Sunday, May 26, 2013

House Arrest (and "The Undying")

My cat has been under house arrest, lately, or, as everyone else likes to say it, he's grounded. What did he do? Was he beating up the other cats on the street? Did he steal some catnip? No, nothing like that. He just keeps getting himself hurt. And, actually, he's the cat that gets beat up, so that's probably how he ended up getting hurt. He's just too curious for his own good.
A couple of weeks ago, he got this new wound on his back just above his tail. It's still swollen, but, at least, it appears to be healing up normally and won't require a trip to the vet like the last wound (which I talked about here). However, it was the fact that he come home limping a few days ago that got him grounded. And I don't just mean he was limping; he couldn't put any weight on his right foreleg at all. It was bad enough that he told me, "hey, that hurts," when I had barely touched it trying to check it out. So, yeah, for this week, at least, he's become a house cat. Here is how he spends his days:
People talk about a "dog's life," but, seriously, no dog has it as good as any cat.

Being an outside cat, we've never had a litter box for him; there's never been a need (except that one time when he had a potty emergency in the middle of the night and I wasn't able to throw something on quickly enough to get him outside). However, one of the first things I did after he got himself grounded was to go and buy him the requisite materials to take care of his needs in the house, which he has done very politely.

Now that his leg is getting better (in fact, this morning, he was back to being a total spaz and acting as if nothing is or was ever wrong), I'm torn between going back to the normal routine or making him an inside cat. On  the whole, he seems to be adapting to being inside all the time pretty nicely. Not that he hasn't had a few... episodes. Like yesterday when he kept jumping up on me and typing in my document. He said something like, "xxxcdxccd." I'm not sure what that means in cat, but I'm guessing it must be something like, "Help! I'm being held prisoner in a fortune cookie factory." Or, maybe, it was just "FEED ME!" That's the big change for him: he doesn't get to hunt lizards anymore.

For me, though, aside from the fact that he's constantly getting banged up from playing outside all of the time and the fact that I have to go and chase The Orange away several times a week, him being inside relieves the worry of him getting trapped in someone's car and getting carried away by accident. Being right next to the park, we have foreign cars out there all of the time, and my cat is obsessed with them. He has to go smell every car that parks out there. He gets up in the backs of trucks. And, if anyone leaves their windows open (which they frequently do), he hops up onto the door and explores the inside of the car. In fact, when the guys were delivering our new washing machine a few weeks ago, he did his best to get inside the delivery truck. The delivery guys thought that was so funny.

The verdict is still out on his final sentence. I suppose we'll have to see how crazy he ends up driving everyone by being deprived of going outside. If he ends up being as bad as my daughter is when she's sick and can't go to school... well, let's just say that's not a pretty sight and leave it at that.

In other news, today is the FREE! release of "Part Twenty-two: The Undying"
This is the chapter where Tib well and truly begins to understand just how weird the Garden is. Or, at least, the denizens of the Garden. Basically, every time he thinks he knows what's what, something changes.
FREE! today, Monday, May 27:
"Part Twenty-two: The Undying" (Also FREE! Tuesday, May 28)
"Part Twenty-one: The Chase"
"Part Twenty: The Sword of Fire"
"Part Nineteen: Lost in the Garden"
"Part Fifteen: Food of the Garden"
"Part Fourteen: Anger and Laughter"
"Part Thirteen: The Clearing"
"Part Twelve: The Gash in the Floor"
"Part Nine: The Shadow of the Tree"
"Part Eight: The Cold and the Dark"
"Part Seven: The Moth and the Shadow"
"Part Six: The Man with No Eyes"
"Part Three: The Bedroom"
"Part Two: The Kitchen Table"
"Part One: The Tunnel"

There's 15 of the 22 parts of Shadow Spinner available for FREE! Go download, enjoy, and tell all your friends. Oh, make sure you read it with the lights on. Or so I've been told.

As a special bonus, I'm also gonna throw in The Evil That Men Do for FREE! It's kind of Tib part 0, but it's not going to be in Shadow Spinner, so grab it now. Don't forget to let me know what you think of it!

20 comments:

  1. Poor cat. I grew up with outdoor cats that would always end up with injuries one way or another, so the cat I have now is an indoor cat only, and she really seems to prefer it that way. She's spoiled, lazy, and loves climbing in my lap when I'm working on something important.

    Speaking of which, you should be happy to know I just finished that story (no thanks to her). I'm going to get a few hours of shut eye, comb it over for any gremlins/inconsistencies with a fresh pair of eyes, and send it your way.

