Freakout!

The littlest cat, Mittens, the tuxedo cat clone of her mother, likes her privacy and will disappear for most of the day, sleeping in closets, boxes, behind books, etc., mostly coming out for meals. (Despite this, she is a friendly kitty and, almost every night, accompanies me down the hallway to my room when I'm ready to retire, climbing on the furniture, changing the discs and/or tracks on my CD player, knocking over books and begging to be petted.)

Yesterday afternoon, she was in my brother's room napping in a large twine-handled, flat-bottomed, paper shopping bag, the kind with the store's logo printed on the sides. Unfortunately, when she woke up she tried to exit the bag through the twine handle which was big enough to accommodate her head but not the rest of her. She turned so the rest of her was outside the bag but couldn't figure out how to free her head.

So she panicked.

She ran.

She ran around my brother's room, around and over his bed, knocking clothes on the floor. Around his easy chair, spilling another bag containing empty aluminum cans awaiting recycling. She ran out into the living room, dragging the designer bag around her neck, spilling a couple of Mom's ceramic vases (miraculously not breaking them), skidded across the coffee table scattering magazines and newspapers, up one side of the couch and down the other.

The more she ran the more the bag flapped behind her and as it flapped it turned and as it turned the twine noose tightened around her neck scaring her even more.

My brother chased her as she crashed through the dining room and flipped a chair over. The other cats scattered.

We finally cornered her in my room next to my easy chair she loves to claw, under the table she hops on to preen for my attention every night. My brother held her still, wild-eyed and panting, while I carefully untwisted the bag and pulled the handle over her head. She was so traumatized she didn't even notice us laughing our heads off.

As soon as she was free she made a beeline for my closet, climbed a couple of boxes and hid behind my shirts. She stayed in there for a little over two hours. Her mom and sister came into the room a couple of times and just sat by the closet door. It was nice to know they were concerned.

We shall have to wait and see what lessons, if any, were learned.