Cat Burglar

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Returning from a working vacation, we found our three black cats mightily upset and the house in disarray... On top of that one of the neighbor’s cats apparently had claimed our house as her own; pretty much telling our cats off.
Unexpected, and definitely not the way I envision ‘the order of things’ to be.

For the cats to be upset with us leaving them to take care of the house ~ they are guardians after all ~ is not uncommon. Yet this time things were different.
Put two and two together and the only logical conclusion is that the cats and our house suffered from a cat burglar.
In the most literal sense of the word.
As in a cat sneaking in ~ most likely through the cat door ~ and eating the food, laying down in the best places in our house.

In a subsequent fight, a big plant got knocked over ~ leaving the scene as if a more traditional burglary had taken place.
Luckily no such thing happened, and after clearing up the mess everything is back the way it should be.

And that is where it would end; except for the fact that our black threesome is experiencing the emotional aftereffects of the cat burglar’s visit. Just like it can happen for us humans, they are jittery and continuously checking if everything is still alright. Making sure no unsolicited visitors are sneaking in... And being ultra careful when going outside themselves.

Given the fact that the cat door ~ as opposed to all other doors and windows ~ is unlocked, and therefore freely accessible to any neighborhood cat who dares enter our threesome’s territory; I suspect that the other cat made numerous visits while we were away.
And, getting bolder as things seemed to work out for her, she eventually got caught ~ and was fought off.

In a sense it is what can happen to us when we are not clear about our boundaries.
Someone may step over our boundaries, ‘pushing’ us into doing things for them, taking time away from what we really want or need to do ~ and when that situation is not arrested right there and then ~ it may evolve into a situation where our personal boundaries are disregarded on a regular basis, perhaps even to such extend that our energy, our time are decided over by others in an ever bolder fashion...
Until finally there is that point when enough is enough; the other is caught in the act and fought off.
Leaving our lives in disarray.

And then ~ whether one is human or cat ~ it takes some time to recover, to get our confidence back to step out into the world...
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