When you work with as many cats as I do, safety is paramount. The cat enclosure where my cats spend the majority of their time, is protected by several outdoor bolts on the door, as well as inside there are bolts. Overhead, the ramps run around the entire interior of the enclosure, so I always check overhead before entering.
What we didn’t factor in when we built this “secure” system was how to puppy proof the door locks! Kody jumped on the door when I was inside earlier, the lock kicked open and one of my cats escaped. I was able to get to the door before any other cats took off. She just happened to be on the ramp overhead when it swung open.
She is an older cat 2 years old now, she was brought here at 7 months old with four others. Of the four, only her and her son remain. They have always been close, but she is a difficult cat to catch indoors to say the least, so outside, she is going to be quite the challenge.
Chappy (her son) is beside himself. He can see her outside the wire, he can smell her and he has made it known that this is unacceptable! Yeah, Chappy no guff about being unacceptable! His mom is also a long-hair, another worry, because she mats in a second, and trying to keep her quiet long enough so that I can work the mats, requires the strength of ten oxens, the patience of Saint Francis of Assisi and a trip to the ER afterward to treat cat bites and scratches. In other words, she distrusts humans to the nth degree.
Putting out my traps means that I either have to round up all the ferals that do allow me close to them and put them inside the barn so I don’t re-trap them, or let her stay outside for a few days then work on getting close to her so I can put her back in the house.
Watching her from the window race up and down the walnut tree, catch bugs and enjoy her freedom, tells me she is much happier out there than she was captured inside. My only worry is her long coat that mats, flea treating her and keeping her wormed because she already has caught one mouse for dinner and of course her safety.
It’s going to be interesting how I will proceed here. One thing is clear- Chappy is very vocally letting me know he wants his mom back NOW! The photo shows her with her kittens when they first arrived, chappy, and India. India passed away last year, I miss her so much. She got some wierd disease that went undiagnosed that caused her stool to turn pure white. Pancreatitis was ruled out, and then before she could get better, she got worse and died.