Maia (the older cat) had an appointment with the vet yesterday. She’s not a fan of the kitty carrier – so we usually sneak up on her. The usual routine is to put the carrier in the next room with the top lid open. Then with great coo-ing and gentle murmuring, you pick up the cat and gently stroke her head as you casually stroll into the room where you left the carrier. WIth luck, there’s only a token struggle, since she’s already in the carrier by the time she wakes up.
Yesterday, I was apparently some kinda idiot.
She’s taken to napping on the pile of clean towels in the laundry room. I brought the carrier to the hallway just outside said room, and then took a little kitty toy-on-a-string and started teasing it around the door frame. “Maia!” I called out – and peeked in to see her raise her ears in interest. She hopped off the towels and followed the toy to the door. At that point, she saw the carrier, looked at me with raw horror at this betrayal, and went sprinting down the back stairs.
I took off after her, and rounded the downstairs corner just in time to see her rocket up the front stairs. I started to realize the problem at that point. So I went upstairs, determined that she was under the dresser in the bedroom. I retrieved the carrier, and put it on the bed, and addressed her: “Easy way or hard way?”
She didn’t move, so I took my cat-poking stick and swept it horizontally under the dresser. Man, that cat can scream. Again, she rockets past, down the front stairs. I chased her – up the back stairs, and back under the dresser.
Finally regaining my senses – I shut both the bedroom doors and poked her again. I’ve rarely heard such a sad and hopeless sound as when she ran first to one door, then to the other. “Moooooowwwwwuuu.” Again with the look of sadness and betrayal. Again with “easy way or hard way?”
She hopped on the bed and looked at me. Then she offered only token resistance as I crammed her in the carrier.
All in all, I call it a moral victory for the cat. She outsmarted me for two full iterations, and she knew when I had her overmatched with the horrid “shut the door” technology.
