I think we have invited a monster into our home. I am compiling documentation that will likely damn us in the future if someone gets mortally injured.
A few weeks ago when Central Illinois was freezing and we were on our urgent mission to save Christmas in Memphis… I asked Gabe to check on the house because I know we have a north-facing wall with a pipe that has frozen in the past if the kitchen cabinets are not open.I talked to Gabe later and he was moaning that he aggravated an injured ankle when “Sherbet” had attacked him at the door. The words attack and cat seemed a little spectacular. I chalked it up to an enthusiastic animal and an unfamiliar person walking through a darkened room.
Again, I thought that the first incident was an exaggeration because he said it was not a problem to stop back out later and make sure the space heater had not burned down the house. No reports of further attacks at that time.
Incident 2.
Summer’s friend, Olivia came over on Christmas Eve to watch a few movies. While sitting on the couch… One of the outside cats (Timmy) talked into the room from out of nowhere. Seriously… Out of nowhere. We later figured out that the basement door to the garage had been left open.
This Timmy is by far and away the toughest of the outside barn cats. He is always bloodied from fighting with wolves, snakes, and other wild animals that try to encroach on our property.
I can tell you that Timmy trotting into our living room brought out a split-second reaction from Sherbet. She was off the couch and on Timmy with a rage! Timmy, an older cat arguably unfamiliar with the layout of our house… Moved with haste and evacuated down the basement stairs. The shock and awe attack of Sherbet put him in full retreat!
For the next 2 hours after this incident… Sherbet sat on the couch and stared Olivia down. If Olivia looked at her directly, she would get the horrible cat “rowel” which is usually a warning sign that someone is getting scratched or bitten.
Thankfully, Olivia left the house that night unscathed. Merry Christmas.
Incident 3.
Tonight… We had the TV repair man come to the house to install a part that has kept our LG TV on the floor for over 2 weeks. I am out of town and Angela was at work… So we recruited Linda to be present for the repairman.
Linda let him into the house and he made the mistake of seeing a cat being present as a friendly gesture. Sherbet (from the description Linda gave to Angela, who gave it to me) lunged at him and was fully prepared for a fight.
Fortunately, he stuck around and the new part was installed. It sounds like our cat positioned herself in the middle of the living room floor within a few feet of the TV being repaired. She exerted all of her stink-eye as well as rowels and hisses at the LG repairman for his entire service call after the initial attack.
So… A few minutes ago, Summer texted me a picture like this and insisted it might be time to post a warning sign at the house. But it’s not a joke! Don’t pet the indoor cat!
And I need to apologize for discounting the level of aggression presented to Gabe on the night he stopped by.
Does anyone give their cat something to mellow them out? Kitty-Juana? Gummies?