Neighborly visit

[nlbarber]

In a bad driving habit born of living alone and thus generally being aware of what might be in my driveway, I got in the car and backed out of the garage today before turning to look behind me as I approached the street. When I did look, standing in the middle of the back seat was Sheldon, the orange tabby from next door. I knew he frequents my garage when I leave the door open, but had no idea he'd take advantage of the open driver's window to find a place to nap. He was not at all alarmed, and waited for me to open a back door for him (after checking to see if the window on the far side happened to be open) before exiting the car and scampering toward home.

I'm going to need to keep Fish out of the car for a while lest he smell the intruder and get upset enough to do something about it. As far as I know Fish has never sprayed (and he's an exclusively inside cat except for the rare escape to the back yard), and I'd just as soon he never get the idea.

Comments

[ann-mcn.livejournal.com]

My family always leaves the windows up after my father went out to his car (parked in the open carport) and found the neighbor's cat had left a calling card. You lucked up!

[sunlizzard.livejournal.com]

I had my only allowed-outdoors cat, Polly, hop into my car one morning when I had to run back into the house for something forgotten. I, too, didn't notice her... until she kind of slithered up under my elbow as I turned the ignition. She scared me half to death!

Since then, though, I've taken both Polly and Spanky to work with me, making them ride in the carrier, though, not loose in the car. Now that my office is down to just me most of the time, it's far too quiet. Amazing how much company just one kitty can be!

[idiotgrrl.livejournal.com]

Wow. That's one reason to tag all my cats with name and phone number, so a neighbor could say "Ms. Mathews? I have Dufus Claudius in the car. I got halfway to Raton Pass before he knew I was there. I'm bringing him right back." Though it's more likely they'll say "... two streets up; he's been living in my garden for a while."

And, yes, keeping the windows up in a neighborhood with cats is a good idea indeed. I usually warn repair trucks to check for cats before going back to HQ.

[allyra.livejournal.com]

I'm always afraid that I'm going to drive off on vacation with Squeaker somewhere in the car with me. I park inside my garage, so no worries about carting off foreign kitties, but he always gets into my car when I'm packing it. Once, I almost left him inside overnight!

Silly kitties.