Cats just wanna have fun

Humans aren't the only species plagued by boredom.  Cats get bored, too.  Why else would they do some of the things they do?

Outdoors there is plenty of mischief for the average cat to get into.  Indoors, cats are bored.  Move outside cats inside and all hell breaks loose.

There is usually a grace period.  At first the house is a scary place with weird noises, strange people and all kinds of things to investigate.  But you can only explore the same place for so long before it becomes monotonous.  And then boredom sets in.

That's when the fun begins.  If there is more than one cat, fighting is the first entertainment choice.  But for some strange reason, humans discourage this form of amusement.  This could be due to an odd human  dislike of blood and vet bills.  But cats are creative beings.  Discourage the squabbling, and they will entertain themselves more covertly.

This is the stage where the human begins child proofing the house.  Anything the little buggers can steal gets put away.  My daughter lost a couple sets of earbuds before she figured this out.  Next, any possible object that could be breakable or harmful to the cats is removed by the human.  That's where I encountered a slight problem.  It seems carpets and walls are not easily dispensed with.

I'm not sure why they hate the carpet.  Maybe they don't like the color.  Possibly they would prefer a more neutral shade.  And it's true the carpet is old and needs to be replaced.  But when my husband spots another new place they've torn up, he gets annoyed.  I attempt to calm him by explaining that the cats are just trying to help us take the ratty old thing up.

I am aware that these cats hate closed doors.  And anyone could mistake the woodwork around the doors for giant scratching posts.  Confusing potted plants for litter boxes is a common enough error that could happen to any one of us.  The cats have patiently taught me that screens and drapes are designed for climbing.  I've learned that pens and pencils don't belong on table tops and counters.  Writing implements are actually chew toys that belong on the floor.  I can even understand why these cats think that books don't belong on the shelves of book cases.  It's obvious that those shelves were designed for reclining.  But for the life of me, I can't understand their issues with drywall.  For some reason, they feel that the paint needs to be peeled off the walls in certain sections with the designs enhanced by deep claw marks.

Toy mice and jingly little balls are so boring.  To make the cats to lose interest in interior decorating and revert to hunting, I would have to bring live mice, birds and fish into the house.  I'm not quite ready to do that, yet.  For now I'll just admire their creativity.  Being creative is fun.  And cats, they wanna have fun.