Yesterday I did not manage to leave the house in an out-the-front-door sort of a sense; I went out briefly in the mid-afternoon and faffed with the compost, whereupon our VisitCat headbutted me a bit and briefly attempted to use my corduroy trousers as a scratching post (but responded appropriately to being firmly rebuffed). So far, so good: it was a nice amount of VisitCat, and more than we get most days.
And then I opened the back door again briefly in the evening, when it was raining and I was tidying up the kitchen, and was baffled to hear something moving behind me. ... VisitCat had decided it was miserable out and they wanted to be IN MY WARM HOUSE; I am not entirely clear why it wasn't happy going to its own home, but I wasn't complaining, because - I spent about two hours with an increasingly dry and fluffy cat curled up in my lap purring enormously (seriously VisitCat was sufficiently happy with this state of affairs that when I picked them up so we could move from a chair to me being horizontal on a bed all it did was sniff the new surroundings briefly before curling back up on my lap and falling asleep). I have removed the tape blocking the catflap in the interests of potentially more VisitCat, though it seemed baffled by the concept last night, but -- aaaah warm fuzzy purring aminalfrnd. It was very, very restorative.
Which does, of course, mean that I am pondering the etiquette of VisitCat! It has a collar and a bell and is generally simultaneously sleek & butch in fairly impressive combination, incredibly fluffy for a short-haired cat, and clearly not unhappy with its lot in life. It also clearly really likes the relative quiet of our house and getting scritches. Is it okay for me to have unblocked the cat flap? We're not going to feed it or put out water bowls or whatever, but is it okay to have cat treats? Etc etc. HOW DOES INTERFACE WITH CAT BELONGS TO OTHERHUMAN.
(I will attempt to get photographs next time VisitCat swings by! This time I kinda unexpectedly ended up with a lap full of cat and didn't feel like disturbing it.)
And then I opened the back door again briefly in the evening, when it was raining and I was tidying up the kitchen, and was baffled to hear something moving behind me. ... VisitCat had decided it was miserable out and they wanted to be IN MY WARM HOUSE; I am not entirely clear why it wasn't happy going to its own home, but I wasn't complaining, because - I spent about two hours with an increasingly dry and fluffy cat curled up in my lap purring enormously (seriously VisitCat was sufficiently happy with this state of affairs that when I picked them up so we could move from a chair to me being horizontal on a bed all it did was sniff the new surroundings briefly before curling back up on my lap and falling asleep). I have removed the tape blocking the catflap in the interests of potentially more VisitCat, though it seemed baffled by the concept last night, but -- aaaah warm fuzzy purring aminalfrnd. It was very, very restorative.
Which does, of course, mean that I am pondering the etiquette of VisitCat! It has a collar and a bell and is generally simultaneously sleek & butch in fairly impressive combination, incredibly fluffy for a short-haired cat, and clearly not unhappy with its lot in life. It also clearly really likes the relative quiet of our house and getting scritches. Is it okay for me to have unblocked the cat flap? We're not going to feed it or put out water bowls or whatever, but is it okay to have cat treats? Etc etc. HOW DOES INTERFACE WITH CAT BELONGS TO OTHERHUMAN.
(I will attempt to get photographs next time VisitCat swings by! This time I kinda unexpectedly ended up with a lap full of cat and didn't feel like disturbing it.)