The Walls Are Slowly Coming Down

The Old Guy told me that the reason he has been gone a couple of days is that he took the Pretty Lady to the Surf & Sand in Laguna Beach for their anniversary. So his son, Derek, took care of me for a couple of days. He's nice enough but doesn't give as good a scratch as the Old Guy. Well as soon as the Old Guy got home, I didn't want him to leave the garage. I must be crazy! When he went out, I meowed like crazy and he came back in to find out what was wrong. Nothing. I just wanted him to . . . hold me. He gave me a good scratch and brush, cleaned the kitty litter and gave me snacks. At first I thought it was because he was happy to see me. But as I think about it I'm not so sure because after buttering me up he did something I'm not sure about . . . he switched the wire mesh gate from the middle to floor level. The Big Orange Head (aka Pinot) and the other cat, Chow Mein, and I were eye-to-eye with only a wire fence between us. Ok, so I hissed and growled a little (maybe more than a little), but at least there was no jumping at the fence. And Chow and Pinot didn't hiss at all. In fact Chow kind of looked at me for a while and then left. Pinot just layed down by the gate staring at me. I'm not sure what to make of this.

Collared

I hate it when the Old Guy decides it's time for me to try something new. It usually results in something bad. Things have been going great in the garage lately. I like being able to move around. I meow and come running whenever the Old Guy or Pretty Lady come in. And I'm more curious and less hissy when I see the Big Orange Head.

However, just when things start to settle down around here, the Old Guy decides it's time to go to the next step of his mission to tame a feral cat. While I was laying innocently in the Old Guy's lap, purring and getting brushed, he picked up a pink string with a bell on it. He called it a cat collar. He messed around with it. I thought it was a new toy and tried to grab it. The next thing I know I'm being strangled by the Old Guy and after that I've got the cat collar on around my neck. Well, at first I was none too happy. I rolled and shook. After a while I kind of forgot about it. The Old Guy went out and the Pretty Lady came in. When the Pretty Lady is around I like to roll on the mat near the washer while she works. Well, while I was rolling, the cat collar got moved up and got stuck in my mouth. I freaked and the Pretty Lady called the Old Guy who . . . You guessed it . . . chased me around the garage. But, I kind of like the Old Guy and don't try to hide anymore. So he finally caught me and took off the cat collar. It's now sitting on top of the cage and I'm trying to decide where to hide it from the Old Guy.

Our First Family Meal

This afternoon the old guy decided it was time for a family meal together. Actually it was more of a family snack. I guess he made a Tuna (fish) sandwich for himself. When he does this, he splits the tuna juice and some tender morsels between us. He put my serving on my side of the gate and Pinot and Chow's on the other side. We all ate together (with the gate between us). The food was good. The company sucked. I growled the entire time, but licked my plate clean. I wonder where this is going?

The Scary Furry Animals

Our mourning routine is the old guy gets up, makes coffee, then feeds the two upstairs cats and then comes into the garage to feed me (we're talking wet food here). So today, the door opens, the light comes on and there before me are two furry animals I have never seen before. The old guy was standing on top of them. Well, I wasn't getting near these guys. The were beige, short haired things with no eyes or feet. I circled, I growled, I even hissed. And even though the old guy talked nice to me I ran away. Then the old guy chased me around the garage. The problem was, everywhere the old guy went, the furry animals went too. Finally, out of frustration, the old guy left my food in my bowl and out he went, with the furry animals. He even had a name for them. He called thim Uggs. Well Mr. Old Guy, I'll thank you to keep the Uggs out of my territory!!!!

Drooling and Hissing

It's wierd but I drool. But I only drool when the old guy scratches me and brushes me. I can't help it. I'll lay in his lap and he will give me some good scratches on my back and then the side of my mouth. Then he brings out the brush and starts to brush where he scratched. I love it and purr really loud. Sometimes I bite him when he gets to aggressive or does more than one brush of my tail. But the drooling . . . I can't stop it. The more he brushes, the more I drool. Big drops too. They fall on his hands, pants and floor. Then he wipes his hand on me . . . gross.

Ok, something else new today. The old guy took off the towels on the baby gates. He had towels up so I couldn't look through that well. He had only left small peep holes for the big headed cat to stare at me. So after he took the towels down today I can see pretty well through the plastic. But above the plastic gate is a wire gate. Today, the big orange head came down and I hissed and growled and walked up to the gates. I stood on my back paws and stuck a paw through the wire gate to show who was boss. Well, the big orange head came over and sniffed my paw. I tried to smack him but I can't get much of my paw through. He didn't growl. He just looks like he wants to play. But when you are a feral cat, you can't be too careful. So I'll continue to hiss and growl for now.

