A Whisker Away

By day, Smokey Mew couldn’t be sweeter: purring, cuddling, and napping on the bed in domestic bliss. As afternoon wanes into evening, he yawns, stretches, and perches atop the couch in order to survey the front yard and, beyond that, his sagebrush-greasewood-cottonwood-aspen-Russian olive jungle. He appears quiet and groggy, but a change of identity is taking place inside that tabby-striped head. 

Just before sundown, the Terrible Tiger saunters out the front door and disappears into the jungle.  There he’ll prowl, stalking birds and pouncing on rodents all night long—unless he gets cold or hungry, in which case he’ll meow at the window until someone lets him indoors for a snack and a snuggle.

After a few hours, he generally tires of such cozy comforts and begins a campaign to be put outdoors once again. If a few loud multi-syllable meows don’t wake anyone up, a bite on the arm usually does the trick!

It would seem like a cat door would solve the problem (no humans would have to drag themselves out of bed to play doorman), except that cats like to show off their trophies—dead or alive—and bring them to their people to be admired. A cat door would transform our living room into The Jungle Book!

“Prowling his own quiet backyard or asleep by the fire, he is still only a whisker away from the wilds.” - Jean Burden