louiscatorze.com

If we’re talking about the short term, I worry about Louis Catorze misbehaving and being a massive shite. Long term … well, it’s the same thing.

It’s the school holidays. And, naturellement, because this is Catorze, there has been trouble. Yes, ALREADY.

I was sitting in the front room when I heard Cat Daddy shout, “Oh God. He’s screaming at something outside.” I went to investigate and heard that telltale, guttural cat fight sound coming from our shrubbery. The bushes were shaking and I could see a Chat Noir arse sticking out of one end, with a swishing tail so bushy that I wasn’t even sure if it was Catorze’s or not.

A couple of seconds later there was a hiss, then a large (but then, any cat is large compared to ours) black and white cat went shooting out of the shrubbery and into the Zone Libre, with Catorze in hot pursuit.

In my state of agitation I shouted, “Louis!” which was a stupid thing to do. Not only was it pointless because yelling at him wouldn’t have made him stop, but it was a hot day with everyone in their gardens, so all the neighbours would have heard me and therefore known that it was our cat.

Catorze chased the interloper across the field and the pair of them stood facing each other for a few minutes, yowling and swishing tails.

Catorze then slinked back, but not before standing by a tree in the corner of the field and giving it the biggest, longest spray I’ve ever seen him do. In fact, it may well be the ONLY spray I’ve ever seen him do.

Cat Daddy: “He sprayed? Him? He never sprays!” I KNOW.

This has reaffirmed my belief that, despite being a pathetic scrap of a thing, our cat can handle himself. It also seems that he considers the Zone Libre his territory. That’s why he sprayed the tree, non? As a final “And don’t come back!”?

Cat Daddy again: “Maybe we’re the problem. Maybe we’ve just raised a not-very-nice cat who chases visitors away and sprays all over the place?”

Oh God.

Catorze is now back on my lap, without so much a scrape, purring away as if nothing happened. We are going away in a couple of days. Can we trust him to be good for his chat-sitteur?

For more Catorzian capers, please visit http://louiscatorze.com