Dateline Boston — We like to go to friends’ houses for dinner. We talk, laugh, check out their digs, play with their children. Every once in awhile, we like to reciprocate. Recently, we’ve discovered that our furry felines might be a hindrance to entertainment.
We allow our cats access to everything in our apartment; nothing is off-limits. When I did a Facebook poll about how to keep cats off countertops, respondents laughed out loud on my wall. I figured everyone’s animals went everywhere. The first night we got our kittens, they made themselves comfortable on our wooden chopping board. From there, they moved to the kitchen table and the kitchen windowsill. To get down from the windowsill, they need to jump down to a countertop. Sometimes, when they’re sitting on the windowsill, a tail might naturally fall down on the dishes that are drying in the dish drainer. None of this bothers us. It might bother some people.
It only became noticeable that this might be a problem after we started having people over for meals. We have a “remove shoes” policy, but when people come over, I’m always a little hesitant to ask people to take off their shoes, because there might be kitty litter in the hall on the way to the kitchen. Who wants to step on that? We always wear slippers.
We’ve discovered that we have to lock the cats out of the kitchen when we have guests over for dinner. The first time we did it, I panicked. My mind raced. “What if they need access to their litter box in the back room? Should we put the litter box in the living room while we eat? Ugh, that’s disgusting. They can hold it. But what if they can’t?”
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After dinner, we let the cats back into the kitchen. Of course they jumped on the table. Something about the look on a non-cat person’s face when a cat jumps that makes one feel guilty. Guilty for what? A cat being a cat? A cat in our household, who is allowed to jump whenever and wherever he or she wants? Yes. Guilty for that.
The other day another friend came over. She hadn’t seen our new kitchen table. “Wow, this is nice!” she exclaimed, as she ran her hand over the table. Oh, no, had I wiped it of cat evidence? I didn’t think I had, but she didn’t say anything. She also had the misfortune of wearing nice black pants that day, just as the cats are into their first adult cat shedding season. Great. I had to run the tape wand over her when she left; how embarrassing.
We’d love to entertain more, but friends, be warned. Wear your best white outfit. Bring some slippers, and come over immediately after eating at your house.
Ms. Vaillancourt may be contacted at snobbyblog@gmail.com
