idle musings

He went outside today!

I bought him a blue cat harness and leash because he always sits plaintively at the window and makes me feel like a jailor. Today, I reckoned, he would feel the grass between his toes and the wind on his snout.

He let me put the harness on without even moving, let alone fighting. Then he started to wriggle to try to get out of it, but he let me pick him up without a problem, and he even started purring as I opened the door. We went out across my patio to the grass and I set him down, crouching next to him. He flattened himself against the ground and looked around nervously, and then scooted back across the patio to the safety of the house.

We tried again. I thought maybe if he had a bush to hide under he wouldn’t feel so threatened, so I carried him out to the bushes at the end of the garden and put him down. Again, he flattened himself, did a few loud meows that indicated extreme unhappiness, and scooted across the patio and inside.

I took the harness off but left it lying on the ground so that he can smell it and get used to it. I gave him some treats and told him what a good boy he was, and I am determined to keep trying. I am encouraged by his calmness with the harness and leash, and I think he is just frightened of ‘outside’ as he’s been an indoor cat all his life.