Fancy, our big, long-haired orange cat sits by the door and looks out. She sees the open gate and it’s not that she doesn’t know what is beyond that gate. She has been out there many times. One time not too long ago, out there in the driveway, she beat the stew out of the previously unbeatable big tom cat Bandito.
Still, every day, I see her sitting there, looking out at the open gate. I’ve decided that what she is looking at is… possibility. A curious cat has lots of possibilities to contemplate. If she stays inside, where it is warm and she has several special places to settle in, then she is comfortable and safe but the day becomes static, unexciting, and unstimulating. She may get some good pets, but she won’t catch a bird or a mouse. Outside, her world expands tenfold. This time of year, with snow on the ground, she has special problems to solve. I may come along later and see how she solved them by the direction her prints take in the soft snow.
She is primarily an outside cat, though she is comfortable indoors and often sleeps with us at night. The most loving cat I have ever known and, at the same time, the definite alpha-cat of the five in the family. This wonderful cat came up our driveway one day a couple of years ago and adopted us outright. We could only conclude that she had been abandoned by someone, since she was not afraid of people and took to her new found domesticity with relish. She has brightened our lives ever since.