In which Petunia goes Outside in her walking jacket

Petunia's First Time OutPetunia was very happy with the grass and leaves outside, but she was unhappy with the cold in the winter. When she was a garden kitty, she would leap up, grab the window screens and hang there. The humans’ hearts broke a little more every time they saw her fluffy belly through the window. They made it through one whole winter of the lobbying, but come September of the second year, Robin knew she could not leave the friendly little tabby outside, no matter how many cats were already living in the house.

A new crowd's hanging here these days
Robin knew Petunia was a good girl because she gave her a 10-day dose of liquid anitbiotics to treat a leg injury, and Petunia didn’t struggle or hiss. When she noticed a rash on Petunia’s nose, Robin took her to the vet for her nose and had her tested for FIV and Feline leukemia. When Petunia came home from the vet she became a house kitty.

Huck and Sparkle stared at PetuniaPetunia sneaks out every now and then to eat Purina on the front porch. We don’t get to have Purina in here because we get obsessed with it, but the garden kitties seem to have better self control, so they get Purina. The humans really love Petunia, and I don’t mind her, but Karma doesn’t like Petunia at all and chases here whenever she can. Becket and Belle also chase Petunia periodically. Reggie is Petunia’s closest friend in here, and even he chases her from time to time.

Robin wanted Petunia to have something special all for herself, so she bought her a kitty walking jacket that she heard about from our Twitter pal Boomer. Petunia had tried on a small dog harness that another Twitter pal recommended, but she completely hated it. We’ve had the walking jacket since July, but Robin hadn’t tried it on Petunia until this week. Why this week? Because Petunia decided she was leaving. Last weekend Petunia got out twice and went to place where she used to eat Purina when she was a garden kitty.

Petunia, Meet HuckThis week, Petunia sat on the jacket while she was looking out the window, then Robin put it on her for five minutes one day and gave her extra food (she tried chicken treats, but Petunia wasn’t interested!) while she was wearing the jacket. Next day, Petunia wore the jacket for about 15 minutes.

Yesterday, Robin tried to buy a leash at pet Santa Claus at the bank day, but all the leashes were for dogs and were too big and heavy. Today, she decided not to make Petunia wait and tied one of our ribbon game ribbons (really the selvedges of fabric) onto the walking jacket and took Miss P out onto the porch. The garden kitties wanted to get to know Petunia and stared at her. Petunia really isn’t fond of being stared at, but she got over her discomfort when Robin took her to the Purina bowl. She met Mystery, Mack, Huck and Sparkle, which made the first time out a bit more stressful than we would have liked. She enjoyed sniffing furniture and the floor and the steps and grass and leaves, but she had forgotten how loud the noises are Outside.

I'm ready to go Inside, nowWhen Huck pounced on her tail, she’d had enough and Robin brought her Inside.

All afternoon she had a lot more confidence.

5 thoughts on “In which Petunia goes Outside in her walking jacket

  1. I’m envious of your jacket. But I do get to go out on my person’s screened-in back porch to watch the birds, chipmunks and squirrels, so I don’t feel too bad. PS we kind of look alike, too

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