I love my cats. But many times I am truly mystified as to why we have cats. Yesterday, I went to grab my favorite black stretchy pants for dive meets, and I pull it off the shelf of my closet only to find it covered with cat fur. One of my cats has taken to napping in my closet. And his most recent nap site was clearly on this particular pair of pants. Now, all my animals are dark colored by design, because I favor blacks and grays in my apparel, and dark fur is better for that. However, no fur is dark enough to carry a nest of cat-napping furriness without it being obvious. I was already running late because I needed to get the snack bags to the school for the basketball team before leaving with the swim team for our away meet. I needed a lint/fur roller pronto. Of course, you can never find one to those things unless you don’t need it. I was digging and fishing everywhere. I thought I might have a mini one in my car, but who had time to chase a whim out in the car? And I couldn’t afford to wait until I was leaving to find out. What if I didn’t have one in the car? I took a mental note to use duct tape as a final option. Finally, I found a lint roller refill in the downstairs bathroom. Who knows where the handle is? This would have to do. So, I jammed my fingers in the middle of the roll and did the best I could.

And why is that crazy cat even sleeping on my clothes? I try to keep him out by closing the door, but he had figured out that the closet door doesn’t click, so if he puts two paws on it, it opens up for him. And then, before his very eyes, are shelves and shelves of sleeping opportunities. If the shelf is too full, he can simply dig his claws into the top of the pile of clothes and pull some items down onto the closet floor. Voila, more space. If the whole pile comes down, simply repeat the process on a different shelf, hoping for a better outcome. It can look like a burglar has been rifling through the lower shelves. A cat-burglar. This cat, Apollo, is smart though. He doesn’t do it all the time. Then, I would surely fix the door latch. Or maybe he sleeps there all the time, but he doesn’t pull down piles of clothes all the time. He simply naps in there to hide from all the annoying humans that like to cuddle him and kiss him. Or he naps there because it is clearly set up as cat bed central, and he thinks he is supposed to nap there. The door is closed simply to keep out the intellectually less gifted cat, who can’t figure out how to open it. Of course, on more than one occasion, I have closed Apollo in my closet as I go to bed. I hear him scratching on the inside of the door in the middle of the night. If there wasn’t a risk of him finding an appropriate alternative litter box site in my closet, I would leave him in there for the duration. He clearly hasn’t figured out that it’s more difficult to get out than in.

In the meantime, perhaps I should locate a lint roller to put in the closet, since I prefer not to look like I am carrying an extra cat on my person. It would be nice if he would choose to sleep on one of the many couches, or even cat beds around the house, but I’m not sure I can change this behavior pattern. I could always fix the closet door, but who has time for that? The cats know who’s in charge around here…and it’s not the humans or the dogs.