Feline Friday: Lily's New Thing

We've spent quite a bit of time this past month mopping up drinks from cups that have mysteriously tipped over. We've confiscated red, green, and transparent straws from various places around the house. Who is to blame for these curious goings-on?

You guessed it! In addition to tipping over wastebaskets, Lily's new thing is tipping over cups, especially DH's cups with lids and straws. Once tipped over, she can pull out the straw in no time and run with it to some secret place where she can chew it until it is no longer recognizable. DD and I are actually to blame for the fascination with straws. Once, during a long car ride, we amused Lily with a green Starbucks straw. Since then, she's been totally obsessed with stealing them.

We're actually concerned about this from a safety standpoint: little pieces of plastic could easily break off a chewed straw, and knowing Lily, she'd eat them without thinking twice. Aside from the safety factor, I'm secretly getting a kick out of this mischievous behavior. To understand why, you have to know that DH is not a cat person. One cat was almost more than he could tolerate. The addition of a Lily (with her full menu of antics) has almost put him over the edge.

This is the typical scenario: DH puts a cup of water on the floor next to his recliner. When he's engrossed in reading or his computer, Lily silently circles the recliner and approaches from behind. In an instant, she pulls on the rim of the cup, grabs the straw and runs. DH jumps out of the recliner, yelling something similar to "that darn cat" and steps in a puddle of ice water. After a week of this, last night DH devised a plan to outsmart her. He removed the straw and positioned the cup on the floor next to the recliner, wedging it firmly next to the fireplace hearth. He went to bed, forgetting the cup. Where was it this morning? Tipped over, a puddle of water all over the carpet.

"Naughty kitty!" I say aloud. "Go, Lily!" I whisper in her ear.