I didn’t realise how this happened, but in the month of July our house acquired 4 kittens. I came to Moscow in 2010 to discover a cat, and this summer she (and we) got 4 more felines. They were orphans, and after a week of looking after them we decided to keep them all. The elder cat has stopped worrying altogether, since she realised that she’s living in the house where someone drops in casually once in a while, without any apparent threat to her personal well-being.
What a way to go for someone who was initially forbidden to have pets for health reasons! Now kittens inhabit the whole of the house, and one of them is casually and carefully strolling along the computer table, past the PC display, stopping for a moment to play with the mouse cursor. I’m practically typing in blind, but apparently without typos.
The pleasant thing is that they react well to the tone of voice. Although I still have to physically restrain some of them (like, rescue them from a wardrobe), most of the time it is enough to tell them off in a strict voice, and they obey. Unfortunately, they tend to get up earlier than me and immediately start their physical exercise routine that involves using me as either a barrier or a trampoline.
All in all, it’s been a great year, and I’m grateful to all who shared it with me, be they cats or people.
