Cats in the woods

We moved from outside of Mason, where there were about 15 houses near each other, to a “new to us” house outside of Eaton Rapids. It has about 7 acres of scrubby, rolling land with a few small trees. There are some BIG trees, pine, spruce, oak, and maple right around the house. The real woods belong to our neighbor, but we can see easily over there, watching the deer. We are still new enough to living near deer that we think they are fun to watch and we are glad to see them. One day, they were all alert to sounds and stood very still. A fox slowly came out of the woods. Oh bummer, I wouldn’t get to see a fox at all. It was just an orange tabby cat. OUR cat.

We’ve had cats on and off for years. We have three females right now. This orange one came to us, actually to our daughter, at 4 or 5 days old. She was bottle fed day and night and has grown up quite nicely. She’s quite sociable and really likes being outdoors. She comes by it naturally, since she was found lying in the grass on a very cold day in our friends’ yard.

We moved our cats here to the new house, all of them indoor-outdoor cats to some degree. You’re wondering where this blog is taking you? Well, I got to thinking this was like a young person’s transition to adulthood. We get them used to their home and nearby world, indoors and outdoors. But they want to go to bigger places, woods that may indeed have foxes and even an eagle overhead once in a while. Don’t think too hard about that.

We’ve had our children since they were totally dependent on us. We taught them as many skills as they could learn to be as independent as they could be. And now…eek…they want some independence. So we do the research with them to find a good place. We go to see the place. It might be a group situation, a college dorm, or an apartment. It might be one semester living at grandma’s house and going to the community college.

And then we feel really at ease and happy that they are making their way? I didn’t feel at ease with our daughter’s move to an apartment. We really need her to be apart from us and that’s what she wanted. So many adjustments. Now, over 2 years later, we are pretty much at peace about it and she feels much stronger and in control of the sensory situation. She’s a cat in the woods, encountering dangers, deciding what to do, running home sometimes, and sleeping in the sunshine.

Tell us your “cat in the woods” story below or email us: info@edentransition.org.