Why our Cat is in the Doghouse

Once upon a time, it was just James and me in our little apartment. Then one Winter's day a few years ago we adopted our cat, Lucas. It was right around Christmas and he was the only kitten at the SPCA who did not get to be showcased in the Macy's windows downtown. This was not because he wasn't completely adorable, but because he had been sick - poor little guy! We fell for him immediately and brought him home that day.

Fast forward a few more years and on a rainy Spring afternoon we bring home another new member for our family whom we are even more in love with (sorry, Lucas), baby Calvin! Was Lucas jealous? Maybe he was just curious. For the first few weeks it was all we could do to keep Lucas out of Calvin's things. All Lucas wanted was to curl up in Calvin's car seat... or bassinet... or bouncy chair... After all, those things were new and soft and comfy and the perfect size for a cat! He didn't really try to bother the baby, but whenever Calvin cried, Lucas would come running into the room and stare at us as if to say "Hey! What are you going to do about that crying thing?!"

Everything seemed ok between Lucas and Calvin for the most part. It was annoying to have to clean cat hair off of Calvin's things, but not a huge problem. Sometimes Lucas would try to get in our laps while we were holding the baby and that was also annoying, but also not really a problem.

And then Calvin got something new. Bottles.

Calvin had to switch to bottle feeding because he was not able to get enough milk while breastfeeding - the muscles in his palate don't work quite right and as a result he has a weak suck. So suddenly these new things appeared in our apartment filled with sweet milk (or sometimes not so sweet formula!) and tipped with a tempting rubbery thing that always goes into the baby's mouth... Turned out Lucas wanted to put the bottle nipples in his mouth too!

The first time we caught Lucas chewing on a bottle nipple we figured it was a fluke. We laughed and didn't worry too much about it. The second time, Lucas had climbed onto the counter where the bottle parts were on the drying rack to get one! And each time, he bit the end of it almost clear off. Fool me twice, shame on me! So off to Babies R Us to buy replacements and up the nipples went into a cabinet above the counter out of reach of the - Nope. Lucas got nipple number 3 off the middle shelf of the closed cabinet!

We started tying the handles of that cabinet together to "cat-proof" it but you know, we're busy parents of a newborn and we do actually have to use the nipples so inevitably one day we forgot to tie the string and I walked in and caught him going for nipple number 4: perched with his front paws on the middle shelf and his hind paws on the bottom shelf! I wish I had gotten a picture, but I totally lost it and started yelling at him and he leapt down and ran away. I was so mad at that darn cat!

And that is why Lucas is in the doghouse. He is temporarily banished from the apartment. We put his litter box and food in the garage. But don't feel too sorry for him - he spends most of his time upstairs with my grandmother and cousin and I let him in the apartment during the day as long as I can keep an eye on him!