Seanna earned her keep.

We moved to a new house on the 27th, about a mile away from our old house. Everyone was doing fine. Seanna is so adaptable to any situation that she was doing great. Jackson was fine. Sage was a little freaked out for a couple of days, thinking we were going to leave her, but adapted after a couple of days.

The cats were a different story. All of my cats are inside/outside, and have all their claws. Two of the cats freaked out as normal, and hid inside for four days. (They're still inside). We have three total, and one of them is basically a feral cat. She adapted to the new place very well. Wasn't freaked out at all, roamed all over, was doing very well. So, like an idiot, I let her out on day 4. She creeped around the yard a little, and came back in. Now understand that for the four nights she was in the house, she cried all night wanting out. On day 4, that night, my husband let her out. She wasn't there in the morning, no big deal, we would hardly ever see her at the other house. She'd come in to eat and sleep sometimes, and otherwise was outside. She isn't really attached to us, she doesn't come to us for affection or anything. She tolerates being petted for a very short period, then bolts or hisses.

Day 5. My husband goes to the old house to get my work shoes that I forgot. Comes home and says "guess where wee-kitty is"? Of course I can't guess, and he says "sitting over at the old house eating". What? How do cats know? How'd she get home? Anyway, we go to the old house, and can't find her. For the next 7 days we are over there periodically, and the one time I actually saw her I chased her through 4 neighbors yards before I lost her. We had an idea, and took Seanna over last night.

This is the one and only time that it was OK to "get the kitty". She was in 7th Heaven. Looked at me like "REALLY!!??" Chased her from the back porch, around the back yard, right into the house. Chased her around the house until we got her cornered, and then tried to eat her as we scooped her up and put her in the kennel to bring her back to the new house.

Case solved, and no one lost an eyeball. GOOD DOG!!

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Permalink Reply by Ellen Andersen on July 7, 2011 at 1:45pm

Great story! Thanks! "No one lost an eyeball"...LOL

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Permalink Reply by Bev Levy on July 7, 2011 at 2:20pm

Lol, good job Seanna! Unfortunately cats often attach to a place not the people so yours may never stick around once let back out again. I stopped allowing mine out many years ago but it is a lot easier if they have never experianced the outside world. Good luck!

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Permalink Reply by Jennifer Markley on July 7, 2011 at 3:57pm

That's what the vet said too. I figured as much since she's really one step short of being feral. This time we are keeping her in for a month--at least trying to. We're going to put her in the basement at night so we can't hear her catawallling...but she's been roaming around the house today, just like nothing is amiss. I'm hoping she missed Sage enough that she'll stick around. Sage is like her surrogate mama...she kneads her, and suckles on her fur, sleeps by her, and rubs all over her. She started doing it with our newfoundland when we found her at 3 weeks, and then when he died she latched on to Sage. I guess if she goes back, she goes back. At least we tried. I talked to our old neighbors and they said they'd look out for her too if she goes back. That makes me feel a little better...