He spends every daylight hour of every day outside. When he comes home, he smells of dirt. We don't ask any questions. We're just so relieved that he does come home. We make sure to feed him only a little before letting him out, and a lot when he comes home, so he has more incentive to return. He's also gotten a little sweeter, licking our noses sometimes, seemingly out of friendshand (as usual) biting our toes gently when he's hungry.
Bongo has become a real honest-to-goodness cat. He is at least 12 pounds of healthy, solid, gleaming muscle! He loves his outside time, though the other side of the front door always seems more attractive. He stands up and paws left-right over and over again until someone responds. It's kinda cute, especially if you're our house-painter. For about a month now he has been free to come and go during the day. We know others may disagree with that approach, but he seemed to require it for happiness. He responds instantly to the ultra-loud safety whistle I conditioned him with, but usually just a couple of hand-claps also do the job. Of course we lay on the praise and treats whenever he comes home. So far he has brought us home several shrews and a pretty good-sized rabbit. The rabbit he beheaded and disemboweled (all outside, happily). The shrews he simply amused himself with. Like I said -- a real cat. Cuddling still really isn't his thing, though we are, or were, hoping that as he ages (he's now nearly 10 months old) he will mellow.
After a consult with our vet, we decided to let Bongo go in and out alone, off-leash. He'll have a collar on at all times when outside, with a bell and ID tag attached, and will be allowed out only during daylight hours. But aside from that, he'll be free to come and go. He was too unhappy confined in the house, and we were unhappy with his behavior -- destructive and obnoxious. Our vet helped us realize letting him out would be best for all concerned. Of course the risk of harm to him is higher, but that's something we've decided we'll live with. The vet said actual instances of attacks on cats from birds of prey are rare here, and the coyote headcount is down locally, to judge from the teeming deer population. Not too many other cats around that could beat him up. So the risk does seem minimal, though of course not non-existent. We carefully trained him to associate food, vocal calls for him and a very loud whistle. I always give him food when he returns. Today is his second day as an outside kitty, and so far so good. We will phase his built-in kitty door into use as soon as the construction here is finished. P.S. Bongo is nine months old on (approximately) January 29!
He is muscular and lithe. He's still very much a kitten, as you can see from the image of him playing peek-a-boo in the file drawer. Yet he's calming down a bit too. Sometimes he'll sit on our laps for as long as 10 seconds.
He loves going outside on his 20-foot leash. He would spend hours outside if he could. It will be a few months before we build the fenced-in area for him, which will let him come and go as he pleases through a microchip-sensitive door we're building into the new addition.
I'm limiting his food intake because he is getting the tiniest bit chubby.
Unfortunately, the earlobe-sucking goes on. I'm going to have to do something about it one of these days.
Once our addition is finished (a new bedroom and bathroom), and the lawn is seeded and grown in, I'm going to create a fenced-in area where this llittle devil can run around. The specially made fencing encloses 100 square feet, but if we use one side of the house, that area can be expanded.
The B Man will be able to get in and out of the enclosure through this cat door, which reads his microchip, purportedly keeping out all other critters. A tunnel will lead from cat door -- set into one wall of the new bedroom -- down into the enclosure. We hope this will ease the chore of walking him once or twice a day.
Though the instructions say cats should not be left alone in the enclosure, that defeats part of the purpose, and we'll probably leave him alone out there quite a bit, for better or worse. We'll put a litter pan, food and water, a vertical climbing feature of some sort, shade and rain shelter, and some potted plants. Of course he'll eat the grass, and likely some bugs, and maybe even voles or chipmunks that venture into the enclosure. I'm OK with that.