15 Mar 2005, 03:17

How to properly traumatize a cat

I got a new roommate yesterday, the furry kind that eats a bunch of food, lies around all day, and doesn’t help out with the rent. Jolayne’s (soon to be our) cat Cleo moved in yesterday. We figured we might as well give her a chance to start getting used to this apartment since she’ll be here on her own for several weeks when we leave for the wedding and honeymoon. We wanted her to get comfortable with the place before then. It turns out that was probably a good idea, as the move was anything but comfortable both for the cat and us…

When we went to Jolayne’s apartment to get her, she must have realized something was up because she went straight under the couch. Rather than waiting around for her to come out, I lifted the couch while Jolayne grabbed her and put her in her carrier. As soon as her rear legs entered the carrier she began to let out the most tortured sound I’ve ever heard a cat make. Every 2 seconds non-stop she would let out a loud and desperate meow. Only it didn’t sound like meow, it sounded like “Ow!”. So we’re walking out of Jolayne’s apartment with a cage that sounds like we’ve got a little kid in there going “OW! OW! OW! OW!”. I’m surprised no one called the cops. She kept that up all the way over to my apartment and by the time we got her inside she was throwing herself against the walls of the carrier. We let her out at my place and she just streaked across the floor on her belly looking for a place to hide. Only there wasn’t any. She’s too fat to fit under my couch and we had the bedroom doors closed. She sulked around the apartment for a while, still making that noise every now and then. Finally when Jolayne opened the cabinet under the bathroom sink to put the bag of cat food under it, Cleo bolted into the cabinet and wouldn’t come out for hours. I guess that’s all she needed though, because she’s since come out and has taken to exploring the apartment. It’s kind of been an adjustment for me, I’ve never had a pet before and while I have nothing against cats I’ve come to realize its a whole different thing when they actually live with you. Now I’ve got to learn to keep doors shut because I don’t want her going in the bedroom or computer room and getting hair on everything. (Cat hair + computer fans = not good) She’s pretty much taken over the second bathroom because that’s the only place we had to put her litter box and food dish. She’s a very messy cat and has already managed to scatter food and litter around the bathroom floor. So yeah, there’s some stuff that I’m not crazy about but I do enjoy having Cleo around. Especially since that means Jolayne’s around more often too.

Comments

Comment by Carrie on 2005-03-15 00:19:42 +0000

Hooray for kitties!

Comment by Posko on 2005-03-15 10:47:35 +0000

Good thinking. It’s always nice to have a live source of food around the place, just in case.