Okay, I just have to whine and complain a bit about my usually sweet baby. As you all know, Vino is an indoor only cat. We are very careful to keep it that way because here in Thailand, people don't drive very carefully and there are tons of stray cats and dogs with various diseases.

Anyway, Vino always tries to sneak out the door, but we are very careful and he rarely makes it. Usually his attempts to get out are only half-hearted since he knows it will get him nowhere anyway. Well. Yesterday he managed to sneak through the crack as I was bringing in a flat of club soda. He ran to the lawn and started munching on grass. I thought, oh well, that's not that bad, the poor baby just wants to munch on some grass, he only has 5 plants inside to munch on, he probably just wants some plant variety, I'll just stay out here with him for a while. Dennis came out too and the two of us stayed out with Vino for almost half an hour while he munched grass and sniffed the yard. Then Dennis had to go and I was getting too sweaty being out in the heat, so I gathered up Vino and headed back in. Well. The problems started immediately. Yowling by the front door. Yowling by the french doors in the living room. Pacing by the doors. Scratching on the screens. More yowling....

At one point I was on the computer and heard a real racket coming from the kitchen. Vino was up on his back legs and was pounding on the screen door with his front legs. Aaargh. I went back to the computer. The racket started again, but suddenly ended. I went to the kitchen to check what was going on and Vino had actually managed to pound open the screen door and was on the lawn munching grass! I grabbed him and took him back in right away and made sure the screen door was fastened securely. I went back to the computer. The pounding started again, accompanied by yowling. I grabbed the spray bottle and squirted him, he ran for cover under the dining room table and licked himself. As soon as my butt re-connected with the computer chair however, he was back at it at the screen door.

The following 2 hours consisted of Vino raising a racket and me sprinting to squirt him. After a while he didn't even bother to run more than 3 feet away! I had it up to here!!! I locked him in the bathroom, with no success, since he just continued his racket from in there!

Finally Dennis came home and I told him that *his cat* needed some discipline and was *never* going outside again if that's how he's going to behave afterwards! So Dennis put Vino on the coffee table in front of him and had a little talk with him "up close" (Steven King Rose Madder reference, but obviously only a talk!) Of course, after that Vino stopped his behaviour immediately and proceeded to be his sweetest, most angelic self.

Now Dennis thinks I've lost it and is ganging up with the cat against me! But I know better because as soon as Dennis left this morning, Vino got out of bed and went straight to the kitchen to resume his racket-raising...

Copyright © Britta Wilson
January 31, 2002