Wednesday, March 2, 2011

A (true) story by Kent

Kent frequently works from home, which the cats like and which also helps keep them awake during the day. Yesterday, not only did I leave on another trip--always unsettling to the kitties--Kent went into the office. That meant the cats had free range of sleeping spots and plenty of time to snooze and snooze during the day. What follows is his account of last night's shenanigans.

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Chloe nearly became an only child again last night.

I go to bed around 10 pm. We have the typical tango of cats cycling through to get their petting which ends with all the cats leaving the bedroom to torment Chloe in the living room. Except the tormenting never stops. (note: when Kent says torment, he's not exaggerating. Eddie turns into a mean bully sometimes with Chloe and has even bitten out some of her fur. Generally we have to put him in kitty time out in our room to break his fixation.)

After about 15 minutes I get up to separate Eddie. After I go back to bed he goes right back to torturing Chloe. We do this cycle about three times.

Eventually I get Eddie to come to bed. He gets his petting and he even curls up under the covers. I'm ready for sleepy land and then I hear Chloe yowling because Wally is tormenting her...which rouses Eddie.

After a few more cycles of separating cats I eventually get Chloe to come to bed so I can protect her. She gets nice and settled on your pillow. Except now she's wired and won't fall asleep. Every time one of the boys get within 15 feet she starts yowling. I'm not sure, but I think the boys are ready to kittie pile and go to bed, except every time they hear her yowl they think the game is back on. For a brief moment all the cats were on the bed and settling in when the boys decided to start wrestling each other. Chloe eventually bolts and we are right back to square 1.

At 11:45pm I am so frustrated I grab a bowl of food and a litter box and lock Chloe and myself into the bedroom/bathroom and leave the boys out in the living room area. This works great until the boys start clawing at the bathroom doors making a clatter. After Chloe fell asleep and the boys had been quiet for about 5 minutes I opened the bedroom door. The boys cycled through to see what was going on and then decided to punish me by sleeping in the living room. But it was at last peaceful at 12:30.

5 comments:

lemming said...

Poor Kent! Poor Chloe!

Judith said...

And I thought our new dog was neurotic!!!

Jeanne said...

Our cats also think that bedtime is the right time to start their shrieking fights. It's a cat's sacred duty to be disobliging.

sabrina said...

what happened to Chloe not liking them so they would leave her alone. poor chloe! i think she should get an extra treat tonight.

edj3 said...

She's a very solitary cat and doesn't much care for others of her species. And the boys are a little too rambunctious for her tastes.