The Life of Kitten Bucho -14 No Life, No Freedom

The other day, it was five months since Bucho came to live with us. This means that Bucho has become a kitten just under six months old.

Recently, Bucho hasn't been sleeping in his cage. When he gets sleepy in the middle of the night, he sleeps in my husband's bed.

First, Bucho didn't like the water and food bowls in his cage, so he started turning them over even during the day when he wasn't in his cage. Then he slept a lot in the afternoon and stayed up until just before bedtime at night.

When I try to take him to his cage, Bucho resists in every way possible. Just before bedtime, he starts his midnight run, and when I try to catch him, he slips out of my grasp like an eel, and with even greater jumping ability, he escapes to the top shelf of the closet.

Once I somehow managed to catch him and put him in the cage, he would use both hands to rattle the water and food bowls. It would be a disaster if he were to tip them over, so I got up and took care of the bowls.

So he declares his intention to never sleep in the cage. On the contrary, he hints that he wants to go out with Shimao and go on a nighttime adventure.

The cage has now become Bucho's personal toilet.

We knew that Bucho wanted to improve the way he was treated, but we thought that our privileges would allow us to block him from doing so.

Whether he agreed with Bucho's plan or not, Shimao also began to frequently demand that the cat door be opened and closed at night. He would insist that Bucho be put in his cage quickly, causing trouble for us. The sooner we put him in, the stronger the resistance from Bucho would be.

Shimao knows this. He knows this, and Shimao and Bucho are waiting for us to give in. They are waiting 24 hours a day for the cat door to be opened.

No way!