Mousie

As I mentioned earlier, when I was first confined to my cage, each night I would go on a search and destroy mission. This wasn't difficult because the cage was only 3 feet by 2 feet and there wasn't much stuff in it. I destroyed my cat bed, I destroyed the busy kitty, I soaked the remnants of each in my water dish and I emptied my kitty litter. Every morning the old guy would put me into the little cat carrier and clean up my cage. One day the old guy came in with some little things and threw them into my cage. Wow!!!! They were mice!! Actually, they turned out to be fake, but that was ok with me. When the old guy left, I would throw them all over the cage. Eventually they would fly out of the cage and then the next one and finally they were all outside. So I turned back on the other stuff available. Well, after a couple of weeks the old guy and I played a game. He would throw the mice into the cage and leave. I would throw them out. Then he would come in and throw them back in. Then I would throw them out. Sometimes I would throw them out when he was still there and he would throw them back in again. It was fun. Now, I'm out of the cage and I've manage to throw all the mousies in places where I can't find them. But the old guy is pretty smart. He has tied a mousie to a long string and tied the string to the cage. Now, the old guy and I play mousie everyday. Its fun!!!!!

The Doll House

One day while I was still confined to the cage, the old guy came into the garage, opened the garage door (the one that still worked), and began taking stuff out of the garage. This freaked me out so I immediately went into my kitty litter to lay low. This went on for the whole day. When he was done there was a lot less junk in the garage. The next day he came huffing and puffing into the garage carrying a big box like structure. He didn't look too happy about whatever he was carrying. Then he went out and came back with another box like structure. He did this three times. When he left I was able to study what he had brought in. First off, after he brought these things in, the garage looked just as crowded as it did before he cleaned it out. The stuff he brought in looked like small houses. Later I heard him call them "doll houses". He also said that they were made by his mom and that now he's stuck with them.

So, as I have said previously, I've earned the right to stay out of the cage more. So, after he brought these doll houses in, he let me out and then went out of the garage. I checked them out. Interesting. They should be called "cat houses" because each room fits one cat. I know because I tried everyone. Five rooms per house. The other great thing is the stuff in the rooms. One room had a little piece of furniture. It turned out to be a great cat toy. Another room had curtains. I did some remodeling by ripping the curtains to shreads, and then ripping them down and throwing them into the middle of the garage. The curtain room has turned out to be my favorite room. I sleep in it sometimes during the day. It's sooo much better than the expensive cat bed the old guy got me. Although, I must say, it is fun to rip the expensive cat bed to shreads too. I just heard the old guy come in so I've got to run to my room. The other great thing that I forgot to mention is that when I'm in the room, the old guy can't get me. It makes him kind of mad. I love it!!!!

2 steps forward . . . one step back

Today as I was laying on the mat outside my cage and looking for the big orange cat head with the beady eyes, I hearkened back to a more turbulent time . . . about a month ago. Yes, those were the days. On the particular day I was musing about, I recalled that the Old Guy was getting pretty cavalier with me, apparently believing that our relationship had finally turned a corner. What a day indeed. The Old Guy fed me outside of my cage. Once finished eating I started to freak out as I sniffed around the outside of the cage. The Old Guy could see my consternation and reached out to grab me. I latched onto his finger. However, I am an ethical cat and practice "catch and release". So I bit hard (ie. blood was gushing and he was cussing), let him go and ran to a place I had scooped out before. It was a little alcove under some floor to ceiling cabinets he had installed at an earlier time. The alcove was only big enough for me to crawl into and it went back about 18 inches. Just out of reach. It was perfect. Well he huffed, and he puffed and he bitched, but I wouldn't budge. He threw food my way, Tuna (my favorite), you name it. He knows I can't eat when I'm nervous. Then he left me alone, presumably thinking I would just walk out. Ha Ha. Joke was on him. No way was I coming out. Unfortunately, he finally lost patience and out came the dreaded . . . leather gardening glove. He reached in and I really wanted to taste human flesh. Instead all I got was a garden glove sandwich without the meat. He finally got my neck and dragged me out. Where's PETA when you need them? Needless to say, I spent a few days in the clink after that. But as I say, that was last month and now I'm out of the cage all day, left to ponder the big orange cat head with the beady eyes. Oh yeah, remind me to tell you about mousie.

Veni, vidi, hissy

I'm jumping ahead on this one because it happened today. For the past couple of days I've been on my really good behavior. When I'm on the old guy's lap I purr and let him brush and scratch me. When I see him, I meow nicely. When he puts his hands in my cage to pick me up, I let him and don't bite him (too hard) or scratch him (with my claws fully out . . . only half way out). He talks nice to me and I'm getting used to him.

Because of this, he has begun to let me out of my cage to wander the garage. I have a favorite place next to the fridge and freezer. There's a large, kind of furry, garage mat there which I roll on and scratch and lay down on. The old guy has actually begun to let me stay out even when he is not there.

Today there was a lot of commotion. The old guy came in with fences (baby gates) and started to put them up on one of the two door openings to the house. He actually put up 3 gates, above each other, so almost the whole doorway was covered. The bottom gate is kind of an opaque plastic, but you can still see through it. So I walked over to check it out when he was done. The next thing I know there is a giant orange cat head facing me. I mean it was huge with beady eyes. I froze up, puffed up and hissed 10 times in a row. It didn't seem to faze the giant orange cat head with the beady eyes. Then I rowled (not growled, rowled) as loud as I could. Didn't faze the giant cat head with beady eyes though. Then the old guy put a towel over the gate and the giant head with the beady eyes dissappeared.

What the hell was that all about?