Yesterday one of my cat-hating neighbors hollered at me over the fence and told me if I didn’t do something about “that damn yowling cat he would!” He was referring to Manchester who is the sole occupant of the deck enclosure (and not liking his new captivity).

Manchester can’t come inside- even with the recent neuter, he is still a tomcat as far as his pee goes and he sprays. I went into the enclosure and talked to him. We had put a calming collar on him but it didn’t seem to matter. He wanted outside NOW!

It is still cold here- like much of the states right now. But, I opened up his door and gave him our blessings and let him go. He raced off toward the trees and I wondered if I would ever see him again. I did remove his collar first as it wasn’t a break-away collar. I did keep the door of the enclosure open. There are pet pads in there that are heated as well as a heated water bowl.

It got down to 20 degrees last night and this morning when I went to feed the outside kitties- he was sleeping inside the enclosure on the heating pad! YAY! So he is in the enclosure, but the door is wide open and I was so glad to see him. He’s not been here that long to where he would consider this his home yet.

On the kitties in the barn- they seem to have vanished for now. I looked high and low for them yesterday but they aren’t here nor is their food touched. The only possibility of escape would require them to climb up to the rafters (no real way of getting there without scaling the wall) and go out the small hay chute we have at the top. There is a door up there, but there is room for enterprising kitties to get out if they work on it. Since they are long-haired IF they did leave that way, their hair would be on the sides of the door. I will wait for a warmer part of the day before pulling out the ladder and climbing up to take a look.

My hope is they are just buried in the straw and hay and playing hide-n-seek with me.