LEFT: Why oh why did she have to? I wasn't THAT dirty?
RIGHT: Now she wants to dry me..... DAD... HELP ME!
Some time ago, when we just got to be Pepper's slaves, we noticed he had this particular fascination with water. He always (chased) around his water bowl on the kitchen floor, moving it around with his paw before drinking. I always said he is feeling the temperature of the water before sticking his tongue in. This playing with water landed him in my bath water twice! Not that he liked being wet. He complained bitterly, loudly and continuously about Being Treatment Like a Dog! Even poor Maya got a slap for just sympathising and helping with the licking dry process.
One morning while I was soaking in a tub which hubby prepared for me (were being spoiled that day), Pepper sat on the edge and started walking from the back to the front and back again, looking at this thing called water.
A little later, he became so engrossed he had his tail halfway in the water, without noticing it. Then he tried to touch-touch with his little paw at the water, and just when he put his wet paw back on the ledge, it happened... he lost his balance. and SPLASH. kitty had his first bath.
Took it in stride, I must say, but he did NOT like the hairdryer. So I just towel-dried him and later I took him outside to have a play in the sunshine on the lawn... We decided for the time being he will be an inside cat... with the state highway just outside being way too busy, and we do not have a front fence... little did we know that it would not stop a Cat On a Mission anyway.
We always have buckets on the deck and sometimes they would fill with rainwater. Pepper could not resist this. He would play in the water with a front paw, and sometimes lick of his paw or drink, depending how deep it was. More often than not he would tip the bucket over, and be very annoyed at this sudden flood of the wet stuff.
What did I say about a cat on a mission? It did not take long for His Pepperness to learn how to open the cat flap to the inside. So off he went on his late night excursions.
The only time he did not mind having a bath, was one night when he was maybe 6 months, and he slipped outside again late, about 10:00PM, (Houdini should have been his second name) and we heard this terrible noise and scream. We found Pep at the stairs, trembling, and full of sh.. eh excrement. He had an encounter with a possum, and did the unmentionable on himself out of fear. Either that or the possum was particularly mean and used that as a form of defence. That night he did not mind having a bath or being dried, I was the one complaining! I think he was too happy to be in my hands instead that of Mr Possum's.
Copyright © Kiti de Jager
April 6, 2003
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