.jpg)
Every time the rest of the household, human and canine, is outside, Cole gets jealous and lonely. He sits in a window or by a door and cries nonstop until we all come back inside. Cole’s always been a vocal cat, but this feels like a bit much, even for him.
The answer is obvious: let Cole outside. Try as I might, I can’t feel completely comfortable with that. I’m a worrier in all aspects of my life, so I know I’m being overly anxious about letting Cole be an outside cat. We live in the perfect area for it, but I guess I’m just not there yet.
Instead, I thought perhaps I would see how Cole does on a leash and harness. I know cats don’t always take well to being directed on leashes; I have a few friends who tried it to no avail. If I give it a go, however, at least I can say I tried, and perhaps I’ll get a better sense of what Cole wants when he cries at the window.
I asked one of my friends if I could borrow a harness. If Cole doesn’t like it I can give it back, and if he does accept it then I can buy my own.
We strapped Cole into the harness in the morning, hours before we planned on taking him outside. This way he had some time to get used to the feeling of it before the more unpleasant part started. He didn’t seem to mind it at all, though it did seem to impede him enough that he had less confidence in his ability to jump on things.
When the time finally came to take Cole outside, he didn’t react well. He clawed his way off my shoulder, dashed to the ground, and ran to the opposite end of the house. I’d have just left a door open for him to meander outside when he felt ready, but I live in Maryland near the water and we have a ton of bugs just waiting to swarm into the house at the first opportunity.
The second time, I did manage to get Cole into our yard. His comfort zone is clearly staying within a few feet of the house, but beyond that he seems interested in the outside world. He spent his first afternoon in the front yard crying, so that I’d almost decided Cole was just emo and isn’t happy no matter what’s happening to him.
Today he seemed to loosen up a bit more. He still sticks close to the porch, but he really took an interest in examining his surroundings. At one point he even shifted into hunt mode after a bug, crouching down on the ground and flicking his tail.
Cole has a long way to go until he’s completely comfortable outside. He was not happy at all when I took him into a patch of sunlight in the middle of our yard. I thought he would enjoy relaxing in the warmth, but we were too far away from his comfort zone, and he just wanted to resume his position near the porch.
Letting Cole out in the yard on a harness is an important exercise both for him and for me. Both of us need this to become more comfortable with the concept of him being outside. Perhaps one day Cole won’t mind roaming farther than a few feet from the house, and I won’t be paranoid about letting him outside without a leash.
Related Articles:
*(This image by Shamanic Shift is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 2.5 License.)
