Dinah, Screen Warrior

So we have this cat. Her name is Dinah. She's a gray tabby. She adores Darwin. She likes me. She tolerates our other cat Dora.

And she has turned into a screen warrior.

A few weeks ago, Darwin and I were yanked awake one night with a screeching yowl. I dashed out to the dining room, where the noise was emanating, and found Dinah attacking the sliding glass door. She clawed at it and leaped at it, and, apparently forgetting about the glass,  bounced off it. Then she did it again. It was like she had gone crazy. For a fleeting moment I wondered if she was attacking her reflection, but she'd never done that before. 

I finally realized what was going on. Another cat was on our back deck. All black. It was sitting close to its side of the glass with its tail curled around its legs, taunting Dinah. Dinah was a madcat, spitting and yowling and screaming. I rapped on the glass, but the cat didn't move, so I yanked the door open. That made the cat run, but Dinah dove for it. She hit the screen door and swiped at it before I could shove her aside with my foot. I shut the glass door, shooed Dinah away from it, and let her calm down while I went back to bed.

Last night, we had the windows to the back yard open against the climate-changed warm night air, and again we got the screaming, yowling noises. I sighed and went out to deal with it. 

This time, the black cat was sitting on the deck rail, which put it at window-sill level. Dinah was leaping up at the screen, spitting and screeching. I chased the damn cat away and shut the windows, but Dinah had torn out chunks of the screen. It'll have to be replaced.

Darwin was ticked off at Dinah until I pointed out that it's not her fault. From her perspective, the cat is a threatening invader and she has no choice but to retaliate. It's the fault of the other cat's owners for letting it go outside. (The cat isn't a stray--it's well-fed and its coat is sleek.) This is NOT a good area for cats to go outside. We have coyotes. We have a busy road. We have assholes who speed down said road because it's smooth and straight and they like having a place to floor it. All of it is a bad combo for cats. But whoever these people are, they let their cat outside. 

And it turns Dinah into a screen warrior.

It's too cold now to have the windows open, so the worst that'll happen is that she might attack the door glass again, but in the spring, we'll have to remember to keep certain windows shut. After we get the screen repaired.




comments