Cat Collar Chaos by Jobi Harris

(from 4.6.2012 blog on Ask Fisher)

We have had a time with Scooter! We moved into our new apartment (no yard) and out of the house (yard), and staff was worried Scooter would scoot out the door and get into trouble.

One day when staff was emailing back and forth with her cool crafter friend, Debra from Sleepy Cat Designs, the idea of trading products came up. My staff loved the idea and they set out to make it happen. She chose a perfect collar for Scooter.

Scooter, however, was not convinced. When my staff put the collar on her, she went silly nuts. She ran into the bedroom and hunkered down in a closet. She was overwhelmed. To all of us, it is such a sweet collar, beautifully crafted with a small bell. To Scooter it was a ball and chain around her neck and she just did not want to deal with it at all.

•              She rushed to a bedroom closet as fast as a cat can run with her belly almost touching the floor

•              Came out of closet in the evening, rushed to staff person on the couch and burrowed under her arms

•              Spent Saturday night in closet with the door open

•              Sunday morning when peeps returned from errands, Scooter was missing!

•              Found under a heap of covers on the bed, just before emergency outdoor search

•              Would NOT come out and stayed until after evening dinner guests left the premises

•              Had a few bites of food and water and retreated to her “modified hiding place”.

Finally, a viable explanation to her behavior – she was embarrassed! As the man of the house explained it, she was acting like a teenage girl who had a pimple on her nose and refused to leave her bedroom!

The very thought of her feeling embarrassed was so descriptive of her behavior it made us all laugh. Scooter’s greatest contribution to the household is that she is our comedy cat, and she does make us laugh a lot.

She is a lot better now, fully recovered and moving around normally - and still entertaining!

P.S. Please visit  Sleepy Cat Designs to view all sorts of wonderful hand-crafted kitty items!

Editor's Note:  Jobi Harris specializes in animal portraits such as the one below and supports various animal related organizations.

 You may see her more of her work at www.watercoloryourworld.com