A Day in the Life of a Cat

Originally written on October 29, 2006.

We live on the second floor of an apartment building. We have a small porch on the back side of the apartment that overlooks a lovely forest area. It is a beautiful little thing and we have made use of it with flowers, herbs, and other assorted greenery. Also, there are two birdfeeders hanging down which are kept full and can generally be seen with various birds enjoying a free meal.

It has also become a favorite spot for our cat, Thumbelina. Generally, she and the birds get along as the birds immediately flee when the door is open, and the cat doesn’t spend her entire day outside to allow some good bird feeding. Once or twice the two have met and Thumbelina has landed herself some prey. This is something that the wife abhors, but I understand is the nature of the beasts and all.

Today, being a fine, beautiful October day, I opened the back door and allowed the cat to enjoy the sun as well. She loves it when the door is kept open as that allows her the freedom of to-and-fro. I enjoy it as well for it allows me to not have to continually open and close the door for a finicky cat.

Moments ago I found the cat inside chasing what I thought was one of her many playthings under the couch. It wasn’t long, however, when I realized that this plaything, might not be a toy after all. For one thing, the cat was completely engrossed in getting this thing out from under the couch – normally when her toys become unreachable she simply gets bored and moves on. For another, I heard a chirping noise and none of her toys chirp. As you might have surmised, it was a bird.

I quickly tore the cat away from the couch and shuffled her into the bedroom, door closed. I then carefully began moving the cushions away from the couch and then pushed it away from the wall. Finding no bird, I wondered if I wasn’t a bit mad, but continued turning the couch over.

Sure enough, a little bird flew out and banged its head against the window. Poor thing desperately wanted to escape but wasn’t clever enough to recognize a piece of glass (and believe me this isn’t a crystal clear window like in the commercials.)

I opened the doors to give it an escape route and donned a pair of gloves as to not get scratched or bitten. I then tried to grab the bird to throw it outside.

Whoosh, it went, grazing my hair and banging into the far wall where it quickly slid down into the relative safety behind the bookshelf. After removing many books I finally made my way to an opening where I could reach the bird. Unfortunately, the cranny was too small and all I could do was move my fingers menacingly at it in hopes it would change position.

It did and flew to another bookcase, this time landing in front. It was obviously frightened and pushed itself frantically at the books hoping to find another haven.

Finally, I was able to grab it and let it loose outside. It moved like it was hurt in some way, but it was definitely able to fly so I figured it had a decent chance of surviving on its own. The cat was then unleashed and has spent the rest of today desperately looking for its capture.