The cat came back

Noodle ran away last week. I came home from my girls' night on Wednesday, and when I opened my door, Noodle wasn't standing right there like he always does. I didn't think too much of it, but when I didn't hear the little bell ringing on his collar like he was running to the door, I knew something was wrong.

I started looking around my apartment, and I couldn't find him. I happened to look in the corner of my living room to see that my window screen had been messed up. There was a gap just big enough for a cat to fit through. The punk!

He'd already messed up the screen in my room, and I had to white trash/ghetto tape it up with packaging tape. I'd left my windows open for weeks in a row before since I've had Noodle, and I never had a problem. The difference now is that the punk figured out that there are stray cats that run around and who will stop by and meow at him from the landing above my balcony when I'd let him outside.

Here I thought I was being a nice person by letting him take a break from being cooped up all day. How does he repay my kindness? By clawing through my screen, hopping on the chair and then the table on my porch, and leaping onto the landing above me.

I wasn't that upset about what had happened. Honestly, Noodle had been driving me nuts. He keeps me up at night; he licks constantly. He's ruining my things by clawing them or knocking them over and breaking them. I spent $15 on a stupid picture frame from Sea World because it was cute and it's something I'll have for a long time with the picture of K and me from our trip inside it. It has three orcas on it, and when Noodle knocked it over, it broke the tail and dorsel fin off of one. Super glue fixed it, but still -- you can tell it was broken if you look closely.

I have a flimsy little three-legged, round table next to my bed, and there's a white tablecloth on it. I've only had that table cloth for, like, four months or something. Well, Noodle has managed to claw it and ruin it.

I take care of my things. They last for years. I like it that way.

At the same time, it is kinda cool to have a cat, and I didn't want Noodle to get sick or hurt. He's microchipped, so I knew he'd eventually make his way back somehow. I was hoping a nice family would find him, take him to the vet and discover he was chipped, and I could tell them they could just hang on to him because I'm not home enough to have a pet.

All my stuff would be saved, I wouldn't have to worry about what happens with him when I leave and I might even have a chance at getting rid of all the cat hair in my apartment.

But that wasn't the case. I was turning off my laptop in my living room when I heard (from my open window) a bell ringing and a cat's meow. It was Noodle. I opened my front door, and in the little punk ran. He laid right down on my floor like he'd only walked outside for a second. I started inspecting him for fleas, ticks, worms or any other disgusting thing when he got up and started scarfing down cat food. He then used his litter box. Thanks. All those hours he spent outside, and he waits until he gets inside to go to the bathroom.

Oh, well ... I already have the litterbox and cat food. And he is kinda cool sometimes.