(173) A Closet Cat

Chez is a closet cat. He loves (among other things) to get into my closet when it is open, even a little bit. Sometimes I open it just a tad to put something away and he darts in and I don’t even see him slip through. Once inside, he slinks in behind the hanging clothes, where he sits or lies until I leave and close the door behind me. If I have a feeling that he might be in the closet and I call to him I usually get a “meow” back, from somewhere up between my sweaters on the upper shelves. I think he goes into the closet for a number of reasons. Sometimes he retreats there to hide away from the commotion of the dogs. Sometimes he goes into the closet because it has a warm cozy feeling with all of the folded clothes he loves to sleep on and in between. I also think he likes go into the closet because it’s a challenge and what cat doesn’t like a challenge. The challenge is to get into the closet without me seeing him in the short time I have the door open. Then again, maybe he is practicing getting through the closet door without being seen so that he will be able to get through the outside doors undetected and more proficiently than he has previously (sneaky cat!).

In the end, Chez is a closet cat because he wants to get in and find a comfy place to do what a cat does best, sleep and hide. Soon he’s ready to come out and face the challenges of play with his buddy, Beeker, who is always looking for a party. If it has been a while since I have seen Chez (he’s usually on the bed or in a chair, or getting Beeker to play) I go looking for him and sooner or later I head to my closet looking for him. I can call him, look for him and still not see that he is right there before me, hidden, not wanting to be brought out, found. A true Closet Cat.