More about Unilateral Equality

This is a big subject, so it deserves another blog, and a couple more stories. It’s not all about feral cats and letting them live whatever a feral cat life looks like.

We have three indoor cats at present, Ellie, Jackson and Ry. Ellie and Jackson both came from what were probably hoarding situations (different places, similar experiences), and they had access to the out-of-doors. Ry was a foster child who stayed indoors, then came to live with us, and knew pretty much zippity-do-dah about being outside.

He's loved hanging out under plants since he was a wee one.

Guess who is the most vocal about going out? (Ry is nine now. It took me a long time to decide he could safely go out the front door.)

Despite the fact that they have a great big catio, all of the cats want to go out the front door. To them it signifies freedom. The catio’s great, but it doesn’t have bushes, trees, a deck to hide under (because it IS the deck), and it’s just so safe. Yawn.

Well, the whole front of our property, about five acres, has a six-foot mesh fence around it. It’s a big space, and a well-motivated cat could escape. (Thankfully, these three are not motivated that way.)

When we’re home, and only when we’re home (and only during the day), we will let the cats out the front door. They tend to stay fairly close to the house, although Jackson has strayed as far as the former chicken coop out back. That’s Jackson!

There was a lot of negotiation about going out the front. They had to come when called. I tried not to be a helicopter mom, but I admit that when they first started going out I probably called them in much sooner than they liked. But they came. Trust was built. Time outside gradually got longer and longer.

Now we don’t think twice about letting them out when they ask (in daylight, when we’re home) because trust was built. We could have said “absolutely not” and I’m pretty sure they would have come up with all sorts of sneaky ways to get out. Jackson thinks he’s some sort of magic cat that can take all comers and will be fine. Early on, he escaped a few times at night and always came home, but we’ve explained that we don’t sleep well when he’s gallivanting after dark. He is less inclined to try to bolt. We leave the door to the catio open as much as possible at night so all the animals can go out. They seem to like that. It can get a little frosty in our bedroom, but it’s a compromise we’re willing to make. Not during blizzards or subzero weather, though. Then it’s all hands on deck in the bed. We need those three fur people to keep us warm.

On this day, we had no trouble convincing the felines that perhaps staying in was a better option.

One of our horses, LiLi, hates ring work. I love riding in an arena. She finds it boring. She’ll do it, but I can feel she doesn’t like it, and while she’s never put a hoof wrong with me, why not respect her wishes? She likes the wide open spaces for riding. I don’t. She’s the type who would gallop off just because she could, and I personally prefer a more sedate pace. She’d probably be thrilled to have a 14-year old owner who would ride the snot out of her, but she’s told me in no uncertain terms that she’s with me for life. We’ve created a really nice relationship, usually outside, with me firmly on the ground. We’re both happy. 

This is the first time LiLi wore a saddle. You can see how thrilled she is.

Remember that Unilateral Equality is a two-way street, and every time you and your beloved animals find that street, life is a little sweeter.