Now, when I got my cat she was already declawed so from day one I was very strict about her ever being outside. However, last summer, when we set up seats on our backyard patio, I thought it would be a good idea to take her outside. At first, I would keep her in my lap the entire time. It was an exhilarating experience for her, you could tell from the look on her face. She was too scared to even step down from my lap, so I thought it would be okay to take her out in the sun every once in a while. I started using this time to brush her as it was so much easier doing it outdoors. After a week or two, the cat overcame her nerves and in a shocking move, lept off my lap into the grass! Really, how could I have underestimated the curiosity of a cat? The one thing that over-powers their fear.

The first few times she lept off I instantly grabbed her and put her back in my lap. Over-time though she got more comfortable in the outdoors, and I got more comfortable letting her off my lap. My family would also take her outside every time we went into the backyard, so we decided that we would only let her out if we were outside. She was safe under our keen eye, and the backyard was sealed with fences so there was no way for her to really run away. Dear god though, once she discovered the outdoors, she would not stop begging to go outside. Seriously, in the time she wasn't sleeping or eating, she was constantly by the kitchen sliding doors, pawing away and and constantly meowing to be let outside into the backyard.

By now, she was already in control. At one point or another, each member of my family, whether out of annoyance or pity, would take her outside for a little while. However, every time we let her in she would again beg to come outside. By this time though winter was approaching and there was no way she would be going outside in the winter. After the first snowfall, we stopped letting her out. After a few days she forgot all about the outdoors, and we vowed that next summer we would avoid the whole hassle and not let her out at all.

And then we arrive to this summer. In all honesty, I don't even know how it started. All I know is, my cat once again discovered the outdoors. Since the backyard was sealed, and all of last year not once did the cat ever manage to jump the fence, we figured it was safe to let her outside on her own. After a few trials of watching her form the indoors, we eventually started letting her outside for hours on end. For the past 2 or 3 months now, my cat has been in the backyard for upwards of 8 hours of the day. We decided it was smart to have the vet come over and give her all the shots an outdoor cat would need, not to mention powder for flea control and such. Any time we need her to come inside it's easy as she's right in the backyard, and usually comes in whenever you call her. We only let her out when it's daylight outside, so there isn't any threat to her from racoons or anything. The majority of the time she just sits in the grass or contemplates ways to catch birds. My once indoor cat, is now officially an indoor-outdoor cat. Even though she is declawed, she still safely and happily enjoys the out-doors.