Cat Daddy and I are away for the weekend, at his sister’s birthday celebration. Although it was tempting to just leave Louis Catorze to go feral and see how much time it would take him to move in with Family Next Door (who would probably love him as their pet) or That Neighbour (who wouldn’t), we decided that it wouldn’t be fair to do that to other people. So we asked some previous chat-sitting family members if they could come and look after him again and, astoundingly, they agreed.

A photo from their last chat-sit.

The last time they came, Catorze had a marvellous time with both of them but he took a special liking to the gentleman of the couple. We were pretty sure that Catorze would annoy the merde out of him and prevent him from working, so we advised him to do as much of his work as possible before coming over. However, it turned out that Chat-Sitting Gentleman had already planned to do exactly that, because Catorze had annoyed the merde out of him and prevented him from working the last time.

Boss: “What’s that? You can’t do any work because of WHAT?”

Packing to leave took hours; “smart casual”, something that no British person truly understands, is open to going wrong if people’s expectations differ, and I know that Cat Daddy’s sophisticated family’s “smart casual” is equivalent to my “white tie and diamonds”. Whilst packing, I noticed that some of the clothes that I had hoped to take were coated in some sort of grey fluff:

Jumper: ruined.

I had no idea what it was, nor how to get rid of it. The old trick of a fistful of Sellotape didn’t make much difference. Picking it off with my fingers also didn’t seem to do much. In absolute desperation, I reached for Catorze’s Zoom Groom brush (the reverse side, obviously, not the side with the spikes) to see if its static magic would somehow help to shift the mess.

Not only did this work like a dream but, as the grey fluff came away, the pieces unfurled and lengthened. Oh. Mon. Dieu: the mystery fluff was compressed, embedded cat hair. The little bastard had been sleeping on my clothes.

Cat Daddy: “Well, it’s your own fault. You should have put them away.”

Anyway, no doubt our chat-sitteurs will regale us with tales of how angelic Catorze was during our absence. It happens every time. I guess he has learned by now that, since we are stupid enough to put up with his nonsense, he doesn’t need to bother behaving for us.

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22 responses to “La mode se démode, les poils de chat jamais …”

  1. Kate Crimmins avatar

    He will have stories to tell his cat friends!

    Liked by 1 person

    1. iamthesunking avatar
      iamthesunking

      He doesn’t have any friends but, if he did, yes!

      Liked by 1 person

  2. mary mcneil avatar
    mary mcneil

    Glad the cat brush worked on your jumper (that’s a sweater, right ?) Glad your sitters are familiar – and tolerant – of Catorze’s ways.

    Liked by 1 person

    1. iamthesunking avatar
      iamthesunking

      Yes, a “sweater”! 🤣🤣🤣 Although if it’s not knitted it’s a “sweatshirt”!

      We are very lucky that we have a bank of willing chat-sitteurs.

      Like

  3. mmechapeau avatar

    I do hope both of you are having a great time at Cat Daddy’s sister’s birthday celebration dressed in “white tie and diamonds” or not.
    🙂

    Liked by 1 person

    1. iamthesunking avatar
      iamthesunking

      Merci! I do miss the purring wake-up call (although Cat Daddy doesn’t).

      Like

  4. alicephilippa avatar
    alicephilippa

    If your clean(!) Clothing is like that, just think (or don’t) how much fur you have eaten. Cat fur, decoration and a condiment.

    I know when my lot are starting to moult. With hours of putting clean bedding on a corner has embedded black fur.

    Liked by 1 person

    1. iamthesunking avatar
      iamthesunking

      Within hours? It’s minutes for me! Catorze can hear the sound of bedding being changed from 200 metres away!

      Like

  5. Herman avatar
    Herman

    I would love to take care of Louis for the weekend but unfortunately, there’s a sea between us… 🙂

    Liked by 1 person

    1. iamthesunking avatar
      iamthesunking

      People do come from far and wide to chat-sit him! He has one chat-sitteur who comes all the way from Paris!

      Liked by 1 person

      1. Herman avatar
        Herman

        Mon Dieu…!! That’s really impressive… Maybe I should try it one day with combining it on a London visit… 😉

        Liked by 1 person

        1. iamthesunking avatar
          iamthesunking

          I think two visits … come and visit us all first, and if you don’t like Catorze just make an excuse for the second time. If you come straight and chat-sit, you’ll be trapped with him … 😱😱😱

          Liked by 1 person

          1. Herman avatar
            Herman

            Thanks for the very wise advice… Have a great weekend!

            Liked by 1 person

  6. Dr. CaSo avatar

    I use a sticky roll to remove cat hair, because I had to use it every single time I left the house, with my previous kitties. Rosie la pépette is not a problem yet, because she stays hidden under the bed. But when I wear clothes that I haven’t worn since Miss Penny’s death, I still find tons of her hair on them, it’s crazy! (Love your title!)

    Liked by 1 person

    1. iamthesunking avatar
      iamthesunking

      These were properly embedded, though, in the way that they would be if a cat had slept in that same spot repeatedly. I never saw him do it. What a little sod!

      How is Rosie? It will take her some time but it sounds as if she is gradually becoming more courageuse!

      Like

      1. Dr. CaSo avatar

        She’s indeed getting a bit more courageous every day, but she goes back into hiding every time there’s a noise, and she is absolutely terrified of the vacuum cleaner, poor baby!

        Liked by 1 person

        1. iamthesunking avatar
          iamthesunking

          They all hate the vacuum, don’t they? That said, Sa Maj is more outraged than afraid. He screams and screams at the person using it, telling them to shut up. Then he screams at whoever else is in the house, as if to say, “Aren’t you going to do anything about this?”

          Like

          1. Dr. CaSo avatar

            😆😆😆

            Liked by 1 person

  7. cat9984 avatar

    It’s amazing how cat hair becomes a part of everything.

    Liked by 1 person

    1. iamthesunking avatar
      iamthesunking

      And the fact that it appears to change state, sometimes resembling nothing like hair, is astonishing.

      Liked by 1 person

  8. mary mcneil avatar
    mary mcneil

    This link has a picture of Catorze’s sister, who obviously wass kit-napped when young. You will have to scroll down to see the pic, but sending just the picture would have been too shocking.
    https://gothamist.com/news/nyc-woman-reunited-with-cats-after-evacuating-from-manhattan-garage-collapse?utm_medium=social&utm_source=facebook&utm_campaign=shared_facebook&fbclid=IwAR11rjOo7tn9GsvEdPAGDEwk9ROeENtjx09htU7mhapmDbtvxIsK7CVaC3k

    Liked by 1 person

    1. iamthesunking avatar
      iamthesunking

      A tortie vampire kitty! 😱😱😱

      Like

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