Faye

Faye used to be the neighborhood stray. Once she discovered life indoors, though, she seemed relatively content to remain inside. When we lived in Texas, she would have supervised outings in our fenced yard. But when we moved to NY 3 years ago, we lived on a busy street without a fenced yard, and on the 2nd floor to boot.

With the arrival of the new cat, I updated Faye's vaccines with the intention that I would let her out on the deck should she wish. Although the yard is not fenced, the new place is on a quiet dirt street. I figured she would never get that far anyway.

This evening, Bob asked permission to let Faye outside, which I granted. She quickly found the deck quite boring, and immediately set out to explore our neighbor's "junk" yard. Agh! I hadn't planned on that. Bob and I quietly followed her at a considerable distance as she poked her way around the junk yard. Then she discovered vegetation. Then she disappeared behind it. It was now an hour before dark. What had I done? Faye hadn't been outside in 4 years and I let her out just before dark? I have been preparing Bob to venture in to the outside world for the last 4 years - not Faye!

I decided to heed the calm advice I have given to countless worried cat owners. Go inside the house, leave a light on, and wait for her.

It worked. A half hour later, she was at the door asking to return home.

Phew. Faye still has some savvy street cat sense left.