feline terrorist

This is our cat, Bella.  Bella the Cat (which we always call her, because the neighbors used to have Bella the Dog) was named before I had ever even heard of the Twilight series (because I know you were wondering that).  I have been trying to avoid posts about my cat because I think it's a little weird to spend a lot of time writing and thinking about your cat, but it's unavoidable at this point.

Doesn't she look innocent?  She's not.

Last weekend, we got carpeting in our home office.  We did this because the office is directly above the garage, and there is inadequate insulation, so the office is always freezing.  We thought the carpet might help.  After spending a boatload of money on brand-spanking-new carpeting, we thought we might move Bella the Cat's litter box and food out of the office into another room of the house.  Bella the Cat has rejected this decision.  She has decided to make her feelings on the topic known throughout the course of each night.  First, she sleeps on our legs to wake us up.  If this is ineffective, she jumps on our legs and feet, with her claws out, or tries to chew on our feet through the covers.  This usually wakes us.  Then she loudly meows and runs back and forth from the bedroom to the office to let us know that something is awry.  I've tried directing her to the litter box and food dish's new home, but that just upsets her more. 

Last night, I tried shutting her out of the room.  She chewed on the corner of the door all night, to let us know that she was unhappy with our decision to lock her out.  When we let her back in, she bleated like a goat, running back and forth between the bedroom and the office with renewed enthusiasm. 

This has been going on ever since the carpeting was installed.  I am pretty sure that sleep deprivation is a torture technique.  It seems to me that someone who tortures others in order to get a specified result is a terrorist.  I realize that this is not serious torture (and hence, probably not real terrorism by governmental standards).  But I think the same basic rules still apply.  The only way I can think of to stop her from keeping us awake for another night is to move her food and litter back into the office, on the brand new carpeting.  But that would mean appeasing her.  And aren't you not supposed to do that with a terrorist? 

I let Kathy know that we could also try getting a kitten to keep Bella the Cat occupied during the nighttime hours.  Maybe she would be so busy being afraid of playing with her new friend that she would forget how upset she was by the litter box/food dish move.  You should have seen the look of horror on her face at the suggestion of another cat.  I guess she wasn't kidding about being more of a "dog person."