Molly the Cat, Explorer

"Outside, please," says Molly the Cat

When we adopted Molly the Cat a few months ago, we were told that she had always been an indoors cat. Only once in her life did she ever live outside. Molly's previous adoptive humans had taken in Molly and her brother who had special needs. The humans didn't understand what that meant because after a few weeks, they tired of cleaning up after the brother and dumped both Molly and him outside. Poor babies.

We were upfront with Molly's foster human. We wanted Molly to explore the outdoors when she was ready and if she wanted to do so. Within a lot of reason, of course. Never the front yard unless she was on a leash. And, only in the backyard if the Mama was agreeable to Molly wandering around her flower and vegetable plots. No problem there.

So, when Molly the Cat somehow got out of the front window a while back, we decided to give her the chance to wander around the backyard.

Supervised, that is.

"Micro-managed is more like it," says the Husband.

Molly doesn't seem to mind that either one of us is nearby. We each do our best to pretend we aren't watching her. I've taken to clicking photos of the Mama's garden. 

Every day Molly covers more of the backyard. We learned that she likes to eat spiders, bugs, and worms.

Quite a few birds hang out in and around the backyard. Molly gazes up at them with wonder. Mr. & Mrs. Robin have a nest in the lemon tree, so they've been keeping an eye on Molly. The cat is more interested in finding a spiderweb.

Today, Molly has already visited the backyard three times  with minimum supervision. The second time, I told her it would be only for 15 minutes. I did not follow. Twenty minutes later I came back to fetch her, but, what do you know, there she was rolling around on the carpet. She had obviously just come in.

She hopped out after me an hour or so later when I brought Mama her medicine. "Only a few minutes, Molly," I said, as I weaved over to where Mama was watering her beans. A couple minutes later, I called out to Molly who was heading towards the back fence. She stopped in her track and mewed at me. "Come on, Molly, time to come in." Without any cajoling, she traced her path back to the house and hopped into the house. Yes, I am amazed and impressed, too.

© 2012 Su-sieee! Mac. All rights reserved.