An ear-bleeding shriek accomplishes the almost impossible -
waking me up from a sound (rare) sleep and the most delicious dream I’ve had in
a long time (no fair). An ominous growl fills
the space the shriek died in and I’m spurred into action. Sitting bolt upright in bed, heart pounding,
eyes trying to pierce the Stygian darkness (black out blinds are very effective), I switch on the small,
cut-glass bedside lamp and scan my bedroom, trying to figure out what in the
hell is going on.
My gaze falls upon the almost motionless cat squatting on my
dresser, furry, gray face pressed up against the window screen. The short, jerky twitch of the last inch of her
puffed up tail is the only sign that she’s alive. Based on the noise which has woken me up, I could
have sworn she’d been killed in battle against an intruder but no, the enemy is
on the outside and making the same noises as C.C., (short for Crazy Cat). I’m surprised my neighbours haven’t called
the police – it sure sounded like someone was being murdered!
But then, perhaps my neighbours have become inured to these
kinds of sounds, as most of them have been living here a lot longer than me. The problem?
CATS!!! Feral cats, stray cats, domestic cats on the
prowl, almost every kind of cat, except, of course, indoor cats, like mine. These interlopers seem to make a beeline for
my house and, maybe I’m paranoid, but they seem to target my property because
they KNOW I have cats who are always inside and, therefore, in their tiny but
large-brained cat heads, my cats are the ones they MUST torture. They do not fear retaliation from their
confined counterparts. Why should
they? They’re on the outside looking in.
My poor babies are in one of the most luxurious ‘prisons’ known
to womankind and are, for the most part, quite content, except when these feline fighters face-off on their home turf and C.C. seems to be determined to
protect her territory by going ‘over the wall’ when I open the door, even if
the enemies are nowhere nearby at the time.
C.C. is about 4 years old.
I got her from a cat shelter which ran adoption clinics in the pet food
store I used to go to, in the Town down under.
Although keeping her indoors was premeditated, I did have her ‘altered’
(today’s word for ‘fixed’), as I wanted to make sure that if she did get out
accidentally, she wouldn’t come home with “her belly up under her chin”, as my
father used to so delicately describe pregnancy. Since I moved into my new house here in SCA, C.C.
sometimes makes a break for it when I open the front door and darts out. She gets out a couple of feet (.6 m) or so onto
the porch and then stops like she’s run into a brick wall. Hunkering down, she looks around wildly,
various expressions flickering across her gray, furry face, “What in the heck
have I done now? Where am I? What should I do now? Why is Mom screaming at me? Man, what happened to the heat? It’s friggin’ freezing out here. Ewwwww,
what is that horrible stuff on my feet? IT’S
WET!!!! My feet are frozen! Oh, man, how come I didn’t realize I have it
so good on the inside?” The progressive thought process clicks in and
with one galvanized jump, C.C. clears my legs, then the threshold and scampers
back into the house, no worse for wear from her brief jail break. I sigh with relief that I don’t have to go
chasing her across SCA and slam the door smartly behind her rapidly retreating rump.
Anyhoo, back to the ‘other’ kinds of cats…
Apparently, there is a cat problem here in SCA. Really?
No one filled me in on that one before I purchased my house here. Almost everywhere I look, I can see a
skulking cat somewhere close by, especially when the sun starts to go down. What happened to the RULE? You know the one in the 12 page lease, Rule
#5,629 (yes, a little sarcasm there) that states: PETS -
a. A pet is an animal
owned by the Tenant for which the tenant has obtained permission from the
Landlord to keep on or within the Site.
c. Control of Pets: (i)Care and control of Pets shall be the sole
responsibility of the Tenant. The Tenant
shall exercise such proper care and control as the Landlord might expect of a
reasonable pet owner.
(iii) Dogs and cats shall
be leashed at all times while outdoors.
(iv) The Tenant shall
restrict pets from entering onto the sits of other Tenants in the Park.
(vi) If the Tenant fails to exercise proper care and control of
its pets, as determined solely by the Landlord, then the Landlord shall give
notice in writing to require the Tenant to remove the pet from the Park in
accordance with the terms of the Notice, and the Tenant shall do so.
Yada, yada, yada. . .
I only hit the high points of the Pet-relevant clauses contained
in the Lease and as I feel they relate to this problem and story. I have to say that I am totally disillusioned
by not only having to deal with this huge problem but also that I was not
informed that there was this kind of problem, prior to deciding where I would
buy my new home. According to a
voice-mail left by Julie, SCA admin office, (name has been changed), SCA is
well aware that there is a problem with these fearless felines in The Park and
that it’s been going on “for several years in the area.”
And so the saga begins – stay tuned – same cat place, same cat
channel – same cat problem…
Feral
cat
A
feral cat is a descendant of a domesticated cat that has returned to the wild.
It is distinguished from a stray cat, which is a pet cat that has been lost or
abandoned, while feral cats are born in the wild. Wikipedia
Scientific name: Felis Catus
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Read your blog. it was good. I would have smiled more if the subject wasn’t such a sad reality.
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