Sunday, October 14, 2018

Yard Critter of the Week - Kitty Cat

Felis catus, the Domestic Cat.

In the Unwanted Visitor post, I mentioned that we have three cats. They are ...


... Max our youngest at three years old. He is the most active of our cats. ...


... Pumpkin, named not for her color but for the time of year she came into Patty's life. ...


... And Alistair, the oldest of the three and the one who I mentioned went walkabout. Which is problematic as he is deaf and on meds he needs daily.

Being the oldest, he spends most of his time like this:


Actually, they all spend most of the day that way.




Note the purple straps on Alistair. Max too is adorned, in red as seen below.


And this is the mechanism by which Max and Alistair get their outdoors time. Harnesses that we clip a leash to, allowing them to explore the deck and adjacent gardens. And while Max is all about exploring, Alistair is content to hop on a chair in the sun and, you guessed it, sleep!

Pumpkin on the other hand (paw?) has little interest in the outdoor world. Curious.

Max will spend hours outside and readily runs to the back door whenever Patty or I walk through the kitchen. Rain or shine he wants out. But it is only "shine" for which he wants to stay out.

Max is also the 'best' at getting out when we're not paying attention. Zipping out the door at the slightest chance. On several occasions he's spent the night out. Pumpkin will wander out if we, or a guest, leave a door open. But she quickly gets her fix and returns inside. Alistair will wander out and will either stop and wait for you to come and attach his leash or hop on a chair on his own. However, we came to call him Houdini as he was able to wriggle out of the first harness we used. Unsupervised like this he would wander off, and twice we found him on the road heading toward the neighbor's place. Not good for a deaf cat.

But as you can see, we've found a way for our indoor cats to get some controlled outdoor time. Good for them, good for us, and good for all the other yard critters.

🐈🐈🐈🐈🐈

You can find all of the Yard Critter posts listed here.

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