A Pet Nightmare

I witnessed every pet parent’s worst nightmare on Friday and there was nothing anyone could do to stop it from happening.

We took Oliver, Cinder and Cheetoh to be neutered at a RASCAL Unit spay/neuter clinic. A local cat rescue hosted it and offered this necessary service for a deep discount. They have just a few very specific rules and one is that each cat has to be in his or her own carrier.

There are a few good reasons for this and they were very clear about it both verbally and in writing when I signed up the boys. A woman brought two cats in the same carrier and they refused to accept them like that. I can only assume this lady received the same information I did or maybe she wasn’t involved in the pre-registration process. Who knows.

I don’t know what exactly occurred but the next time I saw the woman she was outside holding a pretty black and white cat in her arms. Something happened, it got spooked, fought to get loose and took off running. She ran after it but it vamoosed in the blink of an eye.

We learned when we picked up the boys several hours later that she never caught the cat.

It was terrifying and reminded me of the day that Scout got spooked on the screened-in porch. He left me with both physical and mental scars before I could get him back in the house where he hid under the bed and slunk around the house for days.

I was lucky that this incident didn’t end badly and that I still have my boy. Here’s hoping this kitty comes back to the rescue and can be reunited with its owner.

I can’t imagine how much she must be missing her cat or how terrified her kitty is roaming alone in a strange neighborhood.

Scout and the Art of Compromise

Scout and I are working on our relationship.

He likes to chew on artificial pine, climb to the highest point in any room and knock off of every surface anything not nailed down. I like going home to find things where I left them and love the idea of not having a cat that swings from light fixtures like a little monkey.

So we’re going to compromise. We’ll do things his way.

For real guys, there is no compromise with a cat, especially an eight month old kitten with the playfulness of a baby and the strength of a small tiger.

He’s my little panther.

I lost him the other night. Searched the entire house until making it to the laundry room where I heard a faint jingle. And then up popped his little head!

Like a jack–in-the-box!

He’s cute, right? Of course, I didn’t think he was so cute the previous night when he was knocking vintage items off the top of my kitchen cabinets like a little maniac.

But he is a cat and cats weren’t designed to be down low. They are tiny little killing machines meant to climb high, hide stealthily, sharpen their claws and do as they please.

So instead of trying to stop what I call bad behavior, the new goal is to provide alternate opportunities.

Can you tell I work in marketing? I’m pretty good with a positive spin if you give me a minute to think it through.

So he wants to be up high? I’ve made the top of the linen closet comfortable for him. It’s the highest structure in the bathroom so he can survey his kingdom any time he likes.

If I’m foolish enough to leave a remote control or book on the coffee table, there’s no reason to believe it will be there when I come home. That’s just silly on my part as it is a cat’s duty to knock these things on the floor.

Those top shelf red containers in the laundry room will never have anything inside them because they provide a comfortable, warm and high place for a catnap and this seems to prevent him from trying to wiggle into an old wardrobe in that room or from climbing onto the clean towels in the linen closet. If he wants to roll around in my dirty clothes basket, who am I to argue? He’s not hurting anything.

However, we do have real and serious issues. For example, he chews on and tries to eat every bit of artificial pine in the house and most of the silk vines and flowers. All along, I’ve been scheming to design a Christmas tree situation that he can’t destroy but there’s little I can do about him trying to eat something he cannot digest.

Goodbye Christmas tree! Maybe we can revisit this next year…..

Anyway, the compromising seems to be going well. As long as Scout continues to get everything he wants, we should be fine!

Have a cat story to share? I would love to hear! Have you ever tried giving them a pot of fresh grass to distract them from eating artificial pine? This is my last resort.