Royal Cats

Cats. My daughter can’t live without them and last week she wondered if she can live with them. Sharon has always had a cat or two until one day her last cat departed to a home that allowed him to stay indoors only. After a period of time without a pet, Sharon offhandedly commented on a friend’s Facebook post advertising kittens, “too bad we don’t live closer because we would love a couple of kittens!” Cats do better in sets, afterall. Surprisingly, the friend drove in from out of state for work and delivered two kittens to Sharon. She proudly posted pictures of cute kitties on her Facebook page.During our next visit, Katie introduced me to Cleopatra, a stripey tortoiseshell, and King Tut sporting a striped coat of regal gold. Lively little things, they played, pounced and performed for us. My husband twirled a string seductively to tempt the felines. Cleopatra batted it playfully. King Tut gave him the royal cold shoulder. When they were tiny kittens, the family kept them inside. Once they reached their full size, Sharon opened the door for them to explore the wide world outside.A wooden fence withbrick fence pillars surrounds the back and sides of the family’s property. “The cats climb to the top of those six foot pillars. They choose different pillars all around our yard then sit there and stare down at neighboring yards watching the activity. Yesterday they sat together on a pillar and supervised our neighbor Jeff as he backed his trailer into his garage,” she said. Probably assessing its worthiness for a trip down the Nile River, I thought.“When the neighbor dogs come out, they just stand and stare at them, taunting them. But if another cat comes into the yard, they follow it around.” I assume to verify its royal background“This morning, early, before I had dressed for the day, a neighbor whom I have yet to meet, was ringing the doorbell repeatedly. When I looked down the hall to the door, she was staring into the door window, trying to get my attention.“She was very disturbed. This morning King Tuttl was in her backyard, and last night she found Cleopatra stretched out under the table in her house. Just hanging out there. Cleopatra evidently had entered through their little dogs’ doggy door.“This is the first time I have met this neighbor woman. I was so embarassed. I apologized but she still was not happy,” Sharon said.Obviously, I thought, Cleopatra assumed that her domain included their living room. “If that wasn’t enough, the neighbor said that King Tut was still lying down in their yard. She tried to pick him up and move him away. I went over, looked for him but he had left.” “. She gave me a thinly veiled threat. She said, ‘they pick up animals in this neighborhood and put them down. I just don’t want the cat to attack my little dog.’’“She also told me they have video cameras on their porch. They see the cats walking up and down Illinois Bayou Drive as if it were the Nile.”“I cannot believe my cat went through their doggy door,” Sharon said.“I told her ‘they are getting fixed next week.’ She said ‘that should help some.’ Still she was so mad, like I had personally let the cat go there.’“I told her, you can tell them ‘no. Spray them with water or spank them a bit. They are very mild cats. They are not mean or fighters. They are just curious.’”After regaling me with the cat story, Sharon said she made King Tut and Cleopatra feel like slaves, “We put their collars back on them. When I do that, they act like they are absolutely dying.”Hopefully it will be a quickly learned lesson and descent from power for Tut and Cleo. Definitely it was a new lesson in pet ownership.