Cat House: The "Emergency" Skylight

I live in a little old house with a half dozen cats (yup, I'm the cliché-- a crazy cat lady. Although, in my defense, two of the cats are my roommates). Well, my cats are a never-ending source of amusement for me. For instance, a few months ago I was working on my computer in the attic of my house. It was a nice day outside, so I had most of the windows open.

Midway through the afternoon, I was startled from my work when I saw something dark in the window behind my desk. It was my black and white "tuxedo" cat, Squeegee. She was standing on the roof, meowing through the window screen to be let in.

Now, I only let two of my cats outside (and only because they can't be trusted to behave themselves when they're loose in the house). The outdoor cats sleep in a wooden shed at night but play outside all day. I fed them breakfast before I let them out (which was less than two hours before I sat down at my desk to get some work done). Squeegee apparently decided that she needed a snack, and she needed it NOW. (Cats can be so melodramatic!).

When I didn't let Squeegee in my window and instead instructed her to get off the roof before she hurt herself (she is neither the smartest or most coordinated cat that I've ever met), she walked across the roof and tried the back window. Same result. She found herself blocked by a window screen.

By now all of the indoor cats were really excited. It wasn't unusual for one of the neighborhood cats to come visit our yard. But, they usually came on to one of the porches to sun bath. They'd never seen a cat outside of the UPSTAIRS windows before! So, while Squeegee continued to try to find a way inside-- while howling at me about how unfair she thought I was being-- the indoor cats were following her progress and chatting amongst themselves.

When neither the front or back windows worked, Squeegee climbed onto the screen beneath the skylight. In less than a minute, her "fluffy" weight was too much for the screen-- which popped out of place and fell on the floor. Squeegee then happily ran downstairs for her snack.

I closed the skylight, followed the silly cat downstairs, waited (somewhat impatiently) for her to finish her snack, and then tossed her furry butt back outside.

Life is never dull when you share it with a cat (or 6).

When I describe Squeegee as neither the smartest nor the most coordinated cat I've ever met, I'm not joking. She once got her head stuck between a rocking chair and the wall. I'm not kidding!

I was watching a movie one evening when I started hearing this "thunking" noise. I paused the movie and looked around for the source of the sound. Squeegee was sitting on top of the back of the rocking chair facing the wall. She had apparently tried to look behind the chair, and managed to get her head stuck. As soon as she leaned back, the chair did the same. Her head was stuck between the back of the chair and the wall! And, the more she tried to get free, the more the chair would rock back and forth-- keeping her stuck. The "thunk" I was hearing was the back of the rocking chair bumping against her head as she rocked back and forth.

I had to rescue the silly cat! (Don't worry, she wasn't hurt. But, I'd like to think that she learned her lesson because she never did that again!)