Alyssa’s cats, Princess Fiona and Meela, wanted to go out so I opened the door. They have always been house cats and have never ventured outside before. And may never again….Frankie was outside, too.
Frankie did not bark at all. Fiona growled and hissed a bit.
The moral of the story is:
“Stand your ground” OR “Not everyone knows what a play bow is“. Enjoy!
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Olb6F24xFMc&w=560&h=340&rel=0]
Dear Darcie, If I were Alyssa, I would be very upset! There must be a reason she hadn’t let the cats out before – and with the dog outside as well? What if the cat had bolted? I know there was no disaster in this case, but it could have very easily gone the other way. Lisa
[Dear Lisa, Alyssa didn’t let her cats outside because she lived on a busy street in the city. I’ve had cats for most of my life and have never had a cat run away. If these two did bolt and then go out hiking, they’d come back either for dinner or when I call them by name. All of our cats come to their name, they love their people. Most of my cats were indoor, outdoor cats like our DC. We have plenty of outdoor space for the cats to explore and never bother a neighbor and lots of places to hide from predators. I’m not sure how I feel about cats not getting to go out into the sunshine, that doesn’t seem natural. I wasn’t worried about Frankie, either, with one word from me “Leave”, she would have sat and left the cat alone. Fiona loves this same game in the house with the dogs. I don’t it doesn’t look in the video like she’s enjoying herself much but she was, most of the time, she starts the game. When you live with cats and dogs and really pay attention to their personalities and how they ‘play’, it gives you a great relief to know that they can be left together without harm. In the house, Fiona eggs the dogs on by running by them with her tail high, then stands her ground just like this. I think she likes to feel tough, the hissing and growling is never over the top, she’s really pretty quiet about that. When the dogs finally give up and walk away or we call them off, she either goes after them again for some more play time or she stretches out and preens, kind of a “You guys will never win” kind of a cat attitude. She’s quite a cat. Maybe I should have explained all that for the video, I forget that not everybody knows me and that I would never put an animal at risk. Thanks for the note. Darcie