Hobbes will one day learn the meaning of the saying "Curiosity..." Well I certainly hope not, I can't even think it. But he is a curious creature and has a memory a yard long!

About three months ago while Hobbes was supervising my toilet activities, he wandered into my walk-in shower and became interested in the silver drain cover. He tried scratching it, he tried hooking a claw in and pulling, he tried biting. Who knows what all he tried. The next time I went into the bathroom he was right there and ran into the shower to give it another go.

With days and days of persistence, he finally managed to lift the drain cover to reveal a dark, dank hole in the floor! Oh Joy! Something to explore. A place to stick a paw and dig! When he dug down and pulled out human hairball to play with I said ENOUGH!! He was banished from my bathroom. Not long after that we were out of town for 10 days. Whenever we're gone for an extended period of time I set up a second litter box in my bathroom. I worried about him pulling the drain cover off and exploring so I decided to put the litterbox in the shower covering the drain. This worked while we were gone and when we returned I again kept him out of my bathroom.

Fast forward three months to last night. He so loves to accompany me where ever I go I didn't have the heart to lock him out of my bathroom so I decided that perhaps he'd have forgotten the drain cover and I let him back into the bathroom. Forgotten? A cat forget? I don't think so. The first thing he did was head straight to the drain cover, hook a claw in and lift! Now the second phase of this learning process...how long will it take him to learn that every time he lifts the drain cover he gets thrown out of the bathroom for a week?

I love that roly poly ball of orange fur and claws!

Copyright © Julie Cook
August 4, 2000