Killing me softly

Our calico cat, the erstwhile feral feline, is killing me softly with her “song”. Or more aptly, her little cries during the night. Sometimes these are a loud announcement she has killed a rodent and wants us to share in the victory. More often, she wants one of her humans to provide company for her. We are enabling this behavior. What began with letting her in the house in the evening, became falling asleep in the living room. I would find the cat curled up with my spouse on the couch. Sheri or I would then retrieve the other to go to bed, leaving a door cracked for the cat to go in or out at her choosing.

Last night was an example of why we have to stop this arrangement. As I was falling asleep, a soft cry at our bedroom door roused me. I responded. Though I think she wanted company again, Kitty allows me to let her out through the front door.

At two or three in the morning, I roused again to the whirring of the water dispenser. Our son (he frequently works the night shift at a hospital) is up. But the cat also heard him. Though I heard his bedroom door shut again, it seemed cat was back in the house. I was not going to let Kitty sense I was also awake. At a quarter to five, the cat was again crying at our bedroom door. Kitty knows we get up on workdays before 5AM, but if had been a workday, we would have set an alarm. I let the cat outside again. It is time for Kitty to be an outside cat again, we all agree.

Roberta Flack’s song came to me; my wife started humming it also. The cat is killing us softly.