A few days ago, I decided to let Twist out of her cage and give her freedom. In the days that I have been working with her (she has let me pet her twice) I can only pet her with gloves on, and only with the back of my hand. If I turn my hand over, she will nail me. I realized that I was trying to change her for my benefit, and her cat-like way, she completely let me know that she likes who she is and doesn’t wish to change.

The Introduction cage sits in the middle of my bigger cat enclosure. The minute, I left her cage door open and stepped back, she flew out of the cage. She made a beeline for the door to the back yard. She did not just come out with caution, investigate the other cats who were watching her with curiousity. Nope, she did a straight run for the door of freedom. I followed her, opened the door, said a quick prayer that she would not become sicker. Opened the door and she flew outside and vanished under the gate.

Two days later, she reappeared. She did not seem to be in distress and she left me the head of the biggest mouse I have ever seen, She is back to her ways.She will now lurk on the back steps. If I open the door, she will quickly make herself scarce. If I have food for her now, it goes on the feeding table and not on the stairs. Warmer weather is approaching which means the feeding schedule will soon change.

I will be feeding the cats on the platform now due to the fly and yellow jacket population here in Oregon. During the warmest of days, there will be no wet food put out until well after dark. It will be picked up before morning, so nothing is left to entice flies to lay their eggs or yellow jackets to want to hang around. I am really hoping that I won’t see those large Japanese Hornets that have recently been seen in Oregon. Yellow jackets and wasps are about all I can handle.

So although Twist is still not able to handle human socialization, she will be fed, given water and I will love her from afar. I see her eating and it warms my heart. In captivity, her appetite was almost non-existent. She was letting me know in the only way she could, that she was not happy. My neighbor, Ben has reported that he has seen her in and out of the grain barn. He was getting overrun with rodents in her absence. He is glad she is back on her hunting grounds.

For me, I am glad that I had a chance to at least show her that I meant her no harm. To be able to actually keep track of where she was and monitor her brought me peace. She did not share in my peaceful feelings and now she runs again free on our land.