I know I haven't written in aaaaggggessss. Just been too bloody busy. One of these days I'll post a recount of my holidays and of what's been happening at school, but right now I want to share an experience I had with my cat Mikka (who arrived here from Sydney in early January).
Minky gave me a massive scare tonight. I opened the door to give her a last chance to go out as we’ve got a big nor’easter coming up the coast which is expected to dump 16 inches of snow from 11pm tonight all the way to tomorrow afternoon. It’s THE biggest storm forecasted this winter to date. Temperature tonight is already down to about 22 F. I was also changing the lightbulb of my outside light, and as I was doing it she bolted out and RAN all the way out into the darkness past the rubbish bin, towards the parking lot. I think this is because she’s getting bolder and more confident each time she goes out. I had to leave the light and go after her, but I couldn’t see her at all – I didn’t know if she was in the parking lot, under the cars, or if she had gone up the bushes into the other townhouses (I’m at the bottom of a hill and there are other townhouses heading up the hill).
I panicked and started calling her name out, but doubtless she thought it was all a big game. I looked under cars but it was too dark. I walked up and down the hill a couple of times (it’s a pretty big hill) and looked at bushes and whatnot but it was too dark and since she’s black it’s almost impossible to see. I had visions of her freezing to death or getting lost in the snow or run over. She was “lost” for about 10mins where I could not confirm her whereabouts despite my best efforts. I must’ve looked silly walking around calling her name out in the freezing weather. Then I looked down the hill, towards the parking lot, and she was HALFWAY down the parking lot, on the edge, much farther than she’s ever been. I started to walk towards her but she bolted under a car, probably thinking we were playing. She kept going under cars as I would reach down, heading closer to my place, then she bolted out and RAN up the hill and underneath some bushes. So I stood a bit away to try and get her to leave the bushes, which she did (she walked so quietly I didn’t even notice. Thank God she headed inside someone’s yard which had brick walls all around it, so I knew she couldn’t escape. But even then, when I walked towards her, she bolted to a corner which thankfully had no exit, so I picked her up and took her back inside.
Overall the whole saga took about 15-20 mins or so. When we got back inside I put her down and said “NO” in a loud voice but she didn’t seem to care at all! She walked around for a couple mins and then she wanted to go back outside again, doubtless unaware of the panic she caused. What it does confirm is that she CANNOT be left outside or out of view for even a few seconds as she’s getting very confident and she’s shown that she will bolt, which is what really worries me. Sometimes I wish I could explain to her that there’s a bloody snowstorm coming and she’ll freeze to death if she’s left outside, but of course she’s only a cat and doesn’t know this. Silly cat!
I might get her a leash for when she goes outside. I don’t trust her now not to run off if she’s in one of her “crazy cat” moods. My biggest worry is that she’s unused to outside life, unlike other cats who are streetsmart.
