Dougal's Diary. David Greagg
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and I could see out.
It looked very exciting. It's another whole room, a bit like ours but longer and narrower. It was all smooth and there were what look like other doors. One of them was slightly open and I could see another room through the opening. I hoped the human would let me down but it didn't. The next chance I get I'm going to slip out the door while nobody's watching.
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Today I got a look at the Next Room! It was really quite exciting and very different from our room. There were tall things and a furry floor and big flat places up high and a HUGE soft thing. I think one of the humans sleeps there, because it smells really strongly of female human. I got out there after I heard footsteps outside our door and hid behind it. Then as soon as the door opened, and stopped moving, I ran around it as fast as I could and down the long narrow room. The nearest door was slightly open and that's how I got in.
One of the humans came into the room and played with me for a bit, but then a bigger human came and picked me up. I purred at her because she stroked me nicely, and she put me back in the box with the others. They all wanted to know where I'd been and what was it like; but I couldn't explain it to them because I didn't have the words to describe it. Try it yourselves next time, I told them.
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The humans spent a lot of today just playing with us and we got used to their paws. And their faces. Their eyes are so big and they're a bit scary, but they seem to really like us. You can tell by all the strange noises they make. Mum seemed OK with this and they played with her too. Stripy One and Black Kitten managed to climb up one of the human's legs and they ran into each other coming down. Then the humans made that funny noise again and I think they thought it was funny. It was, but we looked away while Stripy One and Black Kitten washed themselves thoroughly. We all get embarrassed easily.
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The humans played with us again today and we played with each other. It was a perfect day and Mum is very happy with us and told us we were Good Kittens.
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We spent a lot of today wrestling with each other. I saw Stripy One and Stripy Two doing it so I jumped on Black Kitten and did the same thing. Only she cried out, and Mum came and pinned me down and washed me. She says I'm not doing it right. I wonder what I'm doing wrong?
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Stripy One and I got out into the next room and ran all over it. He showed me how if you run really fast across the floor and jump on the rug you can skate across the room, so we did that until the humans came and put us back in our room. I liked that game. We'll do that again, if we can get in there. I love the smooth floor. Ours is furry, which is OK but not as exciting.
Mum told us about What Stuff Is Made Of today. Things are made either of wood or cloth (OK for scratching), or rock, which isn't. Some rock is shiny and cold. And there's a special sort of rock and lots of stuff is made of it. Apparently it's called plastic. Nearly everything else is Green Stuff, which we haven't found out about yet; or food.
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I finally worked out what I was doing wrong. Watching Stripy One and Stripy Two wrestling each other, I noticed they both kept stopping to wash each other's faces! So I tried it with Black Kitten and she washed my face too, and that seemed to be OK. Mum explained that this was to show we were only play fighting. It makes sense now. Mum told us about Boy Cats and Girl Cats. I'm a Boy Cat. You can tell because we look different down near our tails. Stripy One is a boy and Stripy Two and Black Kitten are Girl Cats. Mum's a Girl Cat too. She also says that when we're bigger we'll smell different.
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Today was an amazing day because we were introduced to grown-up food just like Mum has. Black Kitten wanted to know why we needed it. Mum, we've got you, haven't we? What do we need this stuff for? Mum looked away and didn't answer. I think she was very embarrassed and there's something we don't know about and she doesn't want to talk about. I watched Stripy One and Two walk up to the edge of the plate and sniff at it. Out came their little pink tongues and they started to eat.
It smelt a bit odd to me but I couldn't resist it. It was wonderful! Now I know why Mum likes it. So that left Black Kitten sitting watching us. Come on, I told her. It's lovely. She ducked her head a bit lower and looked at us with an agonised look. Then suddenly she launched herself straight into the plate. Food went flying everywhere and she just sat there with fish on her ears.
Yeah, great, said Stripy Two. That worked well. Mum? Black Kitten's being embarrassing again! So Mum came over and stood over her and washed her clean - while the dreadful little cat started to wolf down the leftovers! The three of us just stared at each other.
Our first grown-up meal was now scattered over the floor, and the bits that weren't were inside Mum and Black Kitten. Well, terrific! Luckily at that moment one of our humans came over and started making that strange coughing sort of noise again. I think it means they think something's funny. We didn't think it was funny.
We'll eat up the bits and pieces off the floor if we have to, but come on! Then the human brought us more food. Apparently it comes in tins. Mum says there's other food which comes in little balls and we'll start eating that as well very soon. I couldn't wait. I found some of her little balls and she didn't seem to want them, so I sat down and had some. They were delicious! I was strangely thirsty afterwards, but Mum says that's normal. Just drink more water, she says. I can do that.
The others like that funny white stuff which tastes a bit like Mum, but I don't. I like pure water straight out of the tap. What I like even more is wild water I've found myself.
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Well, today was a surprise because the humans came in and just opened our door and left it standing wide open! I was first out the door, but I stood there for a moment looking back at Mum. She got up, stretched, and decided she'd better come too. Then we all started off down the long narrow room.
I sniffed at the door that had been open the other day, but it was shut and I couldn't push it open. One of the other rooms further down had an open door, though. So we all gathered round the opening and looked into the room. Stripy One slowly walked in and we followed him. The floor was smooth, like the smooth bit in our room, and there were all sorts of exciting smells. I'm sure I could smell food. But it was a hot smell and I thought it was wonderful.
Maybe if we Play Cute they might offer us some of it. I was sure I could smell meat, but it was hot and that did strange things to the scent. Then one of the humans (the man) took out a little white ball and bounced it along the floor. We all jumped on it and batted it around the room and almost forgot the delicious smells. And Mum just sat at the side looking at us. She seemed happy enough and we were having fun.
18
Today they let us into the same room as before and we batted the white ball round the floor again. Stripy Two managed to climb onto a high flat thing and there was food on it. She was just about to dive into it when the humans seemed to get all excited and lifted her down onto the floor.
Mum walked over and washed her and explained that the high flat thing was a Table and that's where humans eat and we weren't to go there unless the humans weren't looking. Any food we could get off the table in our mouths was ours fair and square, but we weren't to complain if we were caught because we Weren't Allowed There.
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