My little boy is growing up. Unfortunately.

[klwilliams]

When I first met Mac and Barry, they greeted Chaz and me at his front door, their little noses sniffing at the outdoors. When they moved here with Chaz, we had discussed letting them be outdoor cats, and quickly decided against it. Mac disagreed with this choice. He would try to get outside, and on occasion succeeded, but he usually ran for the

Comments

[sovay]

I hope he treasures the memories, because I really don't want him to do it again. (Mac disagrees.)

Yikes. I am glad he's all right and I am also glad you have jingly tags on the horizon.

[mevennen]

It's always very difficult. You have issues we don't have (larger, wilder wildlife) but we've still lost 2 cats in the last couple of years. Here, it goes with the territory: length of life versus quality (though some cats prefer not to go out). A hard one.

[klwilliams]

If we lived where you do I'd let Mac out. Similarly if we lived where Kari lives. We'd actually intended to let Mac be an outdoor cat, but there is a busy road at one end of our street (even busier now than when I moved here), and drivers don't look when they turn the corner. Mac has lived his entire life indoors, so he's just not going to be car-savvy (savvy about many other things). He loves being outdoors, but I just don't want him getting hurt (or killing other animals, which he dearly wants to do).

[mevennen]

We have the same problem, in fact - the speed limit outside this front door is 70 mph and people exceed it. I always hope the cats go round the back of the house, which they mainly seem to do, but we've had one dog and one cat killed, and Rosie has never come home. I don't feel that it is fair to keep them in, but I think in Mac's case, if he's mainly been an indoor cat, it's justified.

[klwilliams]

There was just no place safe for the boys to go outside when Chaz lived in Newcastle. His front door opened right onto the sidewalk next to the street, and his back door led to a tiny garden that was next to an alley. I think Mac is getting to see a lot of the outdoors when I take him out, though my legs are so shaky I can't take him out often or for long.

[madrobins]

Children so often have other ideas. (I'm glad he's back. Any chance you could staple a collar on him?)