Wednesday 10 April 2019

Pets and Others

I commented on Rachel's blog when she briefly posted about all four of her cats being in the house at once. (They are all lovely black cats, by the way). I thought I would chime in that I found feathers this morning. In my kitchen. And that I hadn't found the bird yet. Sigh. Let me tell you about it.




As you may know, we thought it was a good idea to install a cat door.


Right, so, I'm always the first one up in the morning. I came downstairs and saw little fluffy downy feathers on the kitchen floor. I think I said something like, "Oh god, where is the bird? What have you done with the bird?" Scooter had no reply and just wanted to be let out (yes, I realize what I just wrote - yes, we still open the door(s) for the cats even though they have a cat door). I did a quick look about and did not see any bird, or part of a bird. I pondered about the possibility that the bird was eaten - completely consumed- and thought that was highly unlikely. Trust me when I say I have a variety of stories about body parts found on our porch mat, and in the hallway, and in the kitchen...


After a shower, doing my face, fighting my hair fight, coffee, raisin bran, and reading a few blogs (and commenting on Rachel's), I went upstairs to get dressed for work. As I came up the stairs and rounded toward the front hall, I saw a bird on the windowsill. It was a little brown wren. It jumped up and bounced off the window. My husband was in the bedroom and I told him what I saw. I was all ready to grab a shirt out of the laundry basket, creep up to the little bird, and catch it in the shirt, take it downstairs, and take it outside. Husband suggested we just open the window and take out the screen. Fine. Do it your way. His way worked fine.




The bird seemed totally fine, by the way.




As I was bemoaning the whole cat door decision, husband then shared with me that  he had been sitting in the livingroom,  alone, very quiet, no tv or radio on, no clanging about in the kitchen. He was on his laptop and heard a meow. This was a meow he did not recognize. He heard the "clinking" sound of a cat eating dry cat food out of a bowl. He got up and quietly walked out to the kitchen. That's when he saw "orange cat" eating cat food, as calm as can be.


We don't own an orange cat.




He looked up, saw husband, and ran away, undoubtedly out the cat door. He obviously gets the concepts of going in the cat door. We've seen orange cat around. In fact, he has been in the house twice before. Once when just our son was home, and once when husband came home from something and walked into the livingroom to see him on the windowsill, inside, looking out. Both times he took off in a hurry. I'm not a fan of orange cat. We already have two cats. We are not looking to adopt. But I think we've been adopted. Who knows, maybe he's the one who brought the bird in the house!

47 comments:

  1. Now that is an interesting cat story.

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  2. Bravo well done! Made my night. Laughing hysterically through the whole journey.

    If there was to be a strange cat in my house an orange boy would be fine. As they are love bug males. HOWEVER and that is a big however my four indoor/outdoor females might not see it the way I would.

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    1. He's not a bad looking cat. I think he must have belonged to someone at some point.

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  3. We have two orange cats around here, both toms. They're wild cats but turn up in hope of a feed. We already have 4 other wild cats so I.m not too keen on these marmelades. Thank goodness none of them come into the house, it's bad enough that they traipse all over chairs and tables outside and the outside sink. The two orange cats are very clever, they've been known to attwmpt to remove the lid of a boiling poton the gas stove outside.
    Cats will always survive. Your orange cat is surviving on your cat's food lol!

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    1. I suspect he comes in at night while we are sleeping and eats cat food as well. We have been wondering why the bowls are completely empty in the morning.

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  4. Not a fun thing to wake up to Jenn ... I love orange cats, but having said that I'm not a fan of the roaming cats from easterly neighbours. They stalk & kill many of my chipmunks & birds. My two fur girls are strictly indoor cats. Glad your little wren lives another day. ... Mary-Lou =^..^=

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  5. Looking forward to hearing the next installment of orange cat. I am sure you have not heard (or seen) the last of him.

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    1. If there are more installments, I shall name them Orange Cat 2, Orange Cat 3, ...

