The Scaredy Cat

Lil Doobie likes to explore our backyard. Yes, she's a curious kitty, but curiosity hasn't "gotten" her yet. We've never really let her roam before because she's such a scaredy cat, and because we used to live near a fairly vehicularly populated road.

But our newish house is in a more secluded area near conservation lands, and is much less trafficy. We also have a non-electrified fence running the perimeter of our yard, with one main guard tower from which we watch her every move. This helps hold our kitties in, yet it doesn't kill them. It's quite neat, that old 1930's property definition technology.

During one of Doobie's recent explorations, she encountered something that triggered her auto-puff defense mechanism. The silence was eerie as Doobie began to grow larger and larger for some unknown reason. Her tail expanded and her back rose.

"What the heck is going on?" I thought.

Then I looked into my neighbour's yard. Even then it took me a few moments (1 moment equals approximately 1.2 seconds) to notice the quiet black face staring through the fence. My neighbour doesn't have a dog, so it was a surprise to see this large curly-furred canine giving Bean such a fright.

I decided this would be a super radical opportunity to take a picture from each animal's perspective. Doggy saw kitty. Kitty saw doggy. Neither one said anything. They just looked at each other while the staring contest judge watched for blinking motion.

I put Doobie in the house to reduce her stress, and convinced her that coming in second place was good enough. She was content with her 'participation' ribbon and I rammed some catnip into her face to ease her mind.

Then, in typical fashion, our other cat, Stoner (aka Roner), came running into the sunroom to partake in the getting high. The kitties rolled on the carpet, forgetting all that troubled them that day.

Doobie was so sweet, she didn't even revert to her angry stoned personality. Usually she'll start a boxing match with Roner (aka Stoner) when she gets high, but not this day. This day, I think, she was just happy to be alive. Or happy to be stoned. I don't know.