. Lately, though, I’ve not been as worried about these things, and I even slept through last year’s fourth of July fireworks. But this was scary!
Thankfully, it only lasted for a few minutes, but Mom said the next day, the loud noises were going to go on for hours. She tried to prepare me (and herself!) as best as she could with various calming remedies – Stress Stopper and Rescue Remedy for me, and Bioplasma for her (affiliate links*.)
When the workers first started, I ran and hid in my shower stall. It was unbelievably loud! Mom had put a blanket in the shower to make it nicer for me, but there was nothing nice about being so scared! After a few minutes, Mom came to sit in the shower stall with me. That helped, and I started to relax a tiny little bit. Mom sat with me for a while, but then she had to go upstairs. When she came back downstairs to check on me, she was wearing something over her ears. She said they were noise canceling headphones, and she wished she could have a pair for me. So did I! But I got a little brave anyway, and ventured out of the bathroom.
I even tried to go upstairs, but it was just too scary up there, so I stayed close to the bathroom. After an hour or so, I noticed a sun puddle in Mom’s Reiki room next to the bathroom. Oh, I wanted to go in there so badly, but it was so loud, and further from my safe space. But ultimately, the sun puddle won. And I even tried to nap in it, but that wasn’t happening.
Thankfully, after about six hours of this, the noise stopped, and we had our peaceful home back.
Kitties, have you had loud noises in your house? What do you do when that happens?
A note from Ingrid: I was really amazed at how well Allegra handled the roof replacement. I couldn’t believe just how loud it was, and without my noise canceling headphones I would have been a basket case. In addition to making Allegra’s safe space a little more comfortable with a blanket in case she did end up spending the entire day down there, I also used our entire arsenal of stress relievers.
I’ve held off on quite a few major home improvement projects over the years because I never wanted to stress my cats out any more than necessary. I would love new floors, remodel my kitchen, and do a few other things, but all of these would require confining Allegra for hours on end. She gets super stressed when she’s locked into a room, so that’s just not going to happen. I’d rather live with old floors and a dated kitchen than put her through that.
At least confining her wasn’t going to be necessary during the roof replacement, since the workers didn’t need to come inside. I know that the main reason that she did as well as she did was because she had the autonomy to be wherever she felt safest at any given time.
I’m relieved that we got through it and that we’ll never have to do that again!
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We have old flooring and a dated kitchen for the same reason lol. We’ve been through a roof replacement, complete window replacement, and a bath remodel, that was more then bad enough but there was no choice but to have those jobs done. My only kitty is 12-1/2 years old, I am content to live with what I have as long as she is with me. She is so timid and fearful of loud noises and strange people, there’s no way I will do that to her again. Or me!
you’re such a great kitty mama!! A few years ago they put a new roof in on our apt/condo building and OMG was it annoying! I remember Cody not being bothered by it but Dakota sure was!
Good for Allegra in being brave! Our cats don’t like loud noises either. We almost lost our youngest her first year with us, because she stopped eating during firework season. She’s moved past that fear, but all of our cats will hide under blankets or furniture during house renovations.
Hey Allegra,
I know about the stress you went thru. This last December, my mom had all the windows replaced and even the patio door. This was supposed to be a 2 day proess, but on the day they came, a woman called and said someone canceld their job and a 2nd crew was comming out to the house. Not only was it cold with all the windows out but the noise was unbelievable when they sawed the metal to get the windows out! Mom had a small little kennel she borrowed from a friend with sheets and towels over it to try and keep me a little warmer. But like other projects, mom is holding off on anything else. All the best, Tasha
We don’t like loud noises either. Mom told me about the time her and daddy had the roof replaced and how Nani, Pono and Pele were here and they were scared of the noise. Then a week later a really bad hail storm came and destroyed the new roof. She said it was the biggest hail she had seen here at the time. They had to have it all redone a few weeks later and all that scary noise happened again. Mommy gives me rescue remedy when we have storms, and we sure have had a lot of them lately. It works pretty good, but I still want to hide out of habit.
…Lulu
Happy New Roof! And Allegra gets lots of praise for being so brave. We replaced our tile roof last year, so we know what a noisy experience you two had. I am a big believer in telling a cat ahead of time, as you did, what is coming. Cats do not like surprises. Every time I vacuum the whole house, I tell SapphoLily the night before and again the next day, and I get the big vacuum out and let her see it before I start. She gives it a look and. trots off to the guest room and stays under the bed until the big noisy machine is put away. And comes back out after. While vacuuming, during my pauses, I tell her how brave she is. I also got the small carpet sweeper you recommended and use that on the other days to just get her hair off the wool area rugs that she loves. She knows the sound of that now, too. I just wait until she isn’t in the room. But I still tell her before I do it.
I agree with you about a kitchen renovation. That is not only noisy, but very messy, especially the release of dust and particles in the air. The use of plastic curtains to tape off the work area helps, but you are very wise to not take the chance with Allegra. The two of you would really be better off moving to a rental while the work was done, but cats do not like change. Having said that, though, there are some hard floors that can have a new floor put down on top of them, which can be done quicker and without much mess. Just a thought.
I understand Allegra I get very nervous about noise so does Sir Tiger and Ms. Mida. If I know I am going too have people come here too fix the place or the morons next door have their loud music or set off fireworks I stay home all the windows are shut I have anxiety. Ms Mida has hyperthyroid problems and Sir Tiger has asthma and his anxiety is worst than mine. When it all done it take Sir Tiger a few hours after that too come out.
Wow, I hate loud noises as well. That must have been so terrifying for you. I don’t like workmen coming in my house either, have to confine the girls. Now tgat is over you glean go find some sun puddles to relax.