All Creatures Great and Small...

The fog comes in on little cat feet...Carl Sandburg had that right! Cats can be pretty stealthy. Gus weighs maybe 5 lbs. Our dogs are 40 and 60...there is usually no doubt to their whereabouts (usually padding around behind me hoping it's 5 o'clock and FEEDING TIME!). I am used to large animals that if you can't see them at least you can smell them!! But the cat...you had better be looking before you take your next step. I learned the hard way the first week Gus came to live with us. I must have stepped on him 4 or 5 times...first time in my hard clogs...the next in my very substantial running shoes. Wayne nicknamed me "Cat Crusher." Paranoia set in to the point where I was afraid to wear shoes in the house. Nevermind that the temperature was frigid (inside and out!). I padded around in socks for a week hoping that at least I would feel his little paws before all my weight got him! Didn't work too well. We bought him a collar with a bell (I know...I resisted but better to have him "belled" than to have to amputate his paw!). Works ok but actually I think that Gus got wise and knows to stay out from under those tall two-legged creatures. However, he has taken to biting toes, especially when one is on the toilet and indisposed. Bad cat!!! But he definitely hates shoes...