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  2. Your cat may end up on quite an adventure someday if he goes on a joy ride in a stranger's car. Just think of the book you could write with that one!

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  3. Outside cats tend to get hit eventually. Nothing worse than losing a pet - he'd be an indoor only cat at our house.

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  4. I vote indoor only. Its safer for them and less worry for you.

    I am still waiting for the complete book.

    JO ON FOOD, MY TRAVELS AND A SCENT OF CHOCOLATE

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  5. THIS is the part where it gets weird?

    Not part twenty-one, with the laughter?

    Not that earlier part with the eye angel?

    Man, now I'm torn: I've got to work today, and Arrested Development is back, and I just started a new book and now THIS.

    I'll go with part Twenty-Two, tonight.

    As for your cat, you and Sweetie are quite the opposites. Back when we had cats, Sweetie didn't let them outside hardly ever, and went so far as to buy a leash for them, which I objected to (formally) but (informally) liked because it was so ridiculous. Our cats lived pampered existences of supreme luxury, right up until the boys were born, and they learned their place in the world (which was: "running from the boys.")

    Glad your cat's feeling better.

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  6. Having worked at a Vet for 15 years, one thing you can do to make being inside easier on him is to play with him (my cats like the string better than the laser cuz they can actually catch it - until we yank it away) and create play places or perches to make his indoor environment more stimulating. We saw a lot of cats like yours - always getting into trouble :)

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  7. Glad that your cat is adapting to living inside.

    :-)

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  8. You did it for your dear cat's protection. He just has to get used to being inside until a better alternative can be found.

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  9. Our tenants are both indoor cats. There are too many critters in our woods who would make a quick meal of either of them. If you do try to convert yours, I would think his experience outside could be a bit of a comfort. You might not freak out if he accidentally got out the way I would if ours did - he at least knows his way around the neighborhood.

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  10. ABftS: My cat seems to like being on keyboards.
    And, yea! Can't wait.

    JKIR,F!: Well, I can write that whether he goes on it or not since he wouldn't be able to tell me about it one way or the other.

    Alex: Mine does like to lounge in the road.

    Jo: The complete book should be within the month.

    Briane: Well, you know, relatively speaking, yes, this is where it gets weird.

    I have a leash for my cat. I intend to start training him on it as soon as school is out.

    mshatch: Mine doesn't like the laser. I need to get him a new string, which he loves, but he ruined the good one we had.

    Misha: Me, too.

    Sheena: I think he's doing okay with it. Mostly.

    TAS: We have hawks, which I do kind of worry about. I'm also worried about him getting into it with a 'coon.

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  11. My cat probably feels very unwanted since I didn't go to pick it up when the cat distributor was passing out cats. In fact, I cared so little that I didn't even know when they handing out cats. Or were they handing out cats?

    Lee
    Wrote By Rote

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  12. Lee: If it makes you feel any better, we didn't go pick ours up, either. He came and found us.

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  13. I finally gave up on having my cats go outside. Too many of them got run over my cars and such. I feel a bit guilty that they stay inside, but I feel it's safer in the long run. And yes, cats have the best life ever, indoors or not :)

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  14. Hee hee, my orange tabby took a few rides, himself. He loved going for drives and always explored cars. Shockingly, he died at home, while my homebody cat who never went past the front porch disappeared (stolen? eaten? unknown). In other words, no idea what to recommend. The heartache of not knowing WHAT happened to them is rough, though, so the cat we currently have is indoors only. Then again, I've had three disappear in my lifetime, and they were indoor cats. The outdoor cats must have been more savvy.

    Shannon at The Warrior Muse

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  15. One of my cats used to get into trouble when he was young. The occasional injuries he came home with tapered off as he grew older (a heart condition also slowed him down some), so your cat might become less rambunctious with time as well. Still, being inside is the safer option, especially with a troublemaker like him.

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  16. alexia: Mine was complaining a lot today, but, then, an unhealed wound from before his grounding was acting up, so I think he was trying to just go out and get in a hole somewhere.

    Shannon: Mine is savvy but also prone to trouble. He just walks right up to dogs.

    Jeanne: Yeah, I've heard they get into trouble less as they get older, but I'm not sure mine's going to make it to older at the rate he's going.

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  17. You're totally right about cats having it better than dogs. Our cat is an inside cat, as much as he sits on window ledges and dreams of his great escape one day. *laughs*

    -Jimmy

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  18. Jimmy: Mine does that, too, now.

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  19. Michael: That's never gonna happen.

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