Otis is a special little guy. He sits in our gigantic window and chirps at the birds until his frustration gets the best of him and he goes to sleep through the day in his little kitty cube. Priorities are: eat, sleep, snuggle, play.
Alaska has been rough on him. He knows that dinner time (wet food) happens when it gets dark. Well, over the winter that was a little after 2pm. That was fun. Now it gets dark around 10pm, and changes fast every day. It’s so confusing he now just stands at the fridge and screams at us if he’s not sleeping or at the window.
His personality might be top notch, but his wits fall a little short. Recently Kate had to save him from a panic situation involving claws and the window screen during a botched attempt to get at the birds/squirrels/mice that run and fly around tormenting him all day. He’s absolutely sure that he can get outside by way of the top of the fridge. He also posits that he is an outdoor cat.
This is false. He is not an outdoor cat. He is an indoor cat, mostly for lack of skills and instinct. He’s not what I would call “observant”. His probable autism makes him hyper-focus and miss out on all the things that might actually try to get him. His primary defense mechanism from danger and fear is: fall over, play ‘heavy-cat’. He went outside in New Hampshire, with supervision. Alaska is different. So, we must jump on any chance we get we try to instill the fear of God into this little man so he’s not tempted:
He is, in fact afraid of the front door, so what more could we ask for? He knows that the outside is full of monsters that all want to eat him and he gives us occasional looks that say, “where the hell have you taken me”. Otis is really a trooper for making the 4600 mile drive out here, even seeing other monsters on the way!
