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We moved the master bedroom around this weekend. I've forgotten the original reason for it, but as part of this we turned the bed 90 degrees counter-clockwise and put it against the longer wall of the room, installed light-blocking roller blinds from IKEA on one wall, and installed drapes on the other wall. We need the light-blocking blinds more in the winter because there is this HUGE HONKING LIGHT on a pole behind our house that beams rays of light in all directions all night long. It is usually hidden by leaves, but once the leaves fall, it goes directly into the bedroom windows. We complained to each other about it all last winter, but didn't get around to doing anything about it until this winter. The normal drapes are to block some of the light from those windows, but not all, because if I sleep in a room with no light cues I have a tendency to oversleep, which triggers migraines. There is also the hope that they will insulate the room slightly more than not having them up.
What does this have to do with the cats? Besides disrupting a huge section of their territory, making lots of funny noises and smells from the drills and hardware, both of us humans getting snappish, and kicking up lots of dust and making![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
myrialux suffer from a three-day-long severe allergy attack?
Well, you see, cats have a Very Definite Idea of the shape of their territory. They familiarize themselves with it, and know where everything is. And then they stop thinking about where everything is and just trust that stuff will remain in the same place. My mom's cat always knew that Under The Couch was the Safe Place to Go when it was time to go to the vet, because Mom wasn't in any sort of shape to be able to tip the couch up and drag her out at the same time. And when Mom rearranged the living room, the cat still dashed to the place where Under The Couch used to be, even though the couch was now on the opposite side of the room, and hid under a small side table that was now in that space. It took her months to realize that Mom could now scoop her up easily and throw her in a cat carrier.
Our cats are much the same. Not only is the small chest of drawers that Sora used to perform the Morning Ritual that Ensures Food on a different wall, the head of the bed is on that wall, so he spends the morning tramping around the ledge at the head of the bed* where the chest used to be. The small padded bench that was previously at the foot of the bed, which held the cat beds and the cat bed heating pads is now against a wall because I felt that there wouldn't be enough space after the foot of the bed to *not* stub toes on in the new arrangement. So they're not spending as much time there as they used to.
And, the unkindest cut of all,myrialux and I switched sides while in bed. This is because we treat the two bathrooms of the house as His and Hers** and it really makes more sense this way, as we each have the shortest route available to our respective bathroom now. Alas, poor cats, they have a very hard time comprehending this. Sora spent most of Saturday night snuggled up against myrialux's feet, crowding him off his side of the bed, instead of crowding me off my side of the bed as he usually does. He jumps onto myrialux's new side of the bed in the morning, all ready to bother me until myrialux feeds him like usual, and then stares at myrialux in confusion because Something Is Not Quite Right.
Nefer's even suffering this. Quite often she jumps up on the bed and then onto me in the morning toannoy me accept petting and scritching. This morning, she spent a lot of time on the floor on myrialux's side of the bed, staring up at him. When she finally jumped up, she sat on his side of the bed for a bit, staring at us trying to figure out just exactly why this wasn't right while we both scratched her, then jumped off.
They'll eventually figure it out. Probably just in time for us to decide to move, so they can then get used to a whole new house all over again.
* IKEA Malm bed with optional shelves that roll out from behind the head of the bed, so there's a ledge there on which we can put lamps, alarm clock, books, Kleenex, spare cats, etc.
** People on House Hunters always squee over double sinks, but I am all for double bathrooms instead. It would save quite a few relationships, I am convinced.
What does this have to do with the cats? Besides disrupting a huge section of their territory, making lots of funny noises and smells from the drills and hardware, both of us humans getting snappish, and kicking up lots of dust and making
myrialux suffer from a three-day-long severe allergy attack?Well, you see, cats have a Very Definite Idea of the shape of their territory. They familiarize themselves with it, and know where everything is. And then they stop thinking about where everything is and just trust that stuff will remain in the same place. My mom's cat always knew that Under The Couch was the Safe Place to Go when it was time to go to the vet, because Mom wasn't in any sort of shape to be able to tip the couch up and drag her out at the same time. And when Mom rearranged the living room, the cat still dashed to the place where Under The Couch used to be, even though the couch was now on the opposite side of the room, and hid under a small side table that was now in that space. It took her months to realize that Mom could now scoop her up easily and throw her in a cat carrier.
Our cats are much the same. Not only is the small chest of drawers that Sora used to perform the Morning Ritual that Ensures Food on a different wall, the head of the bed is on that wall, so he spends the morning tramping around the ledge at the head of the bed* where the chest used to be. The small padded bench that was previously at the foot of the bed, which held the cat beds and the cat bed heating pads is now against a wall because I felt that there wouldn't be enough space after the foot of the bed to *not* stub toes on in the new arrangement. So they're not spending as much time there as they used to.
And, the unkindest cut of all,
myrialux and I switched sides while in bed. This is because we treat the two bathrooms of the house as His and Hers** and it really makes more sense this way, as we each have the shortest route available to our respective bathroom now. Alas, poor cats, they have a very hard time comprehending this. Sora spent most of Saturday night snuggled up against myrialux's feet, crowding him off his side of the bed, instead of crowding me off my side of the bed as he usually does. He jumps onto myrialux's new side of the bed in the morning, all ready to bother me until myrialux feeds him like usual, and then stares at myrialux in confusion because Something Is Not Quite Right.Nefer's even suffering this. Quite often she jumps up on the bed and then onto me in the morning to
myrialux's side of the bed, staring up at him. When she finally jumped up, she sat on his side of the bed for a bit, staring at us trying to figure out just exactly why this wasn't right while we both scratched her, then jumped off.They'll eventually figure it out. Probably just in time for us to decide to move, so they can then get used to a whole new house all over again.
* IKEA Malm bed with optional shelves that roll out from behind the head of the bed, so there's a ledge there on which we can put lamps, alarm clock, books, Kleenex, spare cats, etc.
** People on House Hunters always squee over double sinks, but I am all for double bathrooms instead. It would save quite a few relationships, I am convinced.
