The First Outdoor Adventure of Our Indoor Cat

It was early November last year when my husband saved a sick cat from the street. Oh, how time flies. It´s already been a year.

Because nobody looked for him, we kept him. We called him Orange. We first thought he was mute because he couldn´t speak for more than a month, but after we brought him to the vet, we found out that he lost his voice due to his acute bronchitis. His voice slowly but steadily came back after he regained his health.

We noticed that Orange is scared of people. Other than me, my husband, and my mother-in-law, our adopted cat dreaded seeing other people. He´s particularly scared of people wearing outerwear. Whenever I and my husband put on a jacket or coat, Orange won´t come to us, he´d hide away looking too scared. This fear is tripled when he sees a stranger in a jacket or coat.

One evening I was ironing clothes. The iron board was positioned close to the door of our living room which was slightly ajar. When my husband came out from the restroom, he saw Orange standing outside of the living room wanting to come in but looking too scared. Slowly, my husband came closer to check what was he afraid of. There was a cardigan hanging on the head rest of the chair that I was sitting on, Orange had to go through the chair in order to come in. The moment my husband removed the cardigan, our cat swiftly came in.

After winter I tried to introduce him outdoor. The first time I brought him outside, it was a complete disaster. He was screaming, scratching and jumping off me trying to run back home. I had him on a leash so he wouldn´t run away, but seeing him walking too close to the ground with his entire body shaking and his tiny voice forging a shriek whenever he hears the sound of passing cars or when he sees strangers on the street, I had no choice but to hurriedly carry him back home.

On my second attempt, it was the same dreadful experience so we decided to let him have his peace indoor. Anyway, we were comforted with the thought that he´s safer indoor cat but we´re also troubled with the kind of fear that Orange showed.

Then came middle of spring and we thought, maybe we should try it one more time. Hubby came up with a great idea. He opened our kitchen window which faces the garden so Orange could have a peek.

Weeks before we let him outside, we made him stay on the kitchen´s window perch. As you can see, our scary cat was so excited, his body trembling, his eyes were big, and his nose busy smelling.

Although shaking, it didn´t stop him from examining the entire backyard, at least from the window.

When finally we thought he´s ready to go out, we put him in a leash and brought him out. I and hubby were to work in the garden so Orange should feel safe seeing us around. That was a mistake.

The moment he saw my husband opened the store-room to take some tools, Orange leaped on and tried to run. But because he was on a leash, he ran round and round the pole where his leash was tied on, his shriek sounded like hell. Luckily hubby was wearing gloves so he´s able to quickly take Orange back home.

Hubby left the door at the back porch open while we went back to work in the garden. Lo! Orange slowly ventured out by himself, smelling, looking and slowly walking towards the garden – without a leash.

It didn´t take long for him to realize that it´s fun, he ran around joyfully like it´s the very first time.

See that look in his face? That´s a hunter face. He´s hiding while watching the birds, his waiting for the perfect moment to hunt. Of course I had the watch him and keep him away from the birds, or I´ll push the birds away when I see them in a compromising location.

He loved hiding under the plants. Have I told you that this boy loves playing hide and seek? Oh, that´s another story. This cat also loves watching TV.

It didn´t take long before Orange marked his territory. He claimed this spot of soil close to our kitchen as his. He sprinkles on it, comes back and smells it every now and then, then sprinkles once again.

When he´s tired running around like crazy, this is how he looks. He pants like a dog.

He´s fascinated with the smell of the grasses and flowers, and he eats grasses too.

While daddy was busy working, Orange was busy exploring. And then suddenly he was gone, we couldn´t find him. Where was he? We called and called …

And then we heard his cry for help. We found Orange on our Apple tree looking so distraught. He braved climbing the tree for the first time and now he´s scared of climbing down. It didn´t help that I was frantic, Orange panicked even more. He kept on crying.

The Apply tree is adjacent to our bar house, Orange figured that he better jump on its roof. When he got to the roof, we took a ladder so we could reach him and thus help him come down.

Ahh, what a day! It must be very exciting and tiring for him. Our cat´s first outdoor adventure was a success, he now enjoys going out to the garden once in a while.

He totally burned so much energy, just look at the way he slept after got home.