Outdoors? Never Again.

by Wendy Gourley

Misty was a silver gray tabby cat that enjoyed her home but also loved to be outside when the fancy took her. She always came home when the weather was not to her liking or it was close to feeding time.

We live in a quite street away from the town center. The little traffic there is is mostly neighbors. Misty mostly stayed on the block, I honestly don't think that she crossed the street much. I thought she was safe in her little world.

She was just sitting there on the step, the front door was open wide. I don't know why it was open and I don't know why I was standing there staring at Misty at that moment. I also don't know why she suddenly took off like that, as if she were being chased. She ran full pelt out into the street and under a neighbor's car.

In a twinkling she was gone. I grieved for my little cat, I was certain that I would not ever want another. Just over a year later though, we took on another, a boy kitten we named Mitch. Just about a month later we added a tiny boy we called Titch and the name has stuck although he is now far from tiny. Mitch and Titch are, and always will be indoor cats.


There will be some of you reading this that will think me silly, perhaps many of you will think that. It is sad but bad things happen you might be thinking. Why keep a cat in the house all the time because of what happened to one cat, it does not mean the same will happen again.

Of course, if that is what you are thinking, you are right. It does not mean that it will happen again, or that anything bad will happen if I let my cats outside. But I'm sorry having had it happen once, I'm not risking the chance.

You may think, as I once did, that it makes a cat unhappy to be indoors all the time. I can assure you that my cats are very happy, very well behaved and very content. They have their condos, their toys, their hiding places and above all, they have plenty of attention. They are protected and safe and they know they are loved.

I almost forgot to mention. Mitch and Titch do have their time outside, safely inside their cat run. My husband built it, he is good with tools. They can play out in the air and be quite safe, no chance of them getting out, we never leave them alone anyway.