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.

[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!

[ladymondegreen.livejournal.com]

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

[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.

[asakiyume.livejournal.com]

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

from port and starboard.

[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.

[gwynnega]

Glad to hear the cats are tolerating their collars!

[ashlyme.livejournal.com]

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