Seanan McGuire (seanan_mcguire) wrote,
Seanan McGuire
seanan_mcguire
  • Mood: scared
  • Music: Counting Crows, "Murder of One."

Oh sweet Great Pumpkin cats are hard on the heart.

Thomas can open doors.

Thomas has been able to open doors for a while now.

Thomas has never previously opened the front door. So this was new.

I got up to get ready for bed and discovered the front door of the house standing open, and an utter absence of cats. This, naturally, triggered INSTANT HYSTERIA, and lots of frenzied cat-calling, which probably frightened the neighbors.

Lilly came immediately, looking faintly ashamed of herself, and limping slightly. Thomas was in the yard, sniffing things, and came when called. I closed the door and turned to inspect Lilly's paw...during which pause Thomas OPENED THE DOOR again and let himself back outside.

I retrieved Thomas, called my mother, put on trousers, went outside, locked the door, and began searching the neighborhood for Alice. I found her halfway down the block, investigating someone's garden. I got her to come by clanging a can of wet food with a fork. She's mad now because she didn't get treats. I'm mad because, well. ESCAPING ISN'T COOL. Poor Vixy got me calling her in hysterics, wailing about how they got out.

All three cats are fine and uninjured. I cannot sleep. I have notified work that I'm going to be in late tomorrow, because there's no way I'm sleeping in the next hour. And from now on, the front door is locked even when I'm in the house.

Stupid cats.
Tags: alice, cats, freaking out, lilly, thomas
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  • 220 comments
...go 1 level up... Expand

starmalachite

June 23 2011, 10:47:48 UTC 6 years ago

Not presuming to speak for Seanan, but 1 BIG reason: coyotes. Their range has spread to include most of the continental US. I've seen them in my suburban neighborhood in the Virginia suburbs of Washington DC. They have been reported as far north as the Pennsylvania-New York border. They like nothing better than a tasty snack of roaming pet (including small dogs).

And yes, in much of the US, *everybody* lives near a big road.

And then there's asshole humans, often with guns.

We rescued our latest kitten from a hotel parking lot where she was in danger from all 3. I'm not disposed to let her face them again.

sysrae

June 23 2011, 11:04:13 UTC 6 years ago

OK, that makes sense. Australia (or the UK for that matter) has no natural predators capable of bothering a cat; in fact, apart from the rare dingo or stray dog, they're pretty much top of the food chain. Also, what constitutes a 'big road' in Oz and the UK probably differs drastically from the US equivalent.

Also, we're not so much with the gun-toting assholes.

Thanks for explaining - I'd be genuinely wondering :)

batwrangler

June 23 2011, 11:19:58 UTC 6 years ago

Yes, lots of big/heavily traveled roads even in some nominally rural areas; Lots of cat-eating/cat-killing predators and tick-borne diseases regardless of traffic.

starmalachite

June 23 2011, 13:37:10 UTC 6 years ago

The barn of my grandfathers farm was right on a 2-lane road that was the main route to the northern end of the county from the state capital in the southern end. Traffic speeds of 60mph were normal. None of the barn cats ever lasted more than a couple months.

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sysrae

June 23 2011, 13:10:00 UTC 6 years ago

It sort of blows my mind that America has coyotes and bears and deer and other assorted critters just running about in places that aren't zoos, near where people actually live. Weird.

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sysrae

June 23 2011, 13:19:02 UTC 6 years ago

Lol. There's a ridiculously cute photo of me when I was about six or so, wearing a raincoat and rainbow wellies, holding my yellow Sesame Street umbrella over the top of a cheerfully grazing wallaby. I didn't want it to get wet! :)

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sysrae

June 23 2011, 13:24:08 UTC 6 years ago

I think any lingering ideals I might have had about the cuteness of koalas vanished on learning that most of them have syphilis.

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sysrae

June 23 2011, 13:29:13 UTC 6 years ago

Yeah, the peeing and chlamydia is not so much cute.

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starmalachite

June 23 2011, 13:45:35 UTC 6 years ago Edited:  June 23 2011, 13:56:02 UTC

America has coyotes and bears and deer and other assorted critters just running about

Oh, bears are another good way to lose a pet. Also foxes (in my neighborhood as well -- come to think of it, so are deer), badgers, and many more.

There's a huge park (Rock Creek Park) inside DC that's mostly left wild. Trouble is, the critters don't always observe the boundaries. On several occasions I've seen deer cross 16th Street less than a mile from the White House.

Edited for typo.

elorie

June 23 2011, 14:41:31 UTC 6 years ago

There are packs of coyotes in Atlanta, which is a city of 4 million. There are probably deer, though you never see them. Not so much bears, although when black bears had a population boom a few years ago they came down out of the mountains in search of food. Those were exciting times!

Raccoons are every fricking where, and are smart. Possums (our only marsupial, they look like dirty white prehistoric Rodents of Unusual Size). Assorted raptors (birds not dinosaurs) and one time I saw a great blue heron in the lake in Piedmont Park.

archangelbeth

June 23 2011, 19:35:45 UTC 6 years ago

Don't forget the wild turkeys!

Here's my current back yard... (Well, not the iguana.)
http://www.flickr.com/photos/archangelbeth/sets/72157603124822125/
I don't seem to have uploaded pictures of the radio-tagged, green-earringed nuisance bear that destroyed that bird feeder, though. (From the right angle, it looked like a Teletubbie.)

Australian indoor-only cat owner here ...

davidcook

June 23 2011, 14:41:35 UTC 6 years ago

I live in suburban Melbourne, and we've seen foxes in our yard a couple of times. And the occasional stray dog down the street. And possums - some of them are bigger than a full-grown cat, and our two are only 7 months old.
So ... indoor cats they will be, with supervised outdoor excursions only (which usually means retrieving them from someone's garden halfway down the street if we turn our backs for just a moment :-) )
... anyway, we built a cat run, and just need to install the cat-flap for them to access it ...

... and vaguely on topic, ours haven't yet worked out how to open doors (all round door handles here), or break into the cat food. I'm sure it's only a matter of time, though.

mel_redcap

June 23 2011, 16:10:47 UTC 6 years ago

*waves hand* Urban Australian here. My kitteh stays in, because of cars, dog-breeding neighbours, random nasty people, and foxes. :P