He's locked in my bedroom with a vacuum-powered beauty machine

[sovay]

I have belled the cats.

Actually I have just put collars on them: a green one for Autolycus and his eyes, which are mostly lime-gold now, but sometimes still the celadon of his kittenhood, a red one for Hestia in honor of her third namesake, Jenny Linsky, "the little black cat with the red scarf." This was last tried when they were kittens; it ended badly. Hestia threw herself to the ground in an immobilizing freakout and tried to chew off her own neck fur while Autolycus trotted happily around the house until he got the plastic breakaway buckle stuck between his jaws and then he bolted through my room crying and coughing and clawing at me in terror when I caught him and tried to break the collar free. (Eventually I pinned him between my knees and then spent a long time afterward reassuring him that the collar was gone and he was safe, but it remains probably the most frightening moment I have ever had with him. The time he fell in the toilet was potentially a disaster, because he was small enough at the time that he couldn't get out on his own, but since it ended well the humor value was higher.) This time Autolycus barely flicked an ear even though the circumference of his collar required adjusting and Hestia was first soothed with petting and afterward frankly bribed with the catnip feather and it is true that she devised a way to remove her own collar—by paw—within the first fifteen minutes, but she also did not claw me when I fastened it firmly back on. It feels very strange to me to have collars on them. They have always been little wild things which live with us. But since they will be spending the next two weeks on a ground floor with an exit route directly to the outside, I don't care that the door will be locked and off limits during their tenure, I don't want to take any chances. They are too important to be lost.

But right now they look a bit like Christmas decorations and it's way too early in the year. [edit] As we were preparing to take the last load of stuff for the night down to the car, derspatchel asked me to double-check that both cats were in view and I dutifully read off, "Red cat, green cat," and then, automatically, "Port cat, starboard cat."–"See?" Rob said. "They weren't Christmas lights all along, they were ship lights!"

Comments

[yhlee]

I'm glad the belling was nontraumatic this time around.

Cloud came collared and belled (and this is terrible but even though we've had her for over a year I cannot remember what color the collar is--I just cannot do visual details). But then, she's a very muffin-like cat, for a cat. I do like being able to tell where she is by listening for the aperiodic jingling.

[sovay]

I do like being able to tell where she is by listening for the aperiodic jingling.

derspatchel's previous cat, Abbie, bore among his legendary titles that of "Jingle Cat," leading to the popular folk songs "Jingle Cat Rock" and "Jingle Cat, Jingle Cat, Cat Please Go Away (Oh My God, It's Four A.M., Now's Not the Time to Play)."

[yhlee]

The only thing that prevents the nighttime jingling from being annoying is that if I can hear her at that hour, my sleep is already so wrecked that she's not making a difference, and otherwise I'm too sound asleep to hear it. I don't know how Joe feels about it, though. :p

[genarti]

We have two cats, both strictly indoor. One of them has some common sense and is not belled. (She's still not very competent, as cats go, but she can be trusted to e.g. move out of the way of a human foot if the human does not seem to see her there.) The other is a purebred ragdoll cat. She's beautiful, sweet, and has absolutely zero common sense. She likes to come up behind occupied humans and flop just behind their feet and/or chairs when they're not looking. She has an unshakeable trust in humanity to never step on her, including at night or when they're carrying large objects and show no signs of seeing her there.

We don't bell her for the sake of any mice, or against her getting out. We bell her so that we don't step on her thrice daily. Aperiodic jingling is an excellent description.

[rosefox]

We got a flat tag for Alex's collar because he kept pawing at the dangling one. It's so much more tolerable for all of us humans (we hated the jingling) and makes it easier for him to forget he has it on.

I hope your cats adapt quickly!

[sovay]

We got a flat tag for Alex's collar because he kept pawing at the dangling one.

Those look very nice. Thanks for the pointer!

I hope your cats adapt quickly!

At present they are both sacked out in the bedroom, Hestia under the bed and Autolycus behind my chair, so that's pretty normal! Fingers crossed.

[ladymondegreen.livejournal.com]

I'm glad they're adjusting so well to this necessary change. May it be less necessary in the near future.

[sovay]

I'm glad they're adjusting so well to this necessary change. May it be less necessary in the near future.

Thank you. I do admit I'm hoping to be able to take the collars off in the new place. At least they don't jingle.

