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Cats v Toddler Noise Pollution

    

Greetings fellow felines. Snoops and Kommando Kitty here. We’re here with an update to our living situation. As you may know, our human sister moved back home a couple of months ago with her miniature humans. They are two and three years old. We are slowly adjusting to the new situation. We have both returned to the main floor, although we are doing our best to avoid the small creatures.

Kommando: It’s gotten a lot better since they started going to the human shelter during the day some days.

Snoops: I think the humans call it a daycare.

Kommando: I guess that explains why they come home every night.

Snoops: Yeah. That was pretty disappointing the first couple of times it happened.

Kommando: At least we get to eat in peace now.

Snoops: At long as we’re done before they get home. That blonde one still eats our food if we leave it down.

Kommando: Yeah. I don’t get it. We won’t eat the wet stuff after a few hours, but he doesn’t seem to have a problem with it.

Snoops: Even the salmon which isn’t that great when it’s fresh.

Sgt Stripes: Hi ladies. That sounds pretty rough. By the time they come upstairs, it’s bedtime. So I only see them for a few minutes. Of course, every morning they wake me up. Apparently they don’t like getting ready for that daycare thing.

Snoops: Do they scream and yell?

Sgt Stripes: Pretty much every morning.

Snoops: That’s the worst.

Kommando: I dunno. They’re really loud sometimes when they’re not screaming too.

Snoops: You know, cats have really sensitive hearing.

Kommando: That’s what makes us such excellent hunters.

Snoops: Our ears are really cool. The outer ear consists of the ear flap and canal. We can rotate our ears independently to hear sounds coming from different directions. Then we have the middle ear that’s full of small auditory bones and the eardrum. The inner ear has the cochlea and semicircular canals of fluid that help us maintain our amazing balance.

Kommando: And our ears are ultra cute too.

Sgt Stripes: I found a list of seven kinds of sounds cats hate on Mr. Google. Let’s see how our new housemates compare to the list. The first one is hissing.

Kommando: Ooh, yeah. I hate it when Snoops hisses at me.

Snoops: I only do that when you’re annoying.

Kommando: Well, the kids are super annoying, but they don’t hiss.

Snoops: I guess we don’t annoy or scare them.

Sgt Stripes: The second sound we don’t like is banging. It says that we don’t like pots and pans banging or doors slamming.

Snoops: That one is a major issue. Those kids are always banging things around in the kitchen.

Kommando: And our food dishes! Mom got us those nice stainless steel dishes, and they’re all over the house.

Sgt Stripes: How traumatic!

Snoops: It is. We have to talk to Mom about it.

Sgt Stripes: The next thing on the list is high-frequency sounds, like the ones that come from computer screens and television remotes.

Snoops: They have tablets that are pretty annoying. Although they don’t use them all that much.

Kommando: No, but I really dislike Peppa Pig. She is super annoying.

Sgt Stripes: Apparently we also dislike balloons popping. Do they do that?

Kommando: No. I don’t think that’s a problem.

Sgt Stripes: I don’t think the next two are really an issue either. Some of us don’t like thunderstorms or fireworks either.

Snoops: I don’t think those are a problem.

Kommando: You sleep through almost anything.

Snoops: You’re just a scairdy-cat.

Kommando: I wish I knew how to hiss at you.

Sgt Stripes: I think the last one is a problem. It says that cats don’t like loud yelling or arguments. It says that the sounds coming from young children can be very stressful to kitties. We don’t like it when our humans are stressed out.

Kommando: The little humans are stressing us out!

Snoops: So what are we supposed to do?

Sgt Stripes: It says we’re supposed to find a  quiet place where we can calm down.

Kommando: I have a better idea. Let’s find a quiet place to put them.

Snoops: Let’s think about this.