The Contessa is a Royal Pain

(Tessy in the flower bed Saturday following me around as I deadheaded.)


Friday night Tessy (The Contessa) slipped out an opening door sometime near bedtime and could not be coaxed back inside. Several times this has happened in the past and I've been able to trick her or scare her into returning to the house. Other times I have fretted into the wee hours of the morning. It just isn't safe to let a cat outside at night that has been declawed. (She came to us declawed and spade.)

This time I was so tired that I said, "tsk, tsk!" (or something near that) and formulated a new plan. I pressed the electric gargage door so that it stopped at about 4 inches off the ground. She would be able to get back into the garage, and then into the family room through her special cat door. I hoped for her safe return.

About 4 a.m. I woke with some of my usual aches and pains. After grabbing my "blankie" and walking down the hall to the family room, I snuggled up in my favorite plush leather recliner. I fell back into the land of nod.

"GRRRRRRROWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWLLLLL, SPAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAT, SPAAAAAAT, SPAT, AAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRAAAAAAAAAAARARRRR!"

I sat up S.C.R.E.A.M.I.N.G. thinking I was in some sort of a cat fight dream, only to realize it was real and under the coffee table next to my chair.

My shriek and the sudden movement from my chair halted the fight and a slinky grey striped cat went streaking through the cat door, with me on its fluffed-out angry tail. Then the hubby appeared in a flash (two descriptions in one!) to join me in the milieu. He didn't need me to tell him what happened as he'd heard the cats and the fat lady singing.

It was 5:30 and neither of us would be able to find our way back to sleep. So, t'was an early morning for the three of us.

Tessy snapped her tail around for a few minutes as though somewhat annoyed with the whole affair and then demanded breakfast.

Comments

Anonymous said…
Ahhh, the joys of cat ownership. We have a cat. Her name is PITA.

Yup, that's what the acronym stands for.

Kelly
My new address: 2passthetorch.com
Anonymous said…
we once had a cat get in through a window and couldn't find it's way back out.

We came home from the movies to our cat and this white mystery cat fighting. At least Fido (yes that's really her name) knew to protect her home.

my DH had to chase it down and corner it. It looked sick and I felt bad, but I was more afraid that it had introduced some nasty germs into our house. I was pregnant at the time!
Thankfully all was well, but it scared the heck out of us.
Amanda said…
Little turd!!
I heard cat fights outside my window damn near nightly.

And mine keeping bringing home dead mice. ACK!
Anonymous said…
LOL, what a way to wake up! Hope the intruder was chased away for good!
Susan in va said…
Oh my word, that would have completely freaked me out! You poor thing! But, it made for a great post, huh? Admit it, right after it happened you thought, "Oh, goody! Now I have something to write about today!" Hee, hee!
Claudia said…
my kitty knows better than to even try to argue with me when it's time to come in! Sometimes she tries and then I either grab her and haul her butt inside (all the while she protests quite loudly!) or she makes it seem like it's her idea! But we've gotten a pretty good understanding! If that doesn't work, I get some water and sprinkle her...she runs in like a bat out of hell!
Karmyn R said…
Okay - Tessy has a boyfriend.

speaking of missing cats - Ozzie is gone again - yet I know he showed up sometime with a dead bird gift. So, I think you are right. He has another family somewhere. I am going to have to buy him a collar and attach a note to it next time he comes "home". (Notice how Ozzie times his missing with hubby being gone?)
M J said…
Yep. They say that your pet will live up to their name. Miss Contessa is acting like spoiled royalty. I guess that is how most cats act... Positively Royal.
Robin said…
Rollin, Pamela, rollin'.

And VERY thankful you did NOT take a picture of your "flashing" husband and use THAT for your 100th post poster.

More giggles :D.

She gets away with a lot because of her regal bearing, huh?
Oh how funny. I know it isn't really funny, but you reminded me of one of our cat stories. :)

We had two kittens. Laverne & Shirley. Well, Laverne died young Gus (yellow lab) loved her too much. He had to carry her with him everywhere, by the neck. Anyway, we had just moved to Enid and were having to rent for a little while. Jer (oldest) was staying with us for the summer and had fallen asleep in the living room. He woke up to two cats fighting. Shirley and another neighbor cat. Somehow they found their way to the bathroom and were fighting in the tub. Anyway, Jer was telling his dad all about it and said I sure hope she isn't pregnant. That is when we had to have a talk with Jer about Shirley really being a boy. :) Shirley was a really fluffy, long-haired cat. He was beautiful. LOL
willowtree said…
We may live on different continents, but we seem to be living the same life! That exact thing happened to us a few years ago. Even down to leaving the garage door open about 4 inches so that he could get to the cat door. And then were were woken up by fighting in the living room!!

I'm so glad it wasn't you who de-clawed him.
Swampwitch said…
The picture is stunning. The story is past hilarious. The flash sentence sent me over the edge.
I'm not a cat person, but do enjoy other's stories. Junior and Bubba would not be happy with a cayut in the house or anywhere near the house.
SongBird said…
Loved the story!! And Contessa is beautiful. I found this quote in one of my gardening magazines: A garden without cats....can scarcely deserve to be called a garden at all. (Beverley Nichols)
Anonymous said…
First of all, what a beautiful cat!

I'm surprised that the other cat just walked into the house! I hope he learned his lesson!
Maria said…
YES! That was so funny! And so real. I don't own a cat, but once when I had a friend over, I went to go refresh her drink and came back with it. We were sitting around jawing when I suddenly saw this big gray blob walking towards me. I screamed and my friend said, "Oh, I let your cat in. She was standing at your back door looking so lonely."

I didn't have a cat, of course. And then we had to catch the darn thing.
Anonymous said…
Hi That was real funny here is another one of those cat talk.Variety is the spice of life. one day ignore people,the next day annoy them. He!He!He!
Wish you well
Bonnie B said…
love my cat. hate my neighbor's. Cat fights make me nuts. my cat looks out the window at my neighbor's cat and they yell all day.
Anonymous said…
Your cat is beautiful!

I guess you're lucky that it wasn't a racoon or skunk or any other type of creature that you have in your area that snuck in through the cat door. I'm also happy to hear that you were there to startle them out of the fight before your cat got hurt too. Great story.
Masago said…
Amazing... we both had "cat" posts in the past day or so. :-)

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