the littlest thief

I don't discuss my cat very much, and if fact he goes through affectionate phases and independent phases. Some days he follows me around and crawls into my lap at every opportunity, other times I won't see him (except at meal time) for several days. He is my first cat, and I love him to death, but Archie has a problem. He is a food-hound.

He generally makes a fuss at meal times, meowing and running back and forth as if it might make me feed him faster. He opens my cupboards and drawers, licks my dishes, and tries to break into the dog food containers. Very annoying.

I have a metal (impenetrable) container for Ace's kibble, and a plastic one for Willow's kibble. When I moved to Guelph, I kept both containers side by side. However, one afternoon I found Archie half inside the plastic container - he had lifted the lid and had almost succeeded in climbing completely inside.

Archie making himself comfortable on a different plastic container.

New plan: stack the containers. With the metal kibble container on top of the plastic one, there was too much weight for Archie to pry open Willow's food container.

Problem: Ace's container was almost empty. I'd been meaning to refill it, but just had not gotten around to it yet. So yesterday morning as I was brushing my teeth, I hear a scratching noise and look around the corner. Low and behold, Archie was trying to break into the plastic kibble container. I watch him for a moment, thinking he'll never be able to lift the lid with the metal container on top, even if it is empty.

Obviously I was wrong, or this would be a really crappy story. Archie manages to squeeze a paw under the lid, and promptly gets stuck. He let out this horrible yowl, all quavery with fear. I lifted the lid so he could get out, and he promptly ran away. I thought: serves him right, at least I won't have to  worry about him breaking into the container again.

If only. After I finished brushing my teeth and came out of the bathroom, I found Archie half inside the plastic container. Little bugger! I couldn't believe he had the guts to try another attempt, just a few minutes after he'd been stuck! I shouted and he wiggled out, then ran out of the room.

I ended up stacking not only the metal container, but also an old 5 gallon fish tank on top of the plastic container. Apparently brute strength is the only way to keep my cat out of a food source.