Hi all:

I know its been a while. I busted onto the scene in August with my lost
Otis for four days story, found him, and then I disappeared again. Purrs to
all who need them - for kitties, jobs, or otherwise. I've recently quit my
job to spend more time with the kids (3 & 5), who were not so quietly going
nuts with all the stress in our house. Things are calming down nicely now,
except that my husband is travelling much of this month.

Anyway, that irascible creature, Otis, appeared quite shell shocked after he
was lost. He stayed quietly in the house recovering for about a week before
he even looked at the door - then suffered from instant amnesia and wanted
OUT NOW!!!! He liberally sprayed the basement with spray and pee just to
reinforce the point. My husband was ready to wring his neck. So, we rigged
up the invisible fence around the backyard with the 6 foot fence and he
stayed in happily for about 6 weeks. He even stayed quietly sitting on the
lawnchair while the guys tore off our roof, fired up their compressor, and
put a new roof on. It was quite a sight - Otis all curled up safely under
the eaves while pieces of roof kept flying off all around him, the
compressor howling crazily beside him. He's nuts.

Anyway, he eventually started running through the invisible fence and up
over the wood fence - which had to be quite painful as he would have been in
the field all the slow way. That did it. I gave up. I took off the
collar, took him on walks around the neighbourhood to orient him, and
started to let him out. The rules are - in before dinner and not out before
people are up and moving around in the morning. Our new neighbourhood is
lovely - big yards, quiet street, people who don't care what you do as long
as you keep your house looking neat. The issue remains the coyotes in the
park behind us so nighttime and early morning is a risk for the cats.
Daytime should be ok.

So far, Otis has been great. Sticks pretty close by (he's still kind of
freaked out I think) and doesn't venture into the scary park. There is
nothing between our park and the Rocky Mountains. The park borders on an
Indian reservation so there is no major development there. The park
surrounds the reservoir and it is a major wildlife corridor for the animals
that come down the river. It seems that Otis spent so much time in the
backyard being freaked out by the illegally off leash dogs racing by our
gate and at night hitting the roof when he heard the coyotes yowl that, for
the time being, he doesn't see the benefit of going out there. It's hard to
get out there too as we all have our fences fixed right down to the ground
to keep smaller creatures out of our yards.

It's hard to believe that he'll be 8 this January. Otis and I are so
close - he's a one person cat and remains fiercely loyal. He knows a
surprising number of words and his non-verbal communication is effective
too. He still sleeps in my arms in the summer and under the covers in
winter, comes when he's called, and sits if you ask him to. He's in great
shape - lean and lanky - and its hard to believe that he'll be eight years
old this January. He sleeps a little more now. I am thankful every day
that I have him.

Chester remains angelic and affectionate. He's top cat at the food bowl now
and Otis lets him sleep on the bed too. Chester goes out in the winter -
he's built for cold - and is so much happier. His coat shines again and he
thanks us with endless headbuts.

All in all, things are good here with the cats.

Susan M
Otis and Chester http://community.webshots.com/user/susanmandfredk