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  6. What a story. So glad the bird is ok. We have dogs and no cats. My husband is allergic to cats. We also have a dog door. I wonder if the orange cat will be back since it knows how to get in and eat....lol Have a wonderful weekend and thank you for your visit.

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  7. Oh my gosh about the orange cat . Yep you have been adopted for sure. We have always had dogs so I am not an expert on cats and knew of doggie doors but never heard of cats using them. My neighbor has a doggie door for her pup and one night she said she heard a noise in the kitchen near the doggie door. She looked down and her dog was sleeping in its bed beside her. So she got up to see what the noise was in the kitchen. It was a raccoon that used the doggie door to come in and eat some dog food. Lucky for her it got scared and ran out. So now she cannot leave the back doggie door open all the time. So I guess you should be glad it is just another cat and not other animals smelling the food and having an easy way inside your house!!!!! Let's hope the orange cat does not tell his friends where they can get a good meal lol!
    Hugs,
    Kris

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    1. We do see raccoons in the area and even had to trap some with a live trap years ago and transport them elsewhere. I desperately hope we don't get a raccoon in the house!

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    1. He does. Our son seems to think we should just adopt him outright. I think not.

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  9. You really do write funny stories!
    Get rid of the cat door!!!
    Enjoy the rest of your week...
    Cheers!
    Linda :o)

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    1. Unfortunately if we got rid of the cat door, we would have meows waking up as night to let them out. The cat door was installed two years ago when we, as a whole family, were going to be away for Christmas for a week. We have nobody in the area who would be available to look after our cats for that long, so we made sure a neighbour came just a couple of times to top up huge bowls of food and water in the mudroom area where the cats could access by going in and out of the cat door. It worked pretty well.

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  10. Just after I replied to you about not having trouble with impostor cats I spotted one making for our flap, Unbelievable, I think I must have tempted fate. Fire Cat had spotted it too and was over immediately on guard duty. We together saw the cat off. With four cats it is impossible not to have a flap to let them have freedom to come and go. I couldn't cope with them otherwise!

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    1. I agree. Before the cat door, we were up and down constantly letting our two in and out (various doors, depending on their whims). Actually, we still do some of that...

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  11. Hmmm...cat doors can let in more than cats you know?????? Think skunks, snakes...... Bye bye cat door.

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    1. The cat door is accessed from our paved, covered car port, as opposed to out in our back yard. I just have a feeling the wildest of critters would stay clear of our cars, and cement and such. I know, I may have to eat my words.

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  12. Now THAT's a story. I never had a cat door but once Stimpy came in the house after being outside and hurled up a cardinal on the kitchen floor. At least it was on the floor. That was his last day of freedom. Glad your little bird got away.

    Hope Orange Cat is a nice one because until that door is locked he knows a gravy train when he sees it. (Being a sucker for orange boys I would have locked him IN!)

    Lizzie hasn't seen outside on her own for six and a half years. I'm not sure she'd know what to do anymore!

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    1. I just love the fact that you had a cat named Stimpy!

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  13. Birds are one thing but mice! That was my orange cats favourite plaything. We had several in the house, none dead, but then we had the problem of finding, catching and removing them. My orange cat is no more. Chris (I have lost my google account)

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    1. Oh, we've had mice! Even before the cat door, they would try and bring them in the regular way, by meowing to be let in and then holding it in their mouths! We sometimes missed it!

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  14. Oh, good story! Yep, methinks that cat door may bring more problems than it solves. Plus, you're going to be spending more money on cat food when Orange Cat tells his friends where the free food is!

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    1. I have a feeling Orange Cat is such and opportunist, that he won't share such information!!

