Crazy Cat Lady Part 12 - Fred and Lily Update

It's been too long. I know you guys love a bit of Fred and Lily action (no, really you do, you just don't know it yet.) and it's been a while, so I thought I'd fill you in.

There have been some traumatic events in their lives lately.


Traumatic Event Number 1: A stay in the cattery when Mum and I were over in York babysitting for my brother.

Lily loves staying in the cattery. Her best friend is the lady who runs it and the feeling’s mutual. Whenever we go to pick them up she gushes about how funny Lily is and how affectionate Lily is and how generally awesome Lily is. Their first stay in the cattery was when they were 4 months old and they stayed there for Christmas. They had a habit at that point of climbing up your leg or on your back – it wasn’t too painful because of their itty bitty claws. However Lily still climbs on Cattery Lady, I think she gets away with it because Cattery Lady wears a very heavy fleece, either that or she enjoys her skin being flayed.

Fred does not love staying in the cattery. He takes the rejection very personally. When we come to pick him up he is always, always already sat in the cat carrier, ready to come home. I’m pretty sure that he actually never comes out of the carrier when we drop him off and just stays in there waiting patiently for someone to return.

When they’re brought back home Fred attaches himself to you like a limpet and doesn’t like you going out of his sight. Lily is like that generally so it’s hard to tell the difference. This time, not long after we’d brought them home, Mum and I were leaving the house again and we turned round to find two little forlorn faces looking at us from the kitchen. If these looks don’t say “Please don’t leave us again” then I don’t know what does.

Look at Lily, she's a right chubster compared to Fred.

Traumatic Event Number 2: Rowan comes to stay.

Remember Rowan? She is my sister’s dog and is a very lively, very bouncy and very big Irish Setter. She has a bit of a strange effect on the cats. Fred, who is normally the softest boy going, getting regularly beaten up by his sister, turns into some kind of macho cat and bullies Rowan relentlessly. He sits on counter tops and batters her when she walks by, runs up and hisses at her when she’s just sitting quite calmly. Rowan is the biggest cissy of them all and ends up trying to climb on the sofa to hide behind a human or sits on the floor and looks at the ceiling, taking huge care not to look directly at Fred in the hopes that he leaves her alone.

The Dog Bully in butter wouldn't melt guise.

Lily takes a much more passive approach to things and decided to just hang out on the top of the kitchen cupboards for the whole weekend. She likes it up there, she can see everything going on around her, is well away from the wagging tail, can see the birds out of the kitchen window, and, most importantly, we all tend to forget she’s up there meaning that she gets vital alone time with food that’s been left out.



Mum’s getting better about letting them outside although she still hates it and is on edge the whole time that they’re out in case they disappear. I think they look forward to when I’m looking after them because I’ll let them out a little more often (although I end up on edge because I’m aware of the trouble I’ll be in if one of them gets lost under my watch).

Fred is a bit of a wanderer although he tends to return quite often to go back into the kitchen and lie down on the cool floor and pant. Panting cats are hilarious.

Lily never really strays far though, and if you’re in the garden she definitely won’t leave, preferring to hang about and see what you’re doing. She gets very agitated when Fred disappears and doesn’t come back for a while, to be honest I think she’d be quite happy to just lie on the white rug in the living room all day, keeping an eye on you.

Munchkins.

A random, unprovoked attack on my Yarn Fairy Blanket.