Hostage Situation Part 2

I'd like to say that I've mastered all cats and am confident that I will never be held hostage again, especially after 2 times now. But I am definitely not confident in that statement. I want you to keep in mind, that last week, while scuba diving, I literally swam with sharks. Sharks! But these house cats, they're not messing around. Here's another hostage story.

I met Merlot the cat with Marie the trainer. Her dad called Marie in because he was at a point where he was unable to have friends over or have pet sitters come because his cat chased everyone away. We went to see her, and she did indeed charge us and chew on our shoes and try everything to get us to leave. She settled in a little eventually but when we went to leave, she chased us out. Well, OK, I could handle this. After a few more training sessions, Dad went out of town and Kim and I were left to care for Merlot. I went first and when I got there, I couldn't find her. I looked everywhere, no Merlot. I peaked into her hiding spots, not there. I finally looked at the dresser drawer just inside her bedroom and saw her. We made eye contact and I reached in to shut her in the room while I got things sorted (this was the plan from the start). As soon as my hand crossed the boundary of the doorway she launched. I yelped and tried to shut the door but I was too far from the handle. I leapt into the nearby bathroom and shut the door in her face. She sat on the other side, paw under the door, swiping back and forth. After about 10 minutes she retreated to her room. I snuck out of the bathroom and shut the door so I could clean her litter box and feed her. I reported to her dad that all was well, aside from an initial awkward interaction. I got similar reports from Kim on her visits (though she was able to just immediately shut her in the bedroom instead of being held hostage!) My last visit, I went through the normal protocols and everything went well. I went to open the door when I left and walked away (as I had been doing all week). I heard a noise behind me and whipped around to see her sprinting full on at me. I helped in surprise. She yelped in surprise and froze ("I'm totally not chasing you Miss Lauren, I would never do that") and I backed out of the apartment. We've seen Merlot a few more times since then, though now we have a cat whisperer named Brooke who sees her. Stay tuned for a guest post from her about how she's winning over Miss Merlot!