Pull that down!

Sep 12th, 2024 Thursday Sunny

My kitties have recently developed a new game: pull that down!

They walk around the house, and, to my annoyance and probably their amusement, decide to pull every towel that they can reach down to the floor. They do not engage in anything destructive or attempt to do anything with that piece of fabric (as long as I can tell) – they simply drag it with their paws, and sit a few minutes next to the fallen cloth, before getting away to their next mischief.

I believe it was Yuuki that started this, and Sesame copied his sister cat, though I had no proof for such accusation. In any case, Yuuki being the naughtier one and the one doted on by my husband (which naturally arouses my jealousy 😛 ), I have no scruple blaming all the wrongdoings on her.

I first discovered this behavior on one morning, when both kitties were drinking water from pots in the kitchen sink like they had been thirsty for days, even though I remembered refilling their water bowl the night before. I went to check, only to find that my bath towel laying helplessly on the tile, right over their water bowl, completely soaked.

Days later, my own face towel encountered the same fate, piling in the corner of the lower bathroom. Fortunately, it appeared clean and dry, so I used it after washing my face – a wretched mistake! The towel had hundreds of fine cat fur stuck in the fiber, now a portion of which were on my cheek, over my eyes and mouth. I had to re-wipe myself five times to clean them off.

Afterwards, I realize that a solution is needed. Since the kitties do not appear to have any particular motivation for doing this, other than entertaining themselves (you will have to ask the cats themselves what exactly is interesting about this activity), and we have been very careful NOT to give any reinforcement (e.g. attention) for such an action, removing the reward is out of the question.

Likewise, punishing will not do either, because it is close to impossible to catch them during the act as we cannot spend our days guarding the towels. If I scold them hours after they have completed their move, they would not be able to connect the dots, and would only think mom does not love them 😥.

So the current protocols are: my face towels are hang way higher (to date they have not tried hard to jump high for even their favorite toys or treats), and their water bowl is relocated to be away from any potential hazard from the sky. My husband agreed to help keep the area where other towels might end up as tidy as possible, and I will pick them up if I see them on the ground. Moreover, we may need to do laundry more often. Meanwhile, the kitties can enjoy their fun until they grow tired of it.

This is a compromise that takes into account everyone’s preferences (the nice-to-have) and needs (the must-have), as well as feasibility. It is by no means perfect for anyone, but we can all live with it (so far neither kitty has made a complaint about fewer accessible towels, or appeared more bored than before). Just like the fix for kitties scratching my piano chair when I was not watching is to hide the chair in the master bedroom with its door closed whenever I am not playing the piano. A little troublesome to bring the chair in and out every time, yet I can save my worry about its integrity.

Inhabiting a world where everything is arranged as you wish is unrealistic. If you truly value the company of someone, show them by figuring out a way to make it work.

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