My Siamese cat, sweet Meeko wouldn’t come out of the beams. It happens. She’s more skittish than Bear. Usually treats do the trick. Nope. All I got was a plaintive wail.
In an abundance of caution I got the step stool out, instead of climbing the book case. I know, I know. Quit lecturing me.
Before I got up high, down I went. I heard the thud of my head on the wood floor and saw a cat fly over my head. That would be Bear. He knew he was bad, bad, bad.
It was a low glucose issue, lots of activities, ER, hospital stay. I got ok and released. Not much damage. A bump on my head and a bruised butt.
Back to Bear. When I got home I discovered Meeko has a small bare patch on her shoulder. Remarkably similar to one she had before when Bear clawed her over a missing liver treat.
He is so busted.
I gave him a time out and a lecture. Too bad he don’t mind me. It might’ve worked to correct his behaviors.
Meeko is fine. She barely remembers the scratch. Of course the ‘stepstool’ will forever trigger her.
The stepstool will forever trigger ME now. No more of that, missy. (Please imagine me glaring at you over spectacles, even though I don’t have spectacles. I always wanted them to peer over when I was teaching. My students said I could be intimidating enough without.) Oh, I saw your “Quit lecturing me.” Too bad. You got a whole lot of us fond of you here, and we have a vested interest in your health and happiness. Now you just sit down and write, “I will not pursue Meezers on beams” 100 times or you won’t get to go to the sock hop.
Add: “I will not use foot stools to pursue cats of any stripe”. 50 times should be sufficient as long as you are sincere and use your best cursive. Ink only, no pencil or cross outs.
Damn! I enjoyed your telling of the bad bad bad cat. Bear shows no remorse, I assume?
If someone else is in the house, ask them to retrieve the cat. If no one is, let the cat retrieve themself. They have gotten themselves down before, they can do it again. You, Beck, do not get to climb up to high places anymore, at least not unless you’ve checked your glucose levels first and confirm they’re OK. We want your head (and the rest of you) intact.
Bear likes sitting in top the pantry door watching the kitchen proceedings.
I’m not sure how he does it. Sitting on the edge of a door is quite a feat.
When I’m alone in the house I just let him do it and ease around the opened door.
Doesn’t work with kids running through and around the kitchen.
Bear has been unseated a few times. You’d think he learn.
For such a genius cat he’s kinda dumb.
Speaking of cats and ceilings I had an acoustic tile out in my kitchen (at the old place) to do some plumbing work. It was out for about a day. Late at night I realized that I hadn’t seen Crow, my cat, for a long time. Searched the house and came to the conclusion that he had somehow slipped outside. Went out to look for him, he was a strictly indoor cat with zero street smarts. When I came in I suddenly had the thought that he had gotten up in the ceiling via the missing tile. Got a ladder and a flashlight, stuck my head up and looked around above the suspended ceiling. No cat. Then I looked at the open top of one of the walls above the ceiling. Couldn’t get in far enough to look down into the wall. I went and got a hand mirror and using that and the flashlight I was able to see him sitting there at the bottom of an eight foot hollow wall. No way for him to get up and no way for me to get him out. Yeah, I had to cut a hole in the wall to get him out. He never made a sound the whole time I was calling him and shaking his food container.
Yow. Very lucky that you thought of his possibly having gotten down there!
– I had an upstairs bathroom put in some years ago and the contractor had the floor up. After he left I realized I hadn’t seen a Very Shy Cat all day. When hunting in all the usual places didn’t turn him up I looked at that open floor, and lay down on it with a flashlight. Way way back, as far into the eaves away from that noisy contractor as he could get, eyes were looking back at me.
Luckily, he was able to get himself out, once I was able to convince him that it was only me there and I had fascinating food with me. I shut him up safely first thing the next morning out of the way of the construction work, and told the contractor it was lucky he hadn’t finished the floor, because we’d have had to open it back up again. He gave me a funny look, but I certainly wouldn’t have left the poor cat in there!
How’s Bayliss?