When your little kitty flies the coop...

It seems like just yesterday our kitten Sully came home from the shelter to live in our happy four-pawed home. He was our sweet blue eyed baby boy, our fuzzy little Siamese monster. Innocent of the outside world and happy to be in our home it seemed all he needed was...well, all he needed was me. And I was fine with that.

This past weekend dear Sully mastered the doggie door and with that little flap of plastic swinging in the breeze my innocent young Sully is no longer a sheltered inside cat. He can now come in and out on his own and like a Mommy bird not ready for her chicks to fly I am melancholy over his new founded skill.

Never interested in that door previously I long held the hope that exploring our house was enough to satiate his curiosity. Alas on Saturday morning I sat and watched as he used his head to wedge the magnetic strip of the dog door open and then hopped outside. He repeated the feat and immediately came back inside and then with eyes opened like saucers he hopped back out again. I followed him outside and watched as he crouched on the deck, low like a panther he patrolled the perimeter inch by inch. He slowly made his way to the grass and daintily stepped on it. Head high he looked back at me as if to say "Holy smokes, this stuff feels strange!" He pawed at the grass, then did a belly flop to roll in it. The next hour I stood in the morning chill mesmerized as Sully commited many firsts. He clawed his first tree trunk and chased some real live birds near the feeder.(thankfully his bell did it's job and gave them plenty of warning to flee as he lumbered toward them) He was so joyful as he pounced on leaves, weaved through the wilted garden vines and at one particularly proud moment stood on top of the covered grill like King of the Mountain. I have never seen him so happy and in turn I had to let go of my fears and let him be a cat. A smart cat who figured out the dog door.

So my baby kitten had discovered the great outdoors and there is no going back. Thankfully he cannot scale the fence and seems none too interested to do so at this point. So every day we are working on his training and coming inside when called - I let him go outside supervised in the morning and treat him with Kitty Caviar when he comes to the door when I call him. Brody, our other young cat who has always gone out the dog door into the fenced yard is ecstatic to have a playmate out there. She chases him around the raised garden beds and showed him the best sunny place to sprawl out on the deck.

I guess it's time for this Cat-Mama to let go and see what the cats drag in...