A Rather Strange Morning...

[rusty_armour]

I had the strangest experience this morning. I was half-asleep and stumbling towards the bathroom for my shower when I heard a cat meowing outside my apartment door. Feeling naturally curious, I opened the door and found a dark grey persian sitting outside. I said, "Hello! Where did you come from?" and she immediately waltzed into my apartment, meowing and twisting herself around my legs. I picked her up and attempted to carry her back outside twice, but she kept jumping out of my arms and making her way back inside my apartment again. In the end, I snagged my keys and, managing to keep a tight grip on her, shut the door. Informing her that I needed to find her mommy and daddy, I went next door because I was pretty sure that was where she was staying. They have this annoying little dog that yaps constantly when they're out, but I think they must catsit for friends because I overheard a conversation in which someone else arrived at their door with a cat. Anywaaaay, I tried knocking twice and received no answer. Not knowing what else to do, I poured some water into a margarine tub and left it outside for the cat.

When I checked the hallway after my shower, the cat wasn't there anymore, so I assumed that she'd been let back in. However, when I left for work, she was back out in the hall, lying outside the neighbour's door. This really upset me and pissed me off because she had obviously been booted out deliberately -- and with no food or water. As I was already running late and couldn't stick around, I spent the trip into work agonizing over what to do. In the end, I called my super. Well, the replacement for the super, I expect, because the person I spoke to wasn't the super or his wife. In any case, the lady said she would check it out, so I feel a bit better about the situation. However, if I find that cat in the hallway when I get home tonight, I'm going to track down the owners, sitters, or whoever and give them hell.

Comments

[radiogaga80.livejournal.com]

hee - I thought for a moment you meant your balcony door and I thought, "Unless she has moved, that must've been one hell of a climb for that cat!" B But yeah, I hear your irritation. I mean, if people don't want the cat in their house then why do they take a cat in the first place?

[rusty-armour.livejournal.com]

hee - I thought for a moment you meant your balcony door and I thought, "Unless she has moved, that must've been one hell of a climb for that cat!"

LOL! No, she didn't scale up the building, though I would have been impressed as hell if she had! *g*

But yeah, I hear your irritation. I mean, if people don't want the cat in their house then why do they take a cat in the first place?

That's what gets me. I mean, if it is my neighbours (and I'm assuming it is because they're definitely selfish enough to pull off a stunt like this) then I'm guessing they might have put the cat outside to separate her from Mighty Yap, which, I'm sorry, is not a good solution. I hope they're only catsitting for a very short time because I'd feel sorry for the poor cat if she had to stay with those idiots for too long.

Of course, I was thinking cat ghost?

[lazigyrl.livejournal.com]

Don't sit for friends if you're not going to take care of the animal correctly. honestly, it's so simple. Part of me is thinking, take the cat in if she is still in the hallway and see them try and explain what happened to their friends...

Re: Of course, I was thinking cat ghost?

[rusty-armour.livejournal.com]

I might have also thought cat ghost if she hadn't felt so solid. *g* And I don't understand it either. If you know that you can't take care of an animal properly then you shouldn't take it in. Period.

I'm wondering if it was some kind of last minute thing -- not that it's a justifiable excuse. I have to say that it is tempting to take the cat in. I'd love to hear them going door-to-door trying to find her. Maybe if she's in the hall when I get home, and the neighbours won't respond to my knocking, I'll take her in.

[crew4.livejournal.com]

That really sucks. Why do people even offer to do something and then don't even follow through properly. It always pisses me off when a dog is allowed to stay inside when a cat is made to go outside. Dogs are smelly, they should be outside.

[rusty-armour.livejournal.com]

I don't understand it either and it definitely pisses me off when a cat is made to go outside, though in this case it was a carpeted hallway...All the same, it would have been a disaster if they'd let Hero (the yappy dog) out because I'm pretty sure someone would have made him disappear -- one way or another. Last night, I actually heard someone shout out, "Shut up your god-damn dog!" Unfortunately, Twiddle Dee & Tweedle Dum (e.g. the neighbours) weren't around to hear it.

[radiogaga80.livejournal.com]

Oy! Our dog doesn't smell (except when he swam in a some dirty creek, of course ;) ) Frankly, I'd rather have people keep cats in and leave dogs out - dogs are usually made to stay put in people's garden whereas cats go anywhere. Which isn't always fun.

[rusty-armour.livejournal.com]

Oooops. Sorry. The cat people got a bit carried away... *g* And I'm sure your dog doesn't smell, unless he's just come from some dirty creek or whatever. You bring up a good point about the problem of keeping cats out. Unlike dogs, cats will go anywhere, including other people's gardens. I doubt the persian in the hall would have managed to wander anywhere, but there's always a chance.

[crew4.livejournal.com]

Opps, heehee, sorry. I guess I'm just a cat person. Is that your dog in the icon? He's gorgeous. What breed is he?

Frankly, I'd rather have people keep cats in and leave dogs out - dogs are usually made to stay put in people's garden whereas cats go anywhere. Which isn't always fun.

