I was looking through videos and noticed one I forgot about from December. It is the first time Frankie and Chris went outside at our West Virginia home.
Okay, that is not entirely true. Before that, Frankie escaped out the front door when I was retrieving a package that just arrived. Since it was unfamiliar territory I knew Frankie would not know where home was so I was extremely concerned. I quickly put shoes on and enlisted Rose’s help. The two of us caught up with Frankie who hid under a car. I was not in the mood to play games with him so I reached under the car, grabbed him by the scruff, and dragged him out.
After that adventure, I knew I had to get him used to the smells and sights of our home so when the weather was nice I put his harness on and took him out. The yard is fenced in but I knew the picket fence would not contain Frankie so I put his harness on first. Unlike our Florida home, this house is on a main road so it is even more important to keep Frankie contained.
After Frankie went inside I brought Chris out. I put the harness on Chris too but Chris is too fat and it wouldn’t connect under his belly. After a while, I just took it off.
Here is the video I mentioned earlier from December 11.
That was the first and last time they went outside there. I wanted to take Frankie out the front door to so he could get used to it but the weather turned into a frozen tundra and never recovered.
What do you think? Do your cats go outside?
Bad Cat Chris 
Did Chris almost manage an escape there?! One minute he’s all stretched out, and the next I thought he found a loophole in the fence. Frankie looks like he explored every square inch of your yard. They way he eyed that tree, I thought for sure he was gonna climb it! And Floki had not interest in the yard?
Chris did find a hole and I quickly grabbed him. Floki never goes outside because he is too nervous. Frankie has been known to climb trees. He once ended up on our roof. See here: https://badcatchris.com/2015/03/31/cat-on-a-not-tin-roof/
Oh my gosh! Your little guys keep you busy!
They sure do.
We don’t go out, only to go to the Vet. I’ll bet it really was frozen up there!
It was too cold for me. I won’t go back in the winter again.
Looks like fun exploring all that new space, but I bet it was chilly!
We had a few good days but mostly it was too cold.
It is so nice to see Frankie exploring his new house. How I wish harnesses were suggested for cats years and years ago. So nice and safe and good for a walk. Really fun how in the video he uses the bricks as a walk. Like they were made for cats
Even now people are shocked to see a cat on a leash. Around here, Frankie uses sidewalks a lot like he knows what they are for.
Looks as if the boys behaved very well until Chris tried to escape. I have been getting Kizmet accustomed to the harness and leash in the house and the catio. Tomorrow will be our first venture into the yard. Most of the time she walks as if her legs are broken. She is a silly girl. XOCK, angel Lily Olivia, angel Mauricio, Misty May, Giulietta, angel Fiona, Astrid, Lisbeth, Calista Jo, Cooper Murphy, Sawyer & Kizmet
That’s great. I hope the adventure goes well.
They’re loving their new territory!
Everything is an adventure. I guess that should teach us something.
Looks like they had fun. I am too nervous to let my cats outside. Most were found outside and have no interest other than looking out the window.
Chris and Frankie both want to run out the door every time it is open. Floki not so much.
I’m sure the outside will be a big adventure for them when you return and the weather is nicer.
Yes, I think they will love it and I will have to take Frankie for a walk around the neighborhood.
My Kessy is indoor only and happy with it.
Some cats are perfectly happy being indoor only. Our Floki does not seem to want to go outside.
we think da harness shrinked so it didn’t fit for chris… such things can happen within a second…
I think Chris wants me to think that.
So many new smells, new places to explore…..you can hear the traffic on the main road so good that when they DO get to go outside it’s on harness/leash. Ted spent so much of his time on harness that even though he no longer wears it he sticks close to us like he was still on leash!
Hugs, Pam
Chris is like that too. I typically don’t use a harness because he tends to stay close but in that case I was worried about the traffic and because I was unsure if there was a break in the fence that he could fit through.
A cat on a leash… I guess if you start when they are kittens, no problem. It would seem to me to be similar to collar training a dog…maybe. Both depend upon agreeable breeds.
I’ve had four cats and one that visited for a year. Except for Ollie, all of them were indoor/outdoor. My first two, I raised from kittens and they had been born outside. You couldn’t stop them from wanting out but, they stayed close by.
The next two just took up with me. They had belonged to neighbors and the neighbors were indifferent to them or, outright disliked them (go figure). One stayed with me until passing, the other…the neighbor caught up to him, snatched him and took him to a farm. I cried. I wish he’d left him with me.
Ollie was born indoors with a bevy of other indoor cats. The family listed him on FB as a possible rescue as he was being attacked by a particularly nasty (but favored) alpha female. Instead of dealing with the nasty cat, they tossed Ollie. I responded. As far as I was concerned, they didn’t deserve him.
He is interested in the outdoors but, simultaneously scared of it a bit. He got out the side door by accident one day. I heard scratching but thought he was in the house doing that. Nope. He was scratching on the door from the outside with this look on his face like “Would you PLEASE open the damn door.” LOL!
A week ago, I was outside at the same side door, talking on the phone. He wanted to come out so, I let him be with me while chatting. Oh lord…he spotted a squirrel in his yard and off he went. He ran the squirrel up a tree and I nearly dropped my phone. I headed for him, he saw me, turned around, came back down the tree, “meowed” like “I’m Ok” and proceeded to trot back to me with this very satisfied look on his face…”I showed that ol’ squirrel, didn’t l…”
I didn’t know his 20lbs butt could move that fast.
Eek. I wrote s book. Sorry…
Some people just should not have pets. I actually started putting a harness on Frankie when he was 3 or 4 years old. He wasn’t happy about it at first but it didn’t take long before he realized that the leash and harness meant he could go outside and now he gets excited when I take it out of the drawer. I tried putting Chris on the harness when he was younger, maybe about 2 years old, but he was like Houdini and would wigglee his way out of it. Eventually I just started amending him out without a leash and watched him while he was outside. Unlike frankie, Chris would stay close to home.
A cat excited for a harness…wow. That is strange and adorable, all at the same time.
Cats are not normal. 🙂
Truth! 😄