Broken in..

My house in the last couple of weeks has been broken into twice that I know of.  Before you panic and start to wonder about the neighborhood I live in, I should tell you I know who the intruder is.  Here is his mug shot.

His name is Jackson and he is a cat burglar.  The biggest problem is that he closely resembles my cat Meeko.  It's not good.  The first time he broke into the house, I was working in the kitchen and felt a cat head butt my leg and bent down to pet the cat.  Meeko does this to me all of the time, so I didn't think much of it, but when the cat meowed, I knew it wasn't Meeko.  AAGGHH!  I picked him up to take him out and what does the little brat start to do, he purrs.  Not a sign of a guilty conscience, I would think.

Jackson's house borders mine via our back fences.  He's lived there for years and I never knew he existed until a couple of weeks ago.  His family went on vacation and they had a housesitter/catsitter stay at the house while they were gone.  Great idea in theory, until you factor in whether Jackson liked this person and he DID NOT and subsequently moved out for the duration.  He found my neighbor's yard first.  Being a very friendly cat, he saw the 3 kids who live next door and do not have any pets and decided they could love on him and they did.  They played with him and petted him and let him hang out.  All fine and well.  Friendly cats are rare, and at that point he was not venturing into my yard or house.

Jackson soon figured out that I have two dogs, Basset Hounds Humphrey and Bacall, and Meeko, my mixed breed cat.  Jackson liked to sit on the fence and bug the ever lovin' crap out of my dogs.  It got annoying, but since he wasn't in the yard.  I would call of the dogs, who are secretly afraid of most cats, especially when they are up close and in swatting range, and told them to be quiet.  Then one day, while enjoying the sun and warm weather, I was in my favorite outdoor chair, with the dogs lounged out in the yard next to me when I had a cat land in my lap.  It wasn't Meeko, but Jackson.  This signaled a new troubling sign with him.  I took him to the fence with the dogs blissfully asleep and sent him on his way.

I thought this solved the problem, until the first break in occurred.  How do you tell a friendly cat when you're sending him on his way that he's not welcome, when his only response is a big ole loud purr.

Break in two solved my problem!  At 5 am, the other morning, I was awakened to the sounds of a good old fashioned cat fight.  Snarls, hissing, growling and the whole shebang.  Meeko, who is a very very very timid cat, was defending her turf.  By the time, I got out of bed, Jackson was LONG gone and Meeko was on guard and has been every day since.  She goes out into the yard where she can see everything and keeps watch. 

I haven't had a break in since.
Safe from cat burglars.
Melissa