Freedom!

(Pics: Sam isn't quite sure what to make of the snow.)

The day we've been dreading for six whole weeks arrived yesterday ... the day we finally let Sam and Merry out into the garden. We're not entirely sure they've ever had access to soil and grass before so we had no idea how they would react. Plus, we haven't yet got round to putting up a cat fence. Something that we've been discussing long and hard though.

Thankfully they didn't run off into the sunset in a cloud of dust like we imagined. In fact quite the opposite. Five minutes of gingerly sniffing the grass and nervously exploring the plants was quite enough for our un-intrepid pair before their nerves got the better of them.

This morning's foray into the outside world was slightly more successful, even thought the ground was covered in a layer of snow. After a little coaxing both cats ventured out and seemed more relaxed about exploring the garden. A minor incident where Merry climbed into the next door neighbour's garden only strengthened our resolve to get the cat fence erected.

We have to watch Merry. He seems to like eating anything that grows out of the ground. Last night when I got home from a girl's night out, The Boy reported that Merry had vomited in the bathroom (you've got to give that cat credit for vomiting on the wooden floor boards rather than the carpet) and it looked suspiciously like a regurgitated weeds. Now we're wondering if he simply has the cat version of Prader Willi Syndrome where he's compulsed to eat anything that's even vaguely edible ... or if he's actively trying to make himself sick for some reason unknown to us.

Interestingly enough, the original love-carrot (see earlier blog entry) disappeared without a trace. And given that it was falling apart at the seams, to the point where you could see its filling, it did cross my mind once or twice that Merry had eaten it. I recently discovered that cats have barbs on their tongues which point backwards. This means that when they get something soft and stringy like fur or TOY STUFFING on their tongues, they can't spit it out; they are FORCED to swallow it. Maybe, just maybe Merry did swallow that carrot. Accidentally. Maybe that's why he's been off his food a little bit lately too. And maybe that's why he's eating plants. Maybe we need some cat laxatives ...

Hmm, so much to worry about with these moggies. We could drive ourselves nuts with it.