The great escape

The catlets were allowed outside yesterday. They were very nervous – Sirius was actually trembling, though did venture out, taking little trips further and further from the door. He eventually became extremely excited and dashed enthusiastically around. By contrast, Cassie took a long time to put even a paw out and then kept withdrawing it. In the end, however, even she went outside for a short time. It had been raining, though, and everything was a bit wet so they keep getting damp feet.

The four of us – Daughter 2, Son, my husband and I – hovered around like anxious parents all the time they were outside. Eventually it got too much for our nerves and we ushered them inside again.

My husband has installed a catflap in the door from the kitchen to the garden – though we haven’t introduced the kits to this yet. I really, really don’t want to come home from work to find a scene of devastation featuring little furry or feathery corpses so we’ve equipped the twins with collars adorned with bells in the hope of warning off the local wildlife. I wonder if the bells will work. (I hear hollow laugher echoing round Blogland.)

As well as the bells, the collars have magnets to unlock the catflap magnetically when the catlets approach. Or that’s the idea.

We’ve been accustoming them to the collars for a few weeks, on and off, but once the magnets were added, a couple of problems immediately arose.

1) The bells stick to the magnets; the rattly bits inside the bells stick to the magnetised side of the bells; and the bells become silent. We solved this one, though, by putting the bells and the magnets on opposite sides of the buckles. Cunning, eh?

2a) If a cat walks too close to the fridge, freezer, washing machine or tumble drier, there’s a dull “clonk” and the feline finds itself attached to the appliance: a furry little fridge magnet. Sirius has established that a firm, manly yank will disengage him while Cassie simply collapses on her side in the opposite direction and frees herself that way.

2b) When they curl fluffily up together, they tend to become attached at the neck. They can unlink themselves by pulling firmly apart, but this needs a certain amount of coordination which isn’t necessarily one of their talents.

Don’t say I don’t bring you thrills and laughter from the Life household’s weekend.

There are other things in our lives beside cats. I just can’t recall them at the moment.

Later, Daughter 2 and the cats needed a nap to recover from the excitement. Napping is a talent that the three of them share.