My neighbour’s gorgeous cat Mittens comes and goes as she pleases, but they never got around to installing a cat flap, so her means of entry and exit are whichever window in the house happens to be open. Upstairs or downstairs, she will find a way.
Our house backs up to theirs, so I always see Mittens going about her business, usually using our joining fence to tightrope her way to the roof of their shed, take a quick spring onto their kitchen extension, and climb in through the bathroom window.
What this lovely girl hates is dogs, though, and for years we had a Jack Russell terrier for whom the feeling was mutual, so Mittens kept well clear of our yard except to delight in the frustrated barks of the dog when Mittens went about her usual parkouring along our fence. Then, sadly, our terrier passed due to old age, and Mittens eventually realised that our yard was now dog-free. She took to sunning on our shed roof and occasionally stopping down into our yard and popping in through my open kitchen window for head scritches and to say hi before going on her merry way.
After a good few months of mourning, my hubby and I decided we were ready for a new dog. My daughter’s boyfriend’s dog had puppies, and we decided to take two of them. We got our new boys at nine weeks old, and they settled in well with our family.
Then, one bright sunny morning as I came in the door from work, I was greeted by the almighty angry screeches of a cat wailing coming from the backyard. I ran out to the sight of two little bundles of fur with wildly wagging tails giving a shocked-looking Mittens a good sniff all over while she pressed herself into the corner of the fence and loudly complained. Poor girl must have gotten a shock when she plopped down into our yard to come to greet me at the kitchen window when she heard my car. It seems we forgot to tell her about the new puppies!
Anyway, she was perfectly fine, and the pups had seemed to make an impression on her; eventually, they all made friends, and Mittens can often be found sunning herself in our yard, cuddled up with two sleeping border collie brothers who adore her. It is a sight that often lifts my heart after a long day at work. And she still comes happily to my window for hello head scritches.