The Great Meowdini

Captain's Log: Day 9

PJ, the dumb as rocks kitty has learned a new skill. A new skill that is insanely annoying. If you will recall, Pepper the Savage is the only kitty in this household who is allowed to venture into the wild. This is because he was found in a warehouse and had some natural instincts, and also the ex-hubs was not pleased with my bringing Pepper and Whiskey home, so to compromise we allowed them to be outside. Unfortunately for Whiskey, this was a terrible choice (RIP little buddy), but Pep is incredibly savvy at finding the shadows, knowing danger is near and coming in when I call him in the evenings if he's not already home. When we got PJ and Coco, I was determined that they would be indoor cats because their survival instinct gene was close to zero, and I knew in my bones that them being outside would be a terrible idea. 

When they were probably about eight months old, there was an evening when Coco was acting totally out of sorts and pacing around the house like she was missing something. Over time, I noticed that PJ was nowhere to be found. I figured he was just sleeping in a cozy nook somewhere, until I realized that the kitchen screen had been popped out. I realized right away that he had probably been enjoying the evening breeze, leaned a little too hard on the screen and popped the sucker right out. Sure enough, I found him in the backyard scared to death and very happy to be found and saved from all the scary things found in a suburban backyard. The wild thing was how mad Coco was when they were reunited. There was a lot of hissing and yowling, which I had never seen her do before. If I could speak cat, I'm sure she was probably telling him off and that she told him that it was a bad idea to lean on the screen and he was lucky to be alive and to never, EVER do that again. It honestly took her a full night to forgive him and decide he was worthy of a snuggle again. It was wild.

I soon realized that they needed more simulation, so I purchased a little "catio", which is essentially a glamorized cage that butts up to my bedroom window almost perfectly, and has a few shelves and places where they can sit safely and enjoy the weather and the backyard wildlife. I pop open my bedroom window in the morning and they can come and go from the catio into the house as much as they please. It has been a magical place for them for almost an entire year...until last week. Summer is also tricky with cats, because they wake up at the first blip of the sun coming up over the horizon and they want you to know that they are up and ready to live their best lives. And they will not stop until they are sure that you are a part of this moment. Because I have no desire to start my day at 5:03am, I started opening the catio up once I was sure that no creatures of the night (ie. rodents or skunks or whatever) would be on the move and would crawl back into my warm bed. This way, I could continue to sleep, and my little kitty friends could go outside and enjoy the breaking dawn. This is where PJ comes in.

Last weekend, I was in that glorious space where you're not really asleep, but you're also not fully awake yet. Being able to wake up naturally and lay there in that meditative state as long as you want is seriously one of my top five most favorite things. This morning in particular, I am hearing a bit of a ruckus from the catio, which I just chalk up to the cats playing around on the shelves. But then I hear some meowing and assumed Pepper was wanting to come in - so I let him in and crawled back into bed. But the meowing didn't stop. Then, Coco started meowing, which is totally out of character for her. She's either quiet, or she's hissing/growling at Rocky. There is no in-between with her. I rolled myself out of bed again, look out the window to see what is going on, and low and behold, she was sitting ON TOP OF THE CATIO. My sweet, rule following little kitty had figured out how to squeeze between the window and the catio wall and spiderman herself to the top. This could only mean one thing. She was following her brother because she would never do this herself. Sure enough, when I opened the door to get her down, PJ is sitting there on the ground looking at me like, yeah, I was outside. What are you going to do about this, Lady? This was not ok. I went back outside and adjusted the catio to be more flush against the wall - and wouldn't you know it, PJ is right back in there squeezing himself between the house and the catio, trying to get back to the top. At this point, I'm angry - mostly because my morning zen is officially over, but also because I know this means that I'll never be able to just keep the window open until I ghetto-rig something to fill the two-inch gap between the house and the catio. 

THEN, if this isn't enough, IT HAPPENS AGAIN. Only this time, it's not through the catio, but it's through the oldest/middle child's (depending on the night and who is staying with me, and who is staying at the ex-hub's house) window. Now, I'm on heightened alert because I know these cats are capable of escaping and PJ in particular, is tickled with his new found skills. This time, I realized I was only seeing Rocky wandering around the house, which made my spidey senses start to tingle as he loves to be around PJ. My go-to technique to get the cats to come is to sprinkle a little food into their bowls. But alas, only Pepper and Rocky come running - which is a huge red flag for me since PJ never misses a meal. Sure enough, his little mug is meowing at me through the sliding glass door. What a turd. I let him in, take a tour of the backyard and find the scene of the crime - the bedroom screen on the ground and Coco hiding under a little bush. She looks at me like, he totally made me do it and I scoop her up and bring her back inside as well. Ugh. So now, not only do I have to fix the catio, I now have to figure out how to keep the screens from popping out of all the windows. Send help.

Weather: HOT and sunny.