The nasty orange cat

This is the lovely Miss Boo (or Boo-cat to her friends).



While we were in Japan, my mum looked after Boo and when we move into our new house, Boo-cat will move in with us. She's a lovely girl - not a huggy, lap cat (although she will put up with being hugged if you stand in front of the budgie cage) - but a naughty cat with a big personality.

Anyway, on to the point of the story. My mum has gotten into the habit of leaving the back door open a bit (because Boo hasn't figured out how to use the cat door) so that Boo can come and go at night as she pleases. This arrangement was working fine for all concerned until the nasty orange cat moved into the neighbourhood.

I'm not sure where exactly the nasty orange cat lives but I've seen him lurking in the neighbours gardens so I suspect he might live in the house on the corner. The nasty orange cat is nasty because his owners haven't had him de-sexed. He spends his night wandering around the neighbour causing trouble - that's right - he's a teenage delinquent in a fur coat. But the nasty orange cat hasn't confined his energy to mooching around and hasselling old ladies and school kids at the bus stop. He's moved on to breaking and entering, well entering anyway.

I've been keeping Boo inside at night lately to get her used to it for when we move to the new house. Because she can't use the cat door, I close the security screen and snip the cat door at the bottom (it locks so a cat can come in but it can't get out again). And this is the crux of the problem. The nasty orange cat has figured out that he can come in to my mum's house at night when we are all asleep. I don't know why he wants to come inside - but Boo is terrified of him.

About two weeks ago I was woken up by this huge banging noise in the lounge room. You guessed it, the nasty orange cat came in through the cat door for a midnight raid and then couldn't get out the cat door. I got up and turned on the light to find the nasty orange cat rocketing around the lounge room in a panic. I stood there looking stunned and then Mark came out to see what was going on. "That's not Boo," he says while standing next to me watching the nasty orange cat go up the curtains, over the tv cabinet, up the curtains again, behind the couch and around the table. I swear we stood there for several minutes just staring. Finally I woke up enough to open the back door and we just waited until the nasty orange cat ricocheted out the door.

I suspect that the nasty orange cat has been making a habit of coming in at night through the open door and leaving quietly afterwards for sometime. Nasty thing.