Damn Cats & Their Wild Nature….#

Ya know sometimes you can’t win for losing….

I hate to complain…okay maybe not….but this is a serious topic and I’d love to hear what others think on this topic.

I’m an empty nester now that I’ve sent my two sons off to college, so what could be better than getting a cat to fill the empty place in my heart that needs to nurture and love?

Enter Spooky….

The new love of my life. He sleeps with me, he’s very demonstrative; he purrs, he needs to be fed, brushed he even feels my emotions and comforts me when I’m down and sits with me and cuddles.

The only real downside is he was a rescued cat who has a wild side, he lived on the streets here.  He likes to be an indoor/outdoor cat and unfortunately as we live in Arizona where we have many natural predators for cats the conundrum was if we were going to let Spooky outdoors. Of course in the beginning the answer was definitively no until he learned how to open the door himself and ended up next to me, meowing as I was in the backyard sunning myself. What a surprise that was.

Eventually, as this became a common occurrence we decided that Spooky was happier being allowed free rein as this is his natural propensity and we would hope he would be swift enough, smart enough to survive….and we would have to let nature take it’s course as this was how he was happiest. If we did not let him out he would stay by the door and howl for release. He usually stayed pretty close to home and came back when called.

Well, last night may have been his last. He hasn’t been home yet and it’s 10 am. I stayed up all night on the couch, running to the door, every few minutes calling him until I was hoarse. I tried not to cry. He’s never been gone this long. I, of course am now so sorry I ever let him out, hind sight is 20/20! I had been told by people that I never should have let him out into the “wild”. Perhaps not. Easy to see after the fact…if he comes home do I never let him go out again at night? How do I break him of the habit if I am lucky enough to be given a second chance?  I shall hope he just went for a really long walk and slept outside in the beautiful spring night….pray he didn’t meet a coyote or a car….

Who said it got easier after your kids left home for school? Now my son wants to go to Rocky Point, Mexico for Spring break and how do you tell a 20 year old NO when there were just shootings right by his campus ….damn, life just always has decisions doesn’t it? But can we wrap our children in cotton batting? Do I now decide to overprotect my son because of the unfortunate disappearance of Spooky?

© Evelyn Garone 3/12/12