And in the Feline News....
Mar. 1st, 2006 06:50 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
kniteracyAnd in the Feline News....
Now that Minerva's fur is growing back from her spaying in January (finally we see stripes!), we're experimenting with letting her go out, just for a few minutes, before her afternoon/evening meal.
She's been out twice so far and has handled the cat flap reasonably well. Well, she goes outside all right if it's held open for her. The first time, she had to be physically pushed in, and today, she scooted past me and got through the door. She'll get the hang of it soon enough, I hope.
We haven't opened up the cat flap to general in and out yet; I'm hoping some short, supervised trips outside will help her acclimate herself. I don't think she's gone beyond ours and the neighbors' gardens yet, but you know how these things go. Your babies begin to grow up and then it's nothing but vitriol and rows for two or three years until they finally leave the nest altogether. They're much more docile when they move back in a few years later.... ;-)
And now that our little girl is going out from time to time, she needs proper attire. Which so far comes in the guise of a bright yellow collar with little kittycats printed on it, adjustable up to a size that-- well, if a housecat was ever big enough for that, you'd want to hide the children! Of course, this collar has a bell.
A bell?
A bell.
Oh, the humanity (or should that be felinity?): we've belled Minerva. The indignity! The sheer embarrassment of it all? She's no longer executing acrobatics in an attempt to remove the thing, but I am not letting this lull me into a sense of false security: she is pissed off. She glares balefully at me from the basket where we keep the shoes (she likes high places) as I write this, her narrowed, yellow kitty-eyes boring into my soul. Why, why, why do the people subject her to such indignities? Surely in the night, she will come like a shadow and tear their soft, useless, agrarian throats out. Of course, they'll have heard the bell.... Drat!
And no, for those of you playing the home game, I will not be writing anything that starts, "I put a bell on you..... 'cause you're mine...."
ETA: Thanks to a concerned friend who let us know some of the dangers of belling cats (bad for the cat, doesn't really warn songbirds), we have removed the bell from Minerva's collar and are looking into a breakaway collar instead of the one she has now.
Now that Minerva's fur is growing back from her spaying in January (finally we see stripes!), we're experimenting with letting her go out, just for a few minutes, before her afternoon/evening meal.
She's been out twice so far and has handled the cat flap reasonably well. Well, she goes outside all right if it's held open for her. The first time, she had to be physically pushed in, and today, she scooted past me and got through the door. She'll get the hang of it soon enough, I hope.
We haven't opened up the cat flap to general in and out yet; I'm hoping some short, supervised trips outside will help her acclimate herself. I don't think she's gone beyond ours and the neighbors' gardens yet, but you know how these things go. Your babies begin to grow up and then it's nothing but vitriol and rows for two or three years until they finally leave the nest altogether. They're much more docile when they move back in a few years later.... ;-)
And now that our little girl is going out from time to time, she needs proper attire. Which so far comes in the guise of a bright yellow collar with little kittycats printed on it, adjustable up to a size that-- well, if a housecat was ever big enough for that, you'd want to hide the children! Of course, this collar has a bell.
A bell?
A bell.
Oh, the humanity (or should that be felinity?): we've belled Minerva. The indignity! The sheer embarrassment of it all? She's no longer executing acrobatics in an attempt to remove the thing, but I am not letting this lull me into a sense of false security: she is pissed off. She glares balefully at me from the basket where we keep the shoes (she likes high places) as I write this, her narrowed, yellow kitty-eyes boring into my soul. Why, why, why do the people subject her to such indignities? Surely in the night, she will come like a shadow and tear their soft, useless, agrarian throats out. Of course, they'll have heard the bell.... Drat!
And no, for those of you playing the home game, I will not be writing anything that starts, "I put a bell on you..... 'cause you're mine...."
ETA: Thanks to a concerned friend who let us know some of the dangers of belling cats (bad for the cat, doesn't really warn songbirds), we have removed the bell from Minerva's collar and are looking into a breakaway collar instead of the one she has now.
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no subject
Date: 2006-03-01 07:05 pm (UTC)Er... I am sure Minerva will forgive you. She's a lovely cat!
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Date: 2006-03-02 04:59 am (UTC)Ah, how I miss my kitty. :)