[thornsilver]

So, once you put the collar back on Hestia, it stayed on? I am asking, because my cat removes collar every time I put it on him. He just pulls on it with his paw and the cat safe buckle opens.

[sovay]

So, once you put the collar back on Hestia, it stayed on? I am asking, because my cat removes collar every time I put it on him. He just pulls on it with his paw and the cat safe buckle opens.

I've had to put it back on her twice, but since the last time she hasn't—knock wood—tried to remove it again. I am hoping this means that she's gotten the message, not just that she's trying to lure me into a false sense of comfort. Originally we wanted to purchase non-breakaway collars for this very reason, but there weren't any other real options available on the day. How long have you been trying with your cat?

[thornsilver]

I have tried it three times over the years, for 2-3 days each. At this point, I have to admit that Kitty Shawn wins, especially since he managed to drag the collar somewhere.

[sovay]

At this point, I have to admit that Kitty Shawn wins, especially since he managed to drag the collar somewhere.

Yeah, that sounds like a cat with definite collar-related opinions.

[asakiyume.livejournal.com]

Sailor, sailor, I'm sending cats to watch over youuuuuu....

from port and starboard.

[sovay]

Sailor, sailor, I'm sending cats to watch over youuuuuu....
from port and starboard.

Prrrrrrrt.

(derspatchel wrote a wonderful poem once about seagoing cats and the voyages they sail. It is long and narrative and I want him to publish it somewhere. It also has a mermaid.)

[asakiyume.livejournal.com]

I second your desire for this. Please please add my encouragements and requests when you urge him to send it out.

[wordsofastory.livejournal.com]

They have always been little wild things which live with us
I've always thought this too about my cats. I thought it might a side-effect of not growing up with pets, but perhaps not. I just have moments where I look at the furry predators beside me and consider how strange it is to have animals whose habitat just happens to be inside my house. I don't know if collars would increase or decrease the effect – I have been lucky enough to never need to fight that battle, since I imagine it would go a lot like your first attempt.

[sovay]

I thought it might a side-effect of not growing up with pets, but perhaps not.

I suspect it differs household by household. Some people who like cats are very fuzzy-cuddly about them; I was born in a house with three cats and grew up thinking of a healthy cat as a wonderful little predator. I was so happy when the domestic cat genome was mapped about two years ago and the research conclusively proved that house cats are only semi-domesticated at best. There's something like a thirteen-gene difference—out of nineteen thousand—between wild and domestic cats. They remain obligate carnivores. They can hunt for their food without human intervention. They can still breed with wild populations. The phenotypes that come with domestication—floppy ears, white-spotted coats, a juvenile look—are nowhere near as widespread in cats as in dogs. I don't really want that to change. A fully domesticated cat does not seem much like a cat to me.

I just have moments where I look at the furry predators beside me and consider how strange it is to have animals whose habitat just happens to be inside my house.

Yes!

I don't know if collars would increase or decrease the effect – I have been lucky enough to never need to fight that battle, since I imagine it would go a lot like your first attempt.

May your cats always remain safely collar-free.

[wordsofastory.livejournal.com]

here's something like a thirteen-gene difference—out of nineteen thousand—between wild and domestic cats.

Yes! Mine are both formally feral rescues, and though they're extremely fond of humans now, I don't forget that they're perfectly capable of existing on their own – and would be still, if someone hadn't lured them in and spent time taming them. They really don't need us, as much as I enjoy keeping them around.

[gwynnega]

Glad to hear the cats are tolerating their collars!

[sovay]

Glad to hear the cats are tolerating their collars!

Thank you! A repeat of the previous experience would just have been dreadful for everybody.

[ashlyme.livejournal.com]

Facetious-brain read "belling the cats" as some folk ritual. I hope you're all okay.

[sovay]

Facetious-brain read "belling the cats" as some folk ritual.

It totally felt like one! "Heruest is icumen in / Lhude hissen cattes."

I hope you're all okay.

Thank you. I just fed them and they ran as usual to the sound of the opening can, which was heartening; Hestia is still hissing at her brother, but both of them allow me to pet them. As I have a ferocious amount of work to finish in the next day, I'm trying to figure out how I can do it in the summer kitchen when the current internet setup requires my computer to be tethered to the wall with an Ethernet cable. The door at the bottom of the stairs has a glass-paned top half that opens separately from the part with the lock, which may be the key. But I'll still need a really long cable.