Trespassing

My mom told me that my aunt accidentally killed a ferret once. My aunt heard strange noises and figured that there was probably a rodent in her house. (She thought it was a mouse.) She finally cornered it one day while it was under a rug and exterminated it, but when she pulled the rug back she was horrified and saddened to discover that it was a ferret. Probably somebody's pet who had wandered somehow into her house. My mom said that my aunt felt sick about it. I wanted my aunt to feel better, so I told Mom to tell my aunt not to feel so bad -- after all, the animal was trespassing in her house. (Maybe it's a good thing I didn't become a doctor... think I'd get sued for having a lousy bedside manner???)

I'm not sure what the deal is with furballs and trespassing. Last year, new neighbors moved in, with a domino-colored female cat. It didn't take too long for the neighbors' roaming cat to discover my two cats basking in our sun room. She would meander her little domino-colored self across our lawn and over to the back patio door and stare inside. She would visit our front yard as well, sometimes near my car, and sometimes sniffing around the bushes outside my bedroom window. Even though we observed her, um, fertilizing our lawn from time to time, I really didn't mind her trespassing because she seemed harmless.

Until she began to pick fights with my little Siamese cat through the window. First it was through the back patio window, and then it was by the bushes outside my bedroom window. Imagine waking up to the sound of two cats growling and punching at a window with their little paws. I'm glad there was a window between the two rivals, yet it freaked me out and ticked me off that the neighbors' cat could just saunter over whenever and pick a fight with my girl cat. (My big, hulky boy cat would usually either hide or dart out of the room on such occasions.)

My family quickly learned that although Mom's guard-dog poodle can get along with my two cats, any other cats are off limits. So whenever the domino-colored arch-enemy approaches, all we have to do is whisper, "THE CAT!!" and the poodle charges barkingly towards the back patio. The neighbors' cat usually leaves right away, so this seems to work just fine.

If that didn't work, I'd suggest a 'No Trespassing' sign... but I'm not sure it would do any good.