Bad Kitty

Years ago I wrote about my attention whore of a cat, and I just thought I would report that Jasmine is still up to her same old antics... bad kitty.

We actually did manage to get her a little bit under control at the condo, to the point where she knew that getting locked out of our bedroom each night was the norm and she wouldn't cry or scratch at the door. I find I sleep much better when I don't have a living fur ball draped around my neck all night.

But then came The Big Move. Following 20 terrified hours underneath the dryer, Jasmine finally came out to explore the new house, and I'm pretty sure she thinks she died and went to Kitty Paradise. 2,500 square feet is a big change for a small animal that has never gone outside before, and soon enough kitty was careening from one end of the house to another, as fast as her little paws could carry her.

Generally, I think that exceptions should be made in times of change and upheaval (remember the first time we all moved in together?) so for those first few nights in our new house we decided to let Jazzy sleep with us in our bedroom. This was a mistake.

Between our busy schedules and adjusting to the move, we were never able to establish any sort of pattern, and at this point our totally spoiled cat has completely taken over our home and bed. We try to lock her out, but she scratches at the door (new door... new paint... eeeek) and howls like she's in heat. For hours. Not kidding. But if we let her in the bedroom, she purrs and cuddles with us for a few minutes (cute), but then proceeds to jump over and under the bed like a one-kitty circus act. Sometimes she even crawls through the bed frame and up into the box spring, where she crawls and scratches around. Silly nocturnal creature.

I can't even remember the last time I got a good night's sleep. All night long, every night, it's the same: Lock her out, let her in, shove her off, throw her down, grab her throat, toss and turn, scream obscenities. Bad kitty!!

In addition, I've been having really terrible back pain ever since my knee injury. So not only is Jasmine keeping us awake all night, but I often wake up with excruciating back pain and can't get back to sleep for an hour or more (I did buy a gel foam mattress topper this week, which I hope will help with that). So needless to say, Stew and I are currently functioning in an extremely sleep deprived state, and I don't know how much longer we can take it.

I do love my kitty to the moon and back, but I hear it only takes like 72 hours without sleep for someone to go completely bat poop crazy, so if this goes on for much longer I'm not sure I can be held accountable for my actions. Jasmine, you just need to stop it, right meow!!