not quite gone cats, after all

I have been trying to rid the carpet of cat fur and cat smell ever since they left.

The plastic carpet protector
had to be hauled outside.
There were so many stains on it,
impregnated throughout the material,
that it was naught but trash.

Then, I swept the carpet,
slowly, firmly, and repeatedly,
to get up as much loose fur
as possible.

I ended up with enough fur
to make a cat.
Ugh.

Then I used the crevice tool and
brush tool on the vacuum cleaner,
working on foot-square patches at a time.
That's as much as was possible before
the brush tool was clogged.
The vacuum cleaner started overheating -
after all, it had ingested enough fur
to make yet another cat.


A friend recommended Pet Fresh to loosen the hair and deodorize. What could it hurt? I've already burned through three cans of deodorizer.
I then ran the vacuum cleaner over it, after letting it sit for half a day. I pulled out enough cat fur to make another cat.
So, that's a total of enough fur to make three cats from three cats having been there for three months.
I cannot imagine if I had needed to clean my entire house of their fur.

Then, back to the brush tool. Now I was able to do about two square feet before needing to clean the tool. This time, I ended up with only enough fur for a kitten.

The carpet needs to go.
The blinds have already been thrown out.
Between one cat's clawing them and
all of them licking and chewing on them,
the plastic was too marred and stained
to salvage.

The huge computer desk is going, too.
I spent an hour and a half dismantling it
yesterday and I've posted it on facebook.
I hope it will sell...
I'm ready to reclaim that room.