Walking the cat

My sweet Callie has been infected with a vicious case of spring fever, forcing her to chew on door frames, attempt to scale walls, and cry piteously while pacing around the windows.  I suppose I can't blame her; cats aren't exactly known for their supreme memories.  If she did have an attention span longer than my last trip to a strobe-containing bar, she might remember that there are stray cats living under our house who delight in kicking her ass.  Poor baby, she just wants to go out and play with the birds, while I want to avoid vet bills.  So, I have let her out for brief periods in the last couple of days, worrying the whole time.  These short recesses have just brought about more kitty schizoid behavior.  I had enough today.  Enough!  So I decided I'd walk the cat.  We have a harness left over from the last big storm (we wanted to have a way to contain Callie if we had to go to 'rents).  Tonight, with much difficulty, we dressed our obese feline in her harness (thank God it's adjustable), and clipped a retractable leash to it.  And we opened the door.  She streaked out and immediately tried to get in the hedge.  We pulled her out of the hedge, and she just crouched there, on the ground, refusing to move.  Tim picked her up, thinking maybe if she got on the sidewalk she'd quit doing her best Guillaume Barre Syndrome impression.  Nope.  We put her down and she refused to budge.  Not even the sight of the neighbor's kitten could get her large butt moving.  I was forced to carry her home in 80-degree heat, and she's no lightweight.  And now, the spoiled brat is sulking.  Oh well, that's what I get for trying to walk a cat.

Comments

[Stephen]

{{{Mel}}}

We've had similar experiences lately... Our kitty (Mitten) delights in pointing out many times a day lately by crying, how its just not fair for us to let our pug outside to lay in the sun or go potty and not let her go out unattended.

We recently had the kitten fixed as a prelude to perhaps giving her a little more freedom. She has always seemed so docile & we've worried that perhaps her & the other neighborhood animals wouldn't hit it off so well and she'd be eaten or beaten up.

Today, when I went outside to grill some burgers & brats for dinner, I let her out on the deck with me to get some fresh air & maybe chase a few bugs around... an excercise she dearly loves. I left her there while I retreated to the house to fetch a pancake-turner, thinking she'd be okay for a moment or two until I returned.

Meanwhile, a neighbor of mine let his dog (huge rottweiller - must weigh more than 120 lbs) out to go potty in his own yard... The neighbor's dog wandered over into our yard to say "hi" and proceeded to lift his leg next to our deck. Eye-witnesses say that our cute little petite kitten leaped off of the railing of our deck & sunk her claws into the back & neck of the rottweiller & proceeded to ride the poor dog around the yard "bronco" style... it apparently was just hillarious.

I heard the dog yelping, howling & crying and went out to see what all of the ruckous was... it took me several minutes to chase them down in order to even pull the hissing cat from the dog. She did not want to let go and even tryed to bite me when I grabbed her.

Needless to say, I don't think I have anything to worry about concerning the cat being hurt by neighborhood animals but now we've been asked to keep her inside so she doesn't attack other ones... LOL

Thought that you'd get a kick outta my story...

Very Best Wishes,

Stephen

[Deb W]

Our cat, Tiger, is howling and moaning about springtime too. When we have the windows open he moves from one to another to another, trying to get out. Right now they're closed and he's having a stroke.

Many years ago with out first cat we tried the harness. When we got it on him (Whiskers), he just fell over like he was paralyzed. We picked him up and he did it again, over and over. It was hysterical.