Outside Cat Life, or Why the Peach Kitty May Not Want a Home

The peach kitty comes and goes. Sometimes he’s around a lot, but then weeks will go by where I hardly see him, and my human just catches glimpses of him on the security cams. Lately he’s been back to visiting regularly.

I haven’t posted much about him, except for a few social media videos, because his visits have been pretty routine, without much to write about! He enjoys seeing me, but he’s still extremely shy around my human and usually keeps his distance from her.

A lot of people wonder why my human just doesn’t adopt him and give him a home. Which, actually, he would think was a really weird question — because he has a home! He lives somewhere between our house and my human’s house with his mom, sister, brother, and maybe a couple other cats. They don’t perceive their life as bad, and actually it’s not. Only humans think living outside would be bad.

Humans that are unhoused need help to get a roof over their heads. For the peach kitty and his family, it’s just their outside cat life. They know where to take shelter when it rains. They are very savvy about both predators and prey. And they have humans looking out for them so that they don’t have to worry about prey all that much. They don’t think they’re suffering or in any danger. Only humans do.

Of course, my human sees the dangers all too well. We have coyotes, raccoons, and the occasional unleashed dog in our area. Although we live on a quiet street and people never race their cars up and down it, it would only take one forgetful moment for something bad to happen. She’d love nothing more than to get the whole family inside and safe. But the peach kitty’s mom and siblings probably would hate it and be unhappy. And what if we just took in the peach kitty? He would hate being torn away from his family, and it would probably take months or even years for him to get used to inside life.

Is it worth putting any of them through it? My human wrestles with that a lot. But she has to admit, that when she was in her teens and 20s (and beyond), she spent most of her time in the worst parts of the big city we live in, going to rock clubs and sometimes getting in trouble. Her parents would have wanted her to stay home and be safe, but she would have loathed that! In fact, when she was in high school, she snuck out and lied to be able to live her life the way she wanted. So she kind of understands where the outside kitties are coming from.

But if the peach kitty, or any of his family, ever change their mind, we are here for them. And we keep encouraging them to consider it. For now, you can watch the video below of the visit we had earlier this week.

 
Here are some more of my adventures with the peach kitty: