Scribblings

Outdoor or Indoor Pets?

Blogger Seeds:

Do you have pets? Should they be kept inside or out?

We have two cats and a dog, Mouse, Amber and Buddy. Buddy is young and dumb and needs lots of exercise so he should be kept outside during the day even if he can?t figure out what to do with himself out there. He?s getting fresh air and that?s good for him.

On the other hand, my cats stay inside. I don?t know if it?s a matter of should or not. I keep them in for their own safety. I know cats like to go outside, sun themselves, play and hunt. When I was much younger, our cats did go outside during the day. That all ended after what happened to Puffy.

Puffy was my cat first and then my mom?s. We lived in our other townhouse when we got Puffy. Our neighbor, Mrs. Rick, was a cat lover. She had about 6 of her own so when she found two abandoned kittens, she asked if we could take one. The kittens were so tiny! They weren?t old enough to be weaned. My mother didn?t really want one of the kittens but I badgered her into it.

The kitten was so tiny, not even as big as my palm. She didn?t know how to drink from a bowl and so we fed her milk with a medicine dropper. My mom was sure the kitten would die but when the little thing hung in there, I think she became attached to it. Eventually, the kitten was big enough to drink water and eat cat food from a bowl.

We called her Puffy because her fur would stand on end while she was playing. She got ahold of a chicken neck one day and was happily throwing it into the air and then jumping up after it. My mother laughed so hard she was crying. Another time, Puffy played on the stairs. She?d hop up and down the steps moving sideways, all her fur puffed out around her.

When I was around 13 or 14, we moved from that townhouse to a bigger one in a different neighborhood in Southwest Baltimore. We had a nicer yard and Puffy enjoyed going out to sun herself. She was a skilled hunter. She caught a mouse once and played with it, throwing it high into the air. The poor mouse must have broken its back or legs because it just lay there helplessly. I thought it was really cold-blooded but then, that?s what cats do. We had a bout with the 17 year locusts crawling out of the ground and infesting all the trees. Puffy would catch them out of the air and eat them. Yuck.

One of our neighbors got really mad at Puffy because apparently she was eating the leaves of some of his plants. It didn?t cross our minds to keep her indoors. If we saw her going to that yard, we?d call her away. One day, she went out and didn?t come back. The next morning, Mom was frantic. We called Puffy over and over. We were about to give up when she crawled out of tangle of bushes lining one side of the house.

She meowed pitifully. She was dirty and smelled of excrement. Worst of all, she was dragging two limp hind legs behind her. Mom screamed for a towel. When my brother brought it, she covered Puffy with it and then lifted her gently. We all piled into the car and my dad drove to the vet?s.

The vet told us Puffy?s spine and back legs had been smashed. Mom wanted to know if a car had run over her. The doctor said no, it looked like someone had taken a baseball bat and tried to kill her with it. I was trying to interpret for my parents and I just went cold and started crying. How could someone be so mean?

Now the vet was asking if we wanted to put Puffy down. My mom was crying so hard I had trouble understanding her. She wanted to know if the doctor could save her. The vet said he could try but it would be expensive. I could see my dad wanted to say no, we couldn?t afford it but he couldn?t. Mom wanted the vet to try.

The doctor operated on Puffy. He told us later that he had to ?pin? her legs back together and he wasn?t sure if she would recover. My dad thought it would have been better to put her to sleep so she wouldn?t suffer. Puffy had to stay at the vet?s for two weeks. Every day Mom would buy chicken livers and take them to the vet, knowing that Puffy loved them.

Puffy lived through the surgery and recuperation and finally it was time to bring her home. She had a really stiff legged gait and a limp but she could walk.

We were pretty sure we knew who?d gone after her like that. That?s why I stopped letting my cats go outside no matter how much they wanted to. It?s bad enough when cats have to contend with other animals but it?s just too much when you put people into the equation. There probably aren?t that many cruel people around but I?m not taking any chances.

Home Work:

Do you have any special routines for Spring Cleaning? Any rituals, semi-annually performed chores, ways of welcoming the warmer weather and preparing your house for it?

I wouldn?t say I have any special routines. I?d like to pull the furniture away from the walls and vacuum behind and underneath them. It?d be a good time to turn the mattress on the bed. I?d like to go through my stuff and organize it or toss it. The winter clothes and blankets can go into the hope chest and the spring/summer stuff can come out.

Wednesday Whatevers

1. What noise bothers you the most?

The sound of kids whining and/or fighting

2. Which emotions seem to take the best of you?

Anger and frustration are the most draining

3. What do you take pride in the most?

My family