Wednesday, September 24, 2008

Cats + yard = not awesome

I love cats. In fact, I have two. Dylan and Nina. But, a little black neighborhood kitty has now made our yard his/her litter box. When I caught the little fella in our yard before the grass came, I was not worried. Now, I find a little present on the lawn and I think I know who it belongs too. Last week Phantom (I might as well name the kitty, and since s/he is a phantom pooper - this fits) was up on the deck twice in one day (morning and night) peeking through the glass door. When we went over, s/he ran away. Not sure what to do with this situation.

Since we have to water the grass morning and night (that stops today though!), I went out Monday night to move the sprinkler and *thought* I closed the backdoor as I rushed back in to watch Heroes. About 15 minutes later I glanced over to see the door ajar. No kittens to be found (Dylan and Nina are indoor cats). Dan rushed upstairs to find Nina as I hurried outback with the flashlight. Thankfully the sprinkler was on and prevented Dylan from heading into the yard and slipping under the gate (this is how Phantom squeezes in). However, he was under our neighbors deck on top of their basement roof. A small crawl space. Twenty minutes (and one tuna can of bait) later, I wrestled him out and scurried back in the house. He was pissed. Since he is also over 20 pounds, this is not an easy feat. He is strong too - and was not too happy about cutting his outside freedom short. Oh, until he ate some of the tuna, then it was all cool.

1 comment:

Unknown said...

One of the worst things for most cats is getting wet. So if you see Phantom lurking about, spray him with the garden hose (or a super soaker squirt gun). There are a lot of cats in our neighborhood (we have 2 indoor cats, the neighbors on each side have 2 indoor/outdoor each, etc.), but there's one that comes from another neighbor's yard to fight with our neighbor's cat.

There have been some pretty violent rows between them (one vet visit), but I started spraying the intruder when I saw him. Now we don't see him much at all, and he runs under the fence at first sight of us.

Injuries Obtained

  • Sprained Toe/Foot: 1
  • Blood Blisters: 2
  • Splinters under fingernail: 1
  • Bird Shit on me: 1
  • Eye Injuries: 3
  • Burns: 0
  • Falls off ladder: 0 (this is because we don't have a ladder yet)
  • Headaches: too many to itemize
  • Broken Bones: 0
  • Bandages Needed: 5
  • Electric Shocks: 2
  • Stiches: 0
  • Bruises: way too many