Meet Schrodinger, our feline guest. You might recognize him from a post I did last month called Unexpected Cat in the Kitchen. Between the beginning of February and the end of March, we’ve had cold weather a few times, even snow. I mentioned in that post that she might be a stray cat. Sadly it appears that I was right.
During the snow she was not around and I imagined she was somewhere with her owners. But, after the snow has passed, she appeared again, much thinner, coughing, and sneezing. We’ve invited her in for a bit, while Festus was kept in the kitchen or upstairs.
She did enjoy sleeping on the stairs and was not bothered by us at all.
As it was still cold outside, I’ve put one of my old skirts on the sofa in the conservatory and I let her sleep there.
The second time she came, my husband showed her how to get into the conservatory from outside. As the inside doors are the ones secured, we can leave the conservatory door ajar for her. We were surprised to see her sleep during the night time on that first day. After that she spent most days in the conservatory. I make sure she has plenty of fresh water, premium cat food that she enjoys.
Now that the weather is warmer I expect her not to sleep there. Even now, when I write this post, she is not here, but somewhere outside. If she decides to come and sleep, she can. The water and food are still going to be there for her. We can’t take her in because we have Festus and we are not ready for a new pet anyway. At the same time, we can offer her complementary B&B accommodation for as long as she needs or wants it.
Now, that the serious stuff was dealt with, let’s have some fun.
First of all, her name, Schrödinger. Sounds a bit long for a cat. Well, it doesn’t matter because she doesn’t know it. We call her like that after the well known Nobel Prize-winning Austrian physicist Erwin Schrödinger. You might have heard about Schrödinger’s cat, a thought experiment.
With his imaginary experiment (no cats were harmed in the process) he tried to show his views on the Copenhagen interpretation (physical systems do not have definite properties prior to being measured) of quantum mechanics, applied to everyday objects.
Sounds complicated and it is. His scenario envisage that a cat is put in a box, a flask of poison might be shattered or not. According to the Copenhagen interpretation, the cat may be simultaneously both alive and dead and only when someone opens the box we can see the state of the cat.
So, why did we call our guest Schrödinger? Because Festus, our dog, saw her in the conservatory on the sofa sleeping, but was looking for her in the kitchen too. Sounds like he is a bit daft, but as it goes for doggy brains, he is intelligent. It was hilarious and if offered us a great name for the cat. Naming our guest also meant we are not using the “cat” word, that triggers an excited response from the dog.
It’s not the only cat with the name of a well known physicist, we’ve named our neighbour’s cat Einstein (a name we use, we don’t have any idea about his real name). Einstein is used in a very sarcastic way because that is the cat with the lowest IQ I’ve ever seen. But that is for another story.
Going back to Schrödinger, she is very confident. She can look annoyed at the dog, while he barks like mad. Her approach did work, as in a couple of weeks I was able to take these photos of them two. Now Festus stopped barking if he sees her in the house. Of course, outside is another matter, there he can try to chase her. He might bark at her in the conservatory, but not as often as before, maybe once or twice a day.
As she was having trouble using some transparent plastic containers I put water in for her, we bought a couple of cheap cat bowls for her. Amazingly, sometimes she would put her paw in the water and lick it because she couldn’t asses the level of water. It was so funny, even the dog looked at her puzzled.
One of these days, while Festus was in the kitchen because my husband was washing the carpets, she entered, passed by the kitchen door, went up into our bedroom, went underneath the bed and decided that is a much better place for a nap. I had to raise the matters, remove the bed slats, pick her up, put everything back while hoping that she is not going back under the bed to repeat the procedure.
Aw how lovely of you to take her in like that Anca, and give her B&B 🙂 Our boy does the same with the water bowl too – he often taps the outside of the bowl – alternating between using both front paws to find the level of the water (I think cat’s can’t see that close up so well!) Schrodinger looks a lovely cat – though my hunch is given how well she behaves & how settled she seems indoors I suspect she may have an owner (perhaps they’ve moved and she’s been let out of the new property too soon so she’s ‘lost’??) Does she have a microchip perhaps? It may be worth checking with a vet centre etc somewhere.
Angela xx
I think you are right. A few days ago, when we were driving back home, we saw someone cuddling her. She is very friendly, so we thought she made a new friend. Now she is no longer on the streets and she didn’t came to us again. So, she was either lost, or she found a new home. Either way, I’m happy for her. 🙂 We do have some lovely memories of her though.
Aww, poor kitty! It’s very sweet of you to look after her! x
How lovely of you to offer up some space for Schrodinger when needed.
We’ve had a black cat visit and curl up asleep in the garden during afternoons on week days and I’ve seen it once at a weekend. It looks well taken care of though.
I always planned to call a cat Shrodinger if I got one. She looks a lovely cat, so nice of you to look after her
Cats are curious creatures. Sounds like she’s a stray who’s made friends. It’s lovely that you’re looking after her
How kind of you to look after her! I LOVE the name! I like the power she has over Festus too- it makes me smile how cunning cats can be!
So sweet and kind of you! The cat must love your place to come back again and stay at your convervatory!