Kit Kat and Lucy by Lonnie Hull DuPont

Author:Lonnie Hull DuPont
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Memoir/Pets, BIO026000;PET010000;REL036000;Cat owners—Religious life;Cats—Religious aspects—Christianity;Human-animal relationships—Religious aspects—Christianity;Kit Kat (Cat) | Lucy (Cat)
ISBN: 9781493405275
Publisher: Baker Publishing Group
Published: 2016-07-26T04:00:00+00:00

11

The Great Indoors

The smallest feline is a masterpiece.

Leonardo da Vinci

Kit Kat and Lucy were full-time indoor cats. From the time they came to live with us, they were never again allowed outdoors. On the one hand, I knew it kept them safe. On the other hand, I knew these little beasts were created to run and climb, so I felt guilty keeping them indoors.

The cats I grew up with could come and go as they pleased. In the old family farmhouse where I grew up, my folks chose not to repair the broken basement window so that our indoor-outdoor cats could go outside for potty time and come back indoors for shelter. They would make their way up from the basement by climbing uneven basement stairs made of stone, crossing a utility room at the top, and pawing open a door to the kitchen, a door which never fully closed. It was a nice setup.

Since my family home had five acres of lawn and gardens and was surrounded by additional acres and acres of woods, fields, and swamps, the roaming and hunting potential for cats was truly enviable. The road was only moderately traveled in those days. My stepdad cut out the first cat door I ever saw in his workshop in an enclosed barn some distance from the house, so our cats were further protected from the elements while exploring away from the house.

After college, I lived a couple of decades without cats, and I didn’t know until we got Kit Kat that current wisdom says cats should be kept indoors for their health and safety. Before we knew this, Joe and I were already keeping Kit Kat indoors for three reasons—the horrible truck traffic outside, her alleged contagious FIP, and my own anxiety. Nevertheless, I felt guilty about what I was raised to believe would be imprisonment for animals who wanted to experience the great outdoors.

But then I read in many sources that keeping a cat indoors extended its life by four years, so those were four more good reasons not to feel guilty about things. I read other variations on that statistic—one being that an indoor male cat who is neutered and well-cared-for has a life expectancy of sixteen to seventeen years. Indoor females can live seventeen to nineteen years. But the average life expectancy for an outdoor cat is only three to five years. I can attest to those numbers. My childhood cats seldom lived longer than three years.

Kit Kat did not seem to mind being indoors. She had had a stressful life as a feral. The only time she actually hung around waiting for a door to open was when we had Alberta the hen living in the yard. Otherwise, Kit Kat stayed away from the doors when we came and went.

Of course if doors were open for any length of time, she was naturally curious. One time she wandered outside when some workers left the back door open. I saw the open door and ran outside.

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