Update

[lexin]

Smokey scared the pants off me yesterday. It was entirely my fault, but I’m now very wary of windows.

The story is that I decided the flat was stuffy and opened my living room window rather wider than I normally would. I thought nothing of it until I was sitting on the sofa having finished work, when I suddenly realised that the little furry monster was on the window ledge and had all four paws outside the window. My flat is first floor (second floor if you’re in the US) and therefore quite a long way from the ground.

I called to her, and she ignored me, so I went over and gently but firmly lifted her back into the living room and put her on the ground. Then I closed the window. Then I went and sat on the sofa, trembling with anxiety. She’s never shown any interest before in what might be outside the flat. Maybe she thought the flat was fusty, too.

In other news

I have no other news. My boss thinks I might take some of the spare time I have to do online training, which I will. It’s just that I hate online training, it makes my head ache.

I do think I’m worrying in my lizard brain, because I’m spending time online buying stuff, principally food, that I don’t properly need. I’m also having anxiety dreams, which is quite unpleasant.

Comments

[sailorkitty]

Gosh, I'm sorry about the online training :(

Your kitty, though! Good thing nothing came of it. Even if cats are known to survive long falls, this is not really a great time for vet visits.

[lexin]

I have never learned anything of much use from online training.

I was pleased I got Smokey before she decided to take a wander along the outside window ledge, which is only about 4cm wide. How I'd have got her down from there, I don't like to think.

[aunty_marion]

Naughty Smokey! You can open the top windows a little more, perhaps?

[lexin]

That's what I'm doing. And I'm a bit leery of that, even. For her age, she's a lithe cat.

[kotturinn]

I was wondering if https://www.flatcats.co.uk/ might be useful, but they're pausing orders until next month.

[lexin]

I will keep a note of that website, because that looks to be very much what I want to keep Smokey from creeping out when I have the windows open.

[watervole]

What an excellent idea.

[lexin]

I'm very impressed with that idea. I'll be contacting them when they reopen.

[krait]

Wow, what a scary moment! But at least she let you catch her. I don't think cats really understand how windows work? As in, "if you go through this you will be in Another Place Entirely, not just another room of the house, and you probably won't like it one bit." I suspect - based in part on watching one of my cats try twice to walk into a mirror - that most of them think of windows as a form of television that might have catchable bugs in it.

I'm always a little worried my cats will take a dive through the screen when they sit in the window out of sheet catness (i.e. "I saw something move, and my body is wired to pursue it without input from the brain") even though they don't actively try to find ways through it. I bought a thing that I use as a cat-blocker, which has been helpful. It's actually a candle holder, and looks something like this, though mine has three panels of the same height instead of four that are staggered.

Online training sounds annoying. I hope you won't have to do too much of it, and that the anxiety dreams taper off!

[lexin]

I was really scared a bird would fly past and she'd try to catch it. I don't think she understands distance, being an indoor cat.

[krait]

Distance definitely seems to be a challenge for cats! I have watched mine totally misjudge jumps, or try to walk into the chair on a mirror, or swat at moths through the window without seeming to realise they're leaning on the screen.

[stranger]

Cats are generally very good at balancing on ledges, fenceposts, windowsills, etc., but of course they do miscalculate now and then. Better to be safe.

I've had some episodes of having to put cats in one room so I could air out another without tempting them to explore outdoors. Then there was the episode when my more obstreperous kitty *knocked out* the bathroom window in his quest to get outside when he was annoyed, fortunately a window only a few feet above the ground. Sturdier window had to be installed, but that's fixed it.

[lexin]

If I tried to put Smokey in one room while I did something (and I've tried) she would yowl and bash herself against the door until I opened it.

She even fusses when I close the door to take a shower (water demon! mummy in danger!), but if I don't the fire alarm goes off from the steam.

[corvidology]

Resisting lizard brain is like resisting Godzilla!:D

I'm glad you managed to rescue Smokey. &hearts'

[lexin]

The lizard brain rules, it really does. I had another anxiety dream last night.

[gattagrigia]

Some days I think I would just not even move if it wasn't for the cats. (Well, that's not quite true, there are other humans here, they'd notice.) Mostly the cats are not interested in the outdoors, but if I open the windows widely, it is with an extra screen just in case.

Retail therapy is quite seductive; I've spent far too much money on stuff I don't need in the last 3 months. Little things, relatively inexpensive things, and then packages get delivered several times a week, like special presents just for me!

[lexin]

I know what you mean about packages being delivered, it's like a little gift and cheers me up.