Times Lyra has freaked herself out: 4
Articles of clothing eaten: 5
Other strange objects eaten: 2
Times Lyra has stolen food: ????
* Plastic bags
* Laundry baskets
* Loud noises
* Food
* Bugs
* Balls that jingle and shoelaces
* Jessica "Shanks" Anderson
Lyra was rescued from a crazy lady in Morgan Hill who had 160 cats. The cats were in cages, in the dark, without toys. None had been vaccinated or spayed/neutered, and the females were in heat at the time of Lyra's rescue. Lyra and her sisters were kept in a back room in the house in which it was suspected that the crazy lady had been "backyard breeding" some of the cats. Apparently these cats were also inbred, resulting in some kooky and even cross-eyed offspring.
EXPLORATION
When you adopt a cat from a shelter or rescue group, you receive all kinds of supplemental information explaining how to introduce the cat to their new home and to a resident cat. One thing you should always do is keep your new cat in a separate room for the first week or so while it is adjusting and so that your old cat can get used to the new smell. So when we brought Lyra home, she got the "second bedroom" all to herself. The first night went fine - Lyra was still tired from getting spayed a couple of days prior to her adoption and so she slept a lot. On the second night we left her bedroom door open so that she could explore her surroundings (suggested by the supplemental information). While this was probably a good idea, we should have also made sure to close our bedroom door and close Wicket in with us. I woke up in the middle of the night, opened my eyes and saw Lyra on my left staring at me with her front paws on the bed. Wicket had also woken up and was growling over my right shoulder. Lyra ran out of the room and hid in the computer room for two days.
THE LITTER BOX
We bought a small, cheap litter box for temporary use until Lyra was well introduced to the household. I came home one day and found litter on the floor all around the litter box. Apparently the litter box was a tad too small; when Lyra started digging in the litter to find a good spot to "go," the litter went flying. Vacuuming litter sucks.
THE PLASTIC BAG
Joe and I went grocery shopping one evening and lazily left a plastic shopping bag on the floor. Lyra tried to play with it and somehow got one of the handles wrapped around her body. She panicked when she couldn't get the bag off and started to run. The loud flapping of the plastic following her freaked her out even more and she went tearing through the house trying to get the thing off. Lyra ran into the kitchen and started to slide on the linoleum. She frantically tried to get a grip on the linoleum and in the process dug her claws into the floor, scratching up the linoleum. She was finally able to turn herself around and run out of the kitchen and into the front bedroom. She managed to tear the bag off and then she ran to the back of the house (through the kitchen) and hid in the computer room for two days and no amount of enticement with food or toys could get her out of hiding. We don't leave plastic bags on the floor any longer.
HARDWARE
Lyra regularly camps out at Joe's feet while he is preparing his pizza on the kitchen counter. When morsels fall, Lyra is there to snatch them up as fast as she can. During one of these nightly rituals of dinner preparation, Joe used a pair of scissors to open his Boboli package. The nut, bolt, and washer that hold the scissors together fell to the floor. Lyra somehow managed to eat the washer before Joe could even lean down to pick up the pieces that had fallen. Apparently Lyra has an iron stomach.
FOOD
My friend Sabrina was over and she wanted to know what size Lyra's food bag was. I got the food bag out of the cabinet and saw that it had a large hole in it. Lyra had somehow gotten in the cabinet (not surprising since she opens out sliding cabinet doors all the time) and chewed a hole the size of her head in the bag. Lyra is obsessed with food.
SOUL MATES
Our friends "The Anderson" and "Shanks" (Jesse and Jessica Anderson) came to visit during a cross-country honeymoon trip. We had only had Lyra for about 2.5 months at this point and she wasn't too keen on sitting still for more than two seconds. If Joe or I was sitting down somewhere, she might grace us with a brush-by and we could momentarily pet her. Sitting in laps and being held just wasn't her thing. Until Shanks came. Lyra loved Shanks. How did Shanks capture Lyra's heart so completely in such a small amount of time? We don't know. But Lyra was so enamored with Shanks that she sat in her lap the whole time Shanks was visiting. We suggested to the Andersons that they take Lyra home but that was a no-go. Lyra wept for days after they left and still pines for her lost love.
