Tuesday, October 22, 2013

Cat Tales: Alice

This is Alice.

She was allowing herself to be seen without her cloak of invisibility, which means she was having a good day.

I knew Alice as an outdoor cat for almost 2 years (and 3 litters of kittens) before she came indoors. Actually, 2 of her kittens came in before she did! She hung around the back yard pretty often, but we were never allowed to touch her.  She would bring her kittens, eat the food we put out and crash for a while in the alley or under the lilac, so it was obvious she felt safe with us.

She came in on Valentine's day about 7 years ago.  I was getting ready to go to bed and Max was standing at the window, pawing at the glass.  I looked out, and Alice was on the porch roof.  To get there, she would have had to climb the tree in the back yard 2 doors down, jump onto their roof, cross it and then jump the alley between their house and the house next door, then walk along their porch to my 2nd floor front window.  In the dark.  In the cold.

A very sleepy outdoor mom cat
I shooed Max out, locked the bedroom door and opened the window.  In she came, though she retreated under the bed for the night and didn't even come out for food.

She's still skittish, after all these years.  I can pet her - one handed only, please - but only on the head.  I can only use two hands if I'm lying flat and she comes onto the bed with me.

A cat with rules is our Alice, but she's a happy girl for all that.

1 comment:

Elaray said...

I'm loving these Cat Tales!