Δαφνη Ευτυχια Αρθουρος

I've got one bedroom that Perrine isn't supposed to enter (which, of course, makes her want very much to go in there), though I'm considering changing that policy. The idea was to have a room to which I could retreat if my cat-allergy was being bad, with side effects of having a room where stored clothes are less likely to gather cat fur, and where allergic guests can hide out. (I seem to be doing pretty well regarding my allergy to cats, at least when it comes to Perrine, and that room isn't sufficiently isolated from the rest of the house to be enough of a retreat for guests who are significantly more allergic than I am. But the clothing issue remains ...) Anyhow, that's the blue room, and it has an air conditioner in it.

The window in the green bedroom is painted shut, so no AC here, but it does have the colour television and a working computer and is where I can spend time with my darling cat. But sometimes I have to hide out in the blue room just to cool off, leaving poor Perrine out in the hall all night. (She could go up to the third floor, which is where the other air conditioners are, but if I'm home, she mostly sleeps on whichever floor of the house I'm on -- though on hot nights she won't stay in the bed even if I'm in the green room, and looks a bit warm even in the slightly-cooler hallway.)

In the interest of getting a little more cool air into the green room, I opened the door to the blue room and wedged a largeish window screen in the doorway. I was interested in seeing whether that would keep Perrine out.

Oddly enough, it does so far. She eyed it very thoroughly, and I'm pretty sure she could leap over it (I'm not sure whether she's as certain though -- she leaps onto things that are higher than that, but I haven't seen her jump over something that high), and she's definitely shown her usual curiosity about that room, but she also noticed that I was watching her and seems to have decided to accept that whether she could jump over or not, the screen means she's not supposed to. So she'll try to run past me into the room when I go in or out, but won't jump over the screen even when I'm asleep. Interesting.

I'm not sure how long this will last, mind you, and I don't trust her to remain so obedient if I leave the screen there when I leave the house, but for now, I've got airflow without having her exploring the blue room. And an interesting little experiment in feline psychology.

(Of course, increased airflow also means more of her fur and dander drifting into that room even if she doesn't wander around in there ... some was getting in under the door -- the gap is more than a paw-width -- but this will surely increase it. And if I do decide to rescind the off-limits status of that room the whole issue of the door and the screen goes away. For now, a compromise situation until I decide otherwise.)