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  15. Awe love this story! We have 3, one unplanned as we were making donations to our local animal shelter and she chose us, lol. We all fell in love with her and she kept following us, she also has no tail it had to be amputated they said because it was basically "dead" and she had no use of it. She has been forever grateful that we brought her home and she is so lovable. Our other cats have accepted her perfectly :-) We also have 5 indoor dogs....that's a story for another time, lol. Enjoy the rest of your week!

    blessings,
    Jill

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    1. Did you know our Scooter had his tail amputated? I sometimes refer to him as Scooter-the-cat-with-no-tail. It was a glorious tail, too. He had an unfortunate accident, really quite awful actually, but having no tail has not held him back in the least! We adopted our Samson from a shelter, too.

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  16. Wonderful story! I love "your" orange cat already. I hope we hear more about him/her. Your story reminds me of a friend from years ago who also had a cat door. She came downstairs one morning to find a racoon going through her pocketbook on her kitchen counter. It had even unwrapped and pulled apart a tampon!

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    1. Yours is the second raccoon story on here. I'm just hoping because the cat door isn't facing out onto the lawn at all, or the trees where we sometimes get raccoons, that we'll be o.k.

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  17. The scary thing is....what eles has adopted you! What can be coming in that maybe you have not seen yet! Oops...sorry for putting any of those thoughts in your head but I am sure you probably already thought about all that. My cat is an indoor babe but I do have to get up and let the dogs out. Even if I had a doggie/kitten door they still could not go far since the deck is screened in. Best of luck getting the orange cat unadopt you!

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  18. Well I love that orange cat has decided you're a safe haven :-) That's adorable.

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  19. That's what I've always been afraid of - the interlopers. I have a friend who found a young raccoon in the morning, sitting on her kitchen counter with his/her head an paws buried in the cookie jar.

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  20. Cats are so much safer and healthier when kept inside.
    the Ol'Buzzard

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  21. Wow, no dull moments in your house!! I had thought of putting in a doggy door when I bought my house but I've heard so many horror stories of various wild animals in the house in particular raccoons that I opted not to. Plus, getting up out of my chair to let the pups out 8,000 times in the evenings when I'm trying to relax is like exercise, right?

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  22. Didn't think about strange cats coming in to one's cat door!

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  23. oh my goodness, you post made me chuckle. Yes, cats pick their owners and it looks like you have been picked by orange cat. We cannot have a pet door because we would have racoons and anything else that could enter......inside of our home. We have a fireplace and did not know that we needed a screen cover over the chimney. A large screech owl taught us about it one night....at 3 in the morning, when it came down the chimney and into our living room. So good luck with your door.........and your new cat!

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  24. Your post made me chuckle......and you are right about orange cat.......he has adopted you. Good luck with your cat door. There are good things and bad things about pet doors! Glad you were able to let the little bird out!

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  25. thank you to share a story...make me smile
    have a great weekend

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  26. Phew...so glad the little bird was okay! And the orange cat seems to have quite a character. Maybe your home is the cool home of the neighbourhood, where all the kitties want to hang out at :)

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  27. Glad the bird flew off safely and wonder if orange cat was the culprit, but then I suspect the small wren would not have been alive still, so just wondering if it got in the house on its own, somehow.

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  28. Oh my goodness, walking in to see a big orange cat making herself at home.....that's wonderful and funny.

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  29. Oh my goodness, might be related to Bernie Sanders! HaHa! We have a big orange cat but we are miles and miles away in Colorado USA! I am new
    following you.
    My grandson has a big dog, He is kind and gentle. They also have an old bird, he is 40! There are cats everywhere on their property. My son-in-law said his dingy DIL brought the bird, who has clipped wings by the way, out to the deck. Of course, the one cat went wild and thank goodness my SIL had the sense to hit the cat with a toy making our great grand boy cry . But the cat was fine and the bird saved! The toy was saved and Harrison has survived the ordeal! Praise the Lord!
    Love dhearing your story here. Have a beautiful day!

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  30. Orange one wants to be get adopted by you. :)

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  31. What your Dear Reader said, about another animal, coming in the dog door.... That is what I'd be afraid of tooooo.... Coming in the cat door.

    🌱😊🌱

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