Getting Ready for the Visit of a Friend with Cat Allergies....
I've decided that all our cat's have a sixth sense. OK, so I already felt that way, but now I KNOW they do. You see, tomorrow we are supposed to have a visit from a family friend who is very allergic to cats. This guy is really allergic, not the type of mild allergy a lot of people have that can still cope with a cat hair or two. With the aid of an inhaler and very strong medication, he can just handle being in a cat infested house for a few days. Of course, the less exposure he has to cat hair, the less sick he's going to be. This man loves animals (thank goodness he can be around the dogs) so it has nothing to do with disliking cats. I suspect he'd own a couple of them if he could, but that just isn't practical.
Neither is staying in our house, not really. But he's a good friend and there just aren't a lot of options if we want him to visit. Besides, we've managed before and he did all right. Of course, we were very careful to keep the bedroom cats locked up for a few days before he came, and the outside cats outside. This time however, I'm afraid the cats have insured a different sort of experiment. Starting two days ago, the bedroom crew have been staging escapes, every change they get. No hallway, staircase, drawing room or sewing area is safe. Thankfully, we have managed to keep the spare bedroom door safely shut. But I suspect its only a matter of time before they try to assault that one too.
And as for the outside cats, its been kitchen hunting time! No longer deterred by a formerly cat-aggressive huge male elk hound, they seem to have figured out that now a days he is all bark and no bite. Somehow, they sense he just isn't the same creature that ate one of their tails which trying to escape. Even our formally long tailed cat has started racing inside, every time the door is open. True, he gives the dog a wide berth, but he still tries to come in. And the last several days, its been cat city all over the place.
Its not just the kitchen either. Having figured out that they will be promptly tossed back out into rain if they linger, they are becoming highly skilled at the art of gate crashing through any open interior door. They have devised a new use for my husbands six foot tall gun-safe. It no longer just protects the guns those not authorized to use them, its 600 pounds of wight also work quite nicely to protect a cat who hides behind it from eviction. They have also discovered the hidden hiddy-hole that links the area under the back stairs (which is behind the unsafe) to the airing cupboard.
What is an airing cupboard you may ask? I don't know if these are popular in other places, but in Ireland, this is a closet full of shelves that is build around the water heater. With the climate so damp and electric cloths dryers a recent import, the shelves are used to store towels, sheets and other thick laundry. Many families, including ours, continue to store these items in the warm cupboard until we need them. To a barn cat, this is the perfect escape hole. A warm, dark, place filled with soft, fuzzy, fabric....oh the luxury of it all! And find it they have! And, of course, there is not enough time to re-wash all of it. I think the sheets we got on the spare bed are reasonably cat hair free, but I can't be sure. I suspect I'll be re-washing some of the other sets tonight, just to make sure. Or I may just wait until tomorrow, since we've already had another cat break in this afternoon.
My Main Coon (aka Commander Freya of the Main Militia and Special Forces Survivalist Cat) situated herself just above head level, one paw with claws extended in a defensive pose. She nearly scared my house cleaning lady to death! Imagine putting your head into a dark cupboard when your face is suddenly whacked by a white paw connected to a snarling, growing tuxcido cat! She didn't hurt anybody, she never does (unless you another cat or worse, a dog) but she started the life out of the poor women. Freya is not a small cat at the best of times, when I ran to grab her off her perch, she looked three times bigger the way she had positioned herself. I could see the headline now:
"Demon found in Kilmurry House airing cupboard! News at Ten!"....
Sadly for the demon, I was able to exorcise her with only a little trouble. I don't even listen to Freya's sound effects any more. Although this time I embarrsed her by laughing hysterically as she growled, hissed and let out a MEOWWWWWWGRRR in my general direction. If she really wanted to, the cat is big enough to do some heavy damage with the snow shoe paws. But she's smart enough to know this would not be a good idea with her humans. Not if she wants to continue coming in once a day for her own special bowl of wet cat food. Like a lot of Maine Coon cats, she has tooth troubles and needs special feeding.
When I got to the window to put her outside, I noticed it was snowing a bit. The cat reared back at me and I said,
"There Freya, now you can put those snow pads of yours to good use, your going out anyway!" Cat raced outside and danced after some snowflakes.
I should mention at this point that while the weather at the moment is dreadful, the barn cats have not only tons of warm hay but also old blankets, bits of wool and lots of boxes to keep warm in. Its just more fun to hang outside the kitchen in the rain and snow in hopes of getting inside the house than it is to snuggle up warm in the hay shed. Get your fur all wet and see if the humans will take pity on you!
Or, just run inside every chance you get. By this afternoon, I think we'd had more visits from more cats, than we usually get in a week. Inspection of the outside food bowl showed it to be full, so they were not hungry. No, they just wanted to make sure the house was full of the wondrous dander of cats! The barn cats did their bit downstairs and the bedroom cats for the rest of the house. I think its going to be a very interesting visit....good thing the guys have plans to all go to Dublin this weekend. I guess if things get too bad for our friend, they can leave a couple of days early.
Anyway, I tried....really....but herding cats is a chancy business at the best of times. When they start mind-reading its a lost cause...
Disaster Cat....getting ready to start the washing machine...again....