Screens and Such

So this morning I got up because I heard a strange sound, and usually that means that one of the cats is playing with something they're not supposed to be playing with. Livvy was on the bed, so I knew it had to be Viola. I walked through the house, calling her, and I didn't see her.

Then I saw it.

The screen in one of the kitchen windows was ripped from the frame along the top and one of the sides, leaving a nice big flapping hole, plenty big enough for a cat to jump (or fall) through. "Great. So now my cat is roaming the neighborhood. " I really was worried about her, because when I was a kid, we had our share of animals who got out and ran away, never to return.

I stuck my head out the window and called her, but I didn't see anything. This just confirmed my suspicion that she probably did this hours ago and is long gone. So I went downstairs, kind of panicked by this time, because I also realized that she could have gotten hurt in the fall and crawled off someplace to hide. I got to the area below the window and saw that some of Priscilla's flowers were flattened, so I knew she had definitely fallen out. I started calling her again, walking around the house, looking under the stairs, etc., and I finally found her hiding on the back porch. Once she saw me, she came out, meowing. She was completely unhurt, just a little dirty and spooked.

ARGH!

So now that I know Viola is okay, I'm really annoyed. We don't have central air, which means that when it is warm outside (like now), you really have to keep the windows open in order to keep the apartment from getting stuffy. And, of course, most people don't want to be hot at night. So my dilemma now is that I don't know what to do about this. Apparently, I can't leave the cats unsupervised with the windows open all the way. I left them open just a few inches when I left for work today--enough to keep a breeze going through the house, but not enough for them to do any damage.

Now I'm really thinking about getting them declawed, which is extremely common in Texas, but it's pretty much deemed animal cruelty here. The animal shelters won't even give you a cat if you intend to get it declawed. I also saw these silicone cat claw things online--you slip them on your cat's nails and they can't do any damage. If it keeps them from pulling the screen out, those might be worthwhile.

Anyway, I will have to take a picture of the screen and put it up for you to see. :)