Truly mundane and pointless. Today was Fiona’s first exploration of the back yard this year.
Fiona had been an outdoor cat when we got her, but she took to being an indoor cat without any problems. Still, all it took was for me to be in the back yard, and she would be scratching at the door and meowing to get out to join me. So, I started putting a harness and leash on her and taking her out for a bit of exploration when I was finished working in the yard. She enjoyed it, and still does.
Today was such a day. I was working in the yard, and judging by her meows when I came in, she was dreadfully worried that I would forget to take her out. No, of course not, and I got her harness and leash out, and put them on her.
She had a great time! There was plenty of green grass to sniff (and eat), and lots to be aware of: bird calls, people passing by in the park behind, rustling leaves on the garden plants, and so on. She got to scratch her claws on the wooden boards that border the gardens, and on the trees. She checked out everything she knew from last year, as if to assure herself that it was still there.
Then, we went inside, and once unharnessed, she went for a nap. She’s still napping as I type this, but I’m sure she’s dreaming of our next backyard adventure.
Does anybody else take their indoor cat outside from time to time? How does your cat like it?
In our new house, we were able to cat-proof the back yard so the ladies can go in and out all day, every day, and they love it. I work in the yard a lot, and it isn’t unusual at all to be working with a couple of cats wandering, lounging, sniffing, running, and clawing somewhere near by.
Oh yes! Tripler can tell you about the adventures our ‘twin’ boys have so I’ll tell you about Pipsqueak. She’s 17 and an indoor cat her whole life; when she’s accompanied outside she’ll walk about, as though sharing a walk w/ you. She lived w/ my folks about 18 months and went for long walks w/ my mom while she’d garden on their acreage all day. Mom said she loved it!
The whole yard has a high fence around it, and I put some wire mesh around any possible openings. They’re 12 and 15 respectively, so while younger cats might be going up and over, our cats aren’t interested in any of that tomfoolery.
you couldn’t get the superkitties outside using a cattle prod.
they like to look outside through the screen doors or from their upstairs perch in front of their window, but that’s the extent of their adventures.
i’d love to have the house open more, but unfortuately for them, this summer in indiana has been a slice of hell - we literally went from cold to hot overnight - and upper 80s and low 90s doesn’t permit the a/c to be turned off. the upstairs would be broiler temperature otherwise. hopefully things will cool down a little soon.
I have an older cat who’s a former stray. She’s an indoor cat, but I take her out every day on her leash/harness so that she can get fresh air. (It was the vet’s idea.) She likes it and sometimes she will even sit on the front door mat, which is her way of communicating that she thinks it’s time to go outside. She is very cooperative about getting her harness on.
Yesterday for the first time I let her off the leash. She wanted to sit in the shade under the jasmine hedge, and I wanted to garden, so I just let her sit there while I pottered around. She didn’t budge the entire time.
I have neat fake-trick: I lead the cat up to a maple tree in the garden, say “Sharpen!” and she sharpens her claws on the tree. She isn’t really responding the command though; she’d do it anyway
Barbara cat and the meezer (siamese cat) are former strays. Heddy the meezer won’t go out at all, he spent 3 weeks trying to get into the house. Barbara has only left the house once, to do a quick military style march around the perimeter and then he came back in. They prefer to enjoy the outdoors from a nice screen door.
Our herd of furballs are indoor-outdoor cats. Two insist on going out whenever possible; one will go in good weather, but if it’s cold or rainy or snowy, she’ll stay in, but be unhappy about the imposition of it all. When she gets too noisy about having to stay inside until spring finally comes around again (which might take 2-3 cat years to finally occur again), I’ve been known to open the door, drop her into the snow, and tell her it’s for her own good. She usually gets the message.
I know people say that going outside dramatically shortens a cat’s lifespan. I know it’s possible, but the 2 we had before this lived to be 16 & 17, respectively, and the current herd is about 12, 12, and 10. Done right, they can enjoy both worlds.
No cats were harmed in this stunt, but one was moderately miffed. If you’re put out about this, you’re welcome to take a mouthy, noisy, attention-craving cat off my hands.
We take Frizzle outdoors whenever we eat outside (which is getting harder to do now that the mosquitoes have moved in), or hang out on the porch. We’ll let him wander a bit, but when he wanders too far we’ll haul him back to us and tie him up. He used to have the run of the neighborhood, but he’s getting old and weak, so we don’t let him do that anymore. The last straw was when he got a pencil-eraser sized hole in his neck from some fight or another.
We never let Beetle out. She’s a former stray, so we used to let her out every once in awhile, but she can’t keep a collar on (she scratches at her neck and irritates the skin around it) and whenever she goes out, she gets scared and BOLTS. Then when we try to catch her again she’ll hiss and run away from us. The last time this happened, we had to trap her, and when we brought her back into the house we thought she’d dive under the couch and stay there for awhile. Nope, she sauntered out of the trap casual as you please, and it was as though the whole incident had never happened. It was as though she was saying “I had this TERRIBLE nightmare! These strange people were chasing me and it was scary! I’m so glad to be home!”
I know! What the hell kind of kitteh thread is this, anyway?! :mad:
We don’t let Kevin out, and he’s fine with that. If the door is open for a while, he’ll begin to sniff tentatively toward it, but he got out once and just hid in the bushes in front of the house the whole time. I think it freaked him out. He prefers being indoors, in the arms of whomever is busiest at the moment.
We had one cat that we rescued, literally, off the street. She was tiny, starving, abandoned, and had an eye infection. We got her healthy and she never, ever wanted to go outside. No, thank you; been there, done that, didn’t like it.
After a rough morning, this was a really nice thread to read (although it could, y’know… Use pictures…). It reminded me of a time last spring when I saw someone take their new puppy out on their lawn for the first time. He kept trying to figure out what grass was, and why it felt so funny on his paws. It was really adorable.
D’oh! :smack: Of course, pictures are necessary. Well, I have none of Fiona outside with me, but I do have some of Fiona: here’s one, and here’s another.
Actually, in both those photos, she was ostensibly “helping” my ex to knit a sweater. If she had to interrupt the knitting in order to inspect the quality of the wool, well…