Yeah, I kind of agree. Cats wander too much, and it's a pain in the ass when you don't own a cat but there's cat shit in your garden :-/ But my cat had a weird habit of going completely mad at about 3am. He would thunder up and down the hall and start messing around with stuff. So I started leaving the cat flap open at night for him to come and go as he pleased. Now I wish I hadn't because he was hit be a car.

[radiogaga80.livejournal.com]

NASIIIIIIIIIIIIIIR!!!!!!! You're immediately forgiven for whatever you accused dogs of. xD

Is that your dog in the icon? He's gorgeous. What breed is he?
Yep, that's our dog. He's a Dutch Partridge dog. Sorry to hear your cat was hit by a car.

What you're saying about cats is partly why my family doesn't like them but for me personally it's not the cat's fault that they're running in our garden but the owner's. Still, when we were kids, mom used to have either a handbrush or a bucket of water at the ready near the back door. (And mom used to be a handball goalie, so she could throw. She never actually hit a cat though, as far as I remember)

[crew4.livejournal.com]

NASIIIIIIIIIIIIIIR!!!!!!! You're immediately forgiven for whatever you accused dogs of. xD

LOL, he's the man in so many ways. Great to see a Naz fan though. I had, before joining LJ, thought I was the only one, but I'm extremely happy to see there are a lot out there. I love your icon. Do you mind if I borrow it, credit maker of course :-)

[radiogaga80.livejournal.com]

Sure, you can borrow it - I got several others I can use *hopes Rusty doesn't mind this shameless plug*

[crew4.livejournal.com]

Whoa, these are awesome. Thanks for sharing. I've snagged a few but because I'm too tight and I won't pay I can only store 15 icons. I'll credit you of course :-)

LOL, I don't think rusty_armour will mind too much :-)

[rusty-armour.livejournal.com]

No, I don't mind at all. Feel free to keep this thread going as long as you like. :-)

[rusty-armour.livejournal.com]

Not at all. Please plug away. :-) I was actually thinking last night that I should have introduced you to each other considering that you're both Nasir fans.

[avictoriangirl]

That's just wrong. No animal should be left outside without food or water. And if you don't really want to take care of someone else's pet, why offer in the first place? Grrrr. That burns me up. Give 'em hell from me too! XD

[rusty-armour.livejournal.com]

As the cat wasn't in the hall when I got home, I didn't do anything. However, I'll be keeping my eyes and ears open in case the cat is kicked out again. I'm hoping either the super or substitute super had a talk with the idiot neighbours or the cat has been reunited with her owner(s).

[pyrateanny.livejournal.com]

I once lived in a house that had been divided into apartments. We lived in the attic apartment on the 3rd floor and the people who lived on the first floor had a ferret as a pet. [Yech! They DO smell. Plus, they're just creepy, and so too, apparently, are most people who choose to keep them as pets.] Anyway, one morning my husband opened our apartment door to go to work, and there was the ferret staring right at him, sitting up on the top step of the stairs! My husband screamed and slammed the door. LOL Then we banged on the inside of our apartment door and made lots of noise to scare it away. Then my husband went down and woke up the idiot neighbours and told them to keep their ferret out of the communal stairwell.

P.S. Any update on the fate of the kicked-out kitty, Rusty?

[rusty-armour.livejournal.com]

LOL! I can see why J would have screamed when he saw the ferret. I mean, I had some warning at least with the meowing, but I'm sure J wasn't expecting to see any furry creatures when he was heading out to work! *g*

The kitty went home to his daddy (who I think is the brother of the male half of the couple). A couple of days after the initial incident, I heard the daddy cooing over the cat through my bathroom wall in such a saccharine way that even I felt nauseous -- and I'm a cat person! *g*

BTW I did get to tell off Tweedle-dee and Tweedle-dum last week. They decided that it would be a brilliant idea to play with their dog in the hallway around 10:45 at night. At 10:55 I opened my door and asked them if there was some reason why they were playing out in the hall at 11:00. Tweedle-dee and Tweedle-dum both stared at me blankly and then Tweedle-dee (e.g. the female half of the couple) informed me that they needed the space. I then pointed out that they could go outside to play with their dog. As far as I know, they haven't tried playing in the hall since.

[pyrateanny.livejournal.com]

Glad kitty got to go back home, even if his true guardian is rather too cloyingly affectionate.

I love the fact that you nickname your neighbours Tweedle-Dee & Tweedle-Dum and their dog Mighty Yap. When I lived in an apartment building, I used to have nicknames for my neighbours too: Hank Williams (the guy who coughed all night long) and Elvira, Mistress of the Night (whose door hinges creaked like a horror movie sound effect), and Shaggy (the tall, skinny East Coast stoner musician who looked like the character in Scooby Doo). Oddly, apartment neighbours rarely know each other's names, but the walls are so thin, they are subject to all sorts of unwanted knowledge about the details of each other's private lives.

Actually, I still have nicknames for some of the people in my neighbourhood whose names I don't know, like "Walnut Guy" who always complains about the 200+ year-old Black Walnut tree in the back laneway dropping nuts on his car. [So park INSIDE your garage during walnut season, you twit! That tree's been living here a lot longer than any of us!]