Many years ago I had a holiday on the Isle of Man and Holly came too. I worried about her being in the car on the catamaran, so I measured the inside of it and bought a crate with slightly smaller dimensions.
You may have spotted the error in the plan already, I had measured the inside of the car but not the size of the boot opening, the crate would have fitted in the car if I could have got it in there. I tried putting it in flat but there was not enough space to put it up inside the car. So in the end Holly travelled loose in the back of the car and was fine on the journey.
So I now had a nice big crate, but what to do with it?
Over the years it has been used to contain a kitten (Linus) and as a safe place for a confused cat (Olaf) and as somewhere to confine various critters (mostly cats) to when they were ill.
Holly did sometimes use it, usually in and around the 5th November every year. I would put the crate up and fill it with duvets and blankets and drape the outside in towels and sheets to make a cosy cave. When the first firework went off she would go and bury herself in the duvets and blankets and stay there until they stopped.
Then one year she wouldn't stay in there. Every time a firework went off she went to the crate and, if I encouraged her, she would get in. But she would not stay in there. It took me a couple of hours to work out what was wrong, she was all alone. In previous years Fluffy had joined her in the crate and stayed with her until everything was quiet. Fluffy was not bothered by the Fireworks but it had never occurred to me that she knew that Holly was frightened and needed some company. The year Holly wouldn't stay in was the first Bonfire night without Fluffy. Linus and Olaf would go in with her but would not stay.
My plans for that evening, and every subsequent night that fireworks go off, were scrapped. I transferred all the duvets and blankets onto the sofa, wrapped Holly up in them making sure I had an arm or a leg under too so she had some physical contact with me, and spent the evening watching t.v. or listening to music and reading a good book.
