Sigh. Cats.

As I type this I'm still at my father's place. I normally wouldn't be on a Monday, but my weekend shifted for a couple of reasons. One is that I worked on Saturday, and the other is that my father's away for a few days so I told him I'd hang around until Monday to see that the cats got fed &c.

Apparently I'm not doing the &c right, because the cats are miffed at me.

Anyone who's had cats (or pets in general, really) knows that they get used to their regular routine, and at the moment the cats are doing their best to let me know that I've buggered up that routine. It's not so much that I'm here instead of the father figure (I catsit enough that they're used to it), but that I'm juuust not doing things the way they want me to. Yesterday, for example, I committed the cardinal sin of not taking them out in the evening.

I should say here that the cats aren't allowed out unless they're on leashes. I wish everyone would do that. I like cats, but I have a real problem with cat owners who just let their pets roam. You know what happens to free-range cats, folks? They have shorter lives, they destroy gardens, they kill songbirds, and you never know what little presents in the form of parasites that they might be bringing home to you. Fun, huh.

Anyway. When the warm weather comes the cats get fairly insistent about going outside. Max in particular. Max wouldn't make a great full-time outdoor cat (he's far too easily spooked) but within the confines of the leash-circle he's the King of the Yard. I did take Max out for a little while yesterday afternoon, but apparently my father's been taking them out in the evening as well lately. Or at least that's what I'm inferring from the fact that both cats parked themselves in the back entry and howled anytime it looked like I was going anywhere near the door. Too bad, cats. I decided I was in the mood to play with my pastels (which I haven't done for a long, long time... and boy, did it show) rather than sit in the cold so that the cats could have the pleasure of sniffing all the pee spots left by the neighbourhood wanderers.

Strike one for me.

Strike two came because I closed the door to my father's bedroom before I went to bed myself. The cats are used to sleeping in there, but I'd been warned that there'd been somewhat of an epidemic of Bad Cat happening so I thought I'd avoid the sound of things being knocked off of the dresser at godawful in the morning by preventing the cats from being there at all.

Result? Pissed-off cats.

I didn't even have anyone show up in my room, which is the usual default when my father's not around. Oh, wait. I lie. At some point in the morning Penny came in, stared at me, and curled up on the carpet in my room. I wasn't good enough to share a bed with, you see.

The thing is, if they're already pouty now they ought to be in a great state when the father figure gets back on Wednesday. I have to be back at work tomorrow, unfortunately, so while my uncle is going to look after the feeding &c (again with the &c? I guess you'll just have to imagine what the rest of the &c actually is) until Wednesday, for the most part the cats will be alllll alooone until then.

These cats are definitely not used to alllll alooone. Used to being massively spoiled, yes, but not to alllll alooone.

I figure that when my father gets home one of two things will happen. Either they'll completely ignore him to let him know that he's been a Bad Dad, or they'll stick so close to him out of insecurity that he won't be able to do anything -- anything at all -- for the next few days without at least one cat constantly asking him what he thinks he's up to.

Ought to be fun either way.

Glad I won't be here.

----------

My posting is likely going to be scant-to-non-existent for the rest of the week, since I'll be doing a lot of work off-site and that means no computer access. I'd ask the Toronto office to take over, but she's not so good at taking that hint lately. Perhaps someone needs to stab her in the shins? It'd be a break from stabbing Wheat in the shins, if nothing else...