Cat In The Wild
You can take the cat out of the wild. But apparently you can't take the wild out of the cat.
It rained tonight and we had the back door open. The screen was closed and Baxter has been good about staying inside so we weren't too worried about it. We usually only have to tell him “no” once for something and that's enough. But the boy is straight up Street Cat, all the way. His DNA is not programmed to be a house-cat that lives indoors only, 24/7.
So the door was open and he pranced out onto the back porch, pretty as you please. He hasn't been feeling good for a few days so I decided to indulge him a bit. I stayed on the porch with him and watched him ease back into the wild. I let him get to the edge of the covered porch and I actually felt him relax, like a collective 'Ahhh' hanging in the air. I thought going outside might perk him up and I was right. He looked back at me and I saw the appreciation in his face. It was an amazing moment for me.
At the edge of the porch, he was able to get just a tiny bit of rain on his fur. Baxter knew he's not allowed in the grass and he didn't try to push his luck. He managed to get damp enough without leaving the perimeter. He walked back to the middle of the porch, leaving wet paw prints trailing behind him, and settled in to clean himself.
I gave him a while longer and watched him eyeing me as he flopped down in a green plastic chair. He seemed to be pretty pleased with himself. LOL. But I could tell he was wondering how much time he had left to live it up outside. Still, he was really enjoying himself. So was I. It was really cool to see him in his element. Confident and happy.
He moved to another chair, an old office chair that was accidentally abandoned on the back porch in a previous storm. It's all torn up and faded. There was something old and wooden near the chair. Baxter looked right at home in this rough background. It could have been a custom made photo prop. My gorgeous beast is covered in scars from his life on the streets. He's been beat up and worn down, but still, he stands.
Scrubby watched from the safety of his screened-in home, probably wondering why in the world a CAT would ever want to go out there! No self respecting cat-human would be caught relaxing outdoors. In the rain, no less!
We came inside and while it definitely perked him up, he still doesn't look like he feels good. We try not to dwell on it but the FIV is still a reality we must take seriously. My gorgeous beast has me worried . . .