THE BATHROOM
When anyone goes into the bathroom, Lyra runs in there behind them and plops herself down behind the toilet (out of sight). On one such occasion, I did not notice that Lyra had done this. I finished doing whatever I was doing in the bathroom and walked out, closing the door behind me. About an hour later I heard a usually-silent Lyra meowing/whining. After looking around the house and calling her name, it dawned on me that Lyra was in the bathroom. I opened the door and she ran out, so happy to be free that she promptly started circling my legs and purring happily. Apparently it takes a little trauma to get her warmed up to me.
ANOTHER PLASTIC BAG
Okay, so I lapsed on leaving the plastic bags lying around the house. I came home one evening after buying some knitting supplies and was too lazy to put things away since it was so close to bedtime. The bag happened to have a sandwich baggy full of treats in it. Lyra, being an avid fan of food (and anything else she can fit down her throat), stuck her head in the bag looking for the treats. She got the bag wrapped around herself and, terrified, ran through the house trying to get it off. Once off, Lyra hid for one day. She now avoids plastic bags except when she feels like chewing on them.
THE PURSE
One afternoon, my purse was sitting on top of our coffee table and Joe and I were sitting on the couch. Lyra came to investigate the purse and somehow (we are not sure exactly how, even though we looking right at her when she did it) got my purse strap wrapped around herself. Now, I must say that my purse is not light. Lyra must be a mighty strong cat because she was able to drag at least 1 lb. of purse across the house and into the computer room. I ran after her but she managed to get the purse off in the kitchen. She hid under my bed for the rest of the day, and only ventured out briefly for food and treats.
THE BASS CASE
Joe has a very small bass that he calls "The Rail." It is enclosed in a soft-bodied silver case that has black straps. It is stored in the closet in our computer room along with his various other basses and his guitar. One day, while I was hanging things up in the closet, Lyra ran in and started playing with the dangling strap on the bass case. And, you guessed it, she got tangled up in the strap. Luckily the bass is too heavy for her to drag anywhere. But since she couldn't run away, she just kept struggling to get away and the strap kept twisting and tightening around her belly. With my heart in my throat and horrible images of the strap squeezing Lyra to death in my mind, I grabbed Lyra and called for Joe so that he could move the other instruments out of the way (The Rail was in the back corner of the closet). After Joe moved the other instruments, I studied the strap for a bit (to make sure I didn't twist Lyra the wrong way and kill her) and carefully unwound her. Free, she ran into the second bedroom. I followed her to calm her, but, thinking I would be angry or something, she tried to run away. I grabbed her and hugged her and whispered "it's okay" until her heart (and mine) stopped pounding. We must be making progress because she didn't hide at all this time.
THE SPIDER
Wicket found a spider crawling around in the kitchen and started batting at it. Lyra joined him and they played with it for a while and then Lyra ended all of the fun by eating it. For hours afterward, both cats pounced on dark spots on the floor. Now Joe doesn't have to kill spiders 'cause I can sic the cats on them!!
THE CANDY
Joe's brother Justin moved in recently. Justin does not allow the cats in his bedroom. But the cats are crafty and one day Lyra weasled her way in and stole a bag of the mini-sized Kit Kats. She chewed through the bag and withdrew a Kit Kat. We found her after she had eaten the candy bar. She was licking the wrapper.
THE SWEATER
I came home one day to find big chunks taken out of my nice red sweater. Not wanting to blame Lyra since I was not there to see it, I put the sweater on my bed to see if one of the cats would go for it. Sure enough, Lyra started chewing on the sleeve. I shooed her away and threw my favorite sweater in the garbage. Who knew cats ate fabric??
THE SCARF
Lyra ate a large chunk out of my scarf. While discussing the sweater incident with an individual who has worked with Lyra's relatives at Town Cats, I learned that Siamese cats are prone to eating fabric. Upon researching further on the internet, I found out that Lyra probably has Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder. To read about Feline OCD, click here. Who knew that cats had mental problems??
THE TELEVISION
The television was off, but Lyra stared at it anyway. Then she put her paws up on it and started biting at the gold SANYO logo. She also licked the SANYO logo. Apparently SANYO televisions are pretty tasty.
THE WARDROBE
Lyra has eaten parts of sleeves of two of my sweaters. One I don't like and so I am glad to have a reason the throw away. The other was a birthday present from my best friend and I keep trying to think of ways to salvage it. Any ideas?
