Violet Enjoys the Cat Fence

Violet is my 3rd kitty. She was born under the house across the street and I got her when she was about 8 weeks old and when Kyle and his late brother Sweet Pea were 2 1/2 years old. Violet is an indoor kitty, but she always wants to go outside. She loves to be outside but she does not get to go out very often. I trained her with a harness & leash when she was a kitten so it’s my fault that she always wants to go out, and I always felt guilty when she’d squeak (she doesn’t meow, she squeaks) to go out and I’d be too lazy to take her out. I could not tie her out and leave her on her own because of the stray dogs that often came wandering through…before Kyle Kitty’s Cat Fence was installed, that is.

I’m still not comfortable with letting Violet go outside without her harness and leash, even in the fenced area. There are still a few places where I’m afraid she could escape, being just half the size of the big Kyle Kitty, so today I took her out and attached her 10 ft. tie out line to a 5 ft. piece of rope and hooked it to the cat fence and left her out there with Mr. Kyle keeping a close eye on things. It was really endearing how Kyle never left her side the entire time she was out. Usually, in the house, Kyle is aggressive and dominant toward Violet and often pins her down, biting her on the neck, while Violet squeals, but today he was very nice to her and even groomed her head without being a meany.

So I left Violet in the yard for about 2 hours today and she loved it! Of course, I still had to run out there every 15 minutes or so to make sure she had not slipped out of her harness, but she did not get out of her harness and she was always laying in the grass, Mr. Kyle nearby, just watching the birds and whatever else she saw out there. When I finally brought her inside she had a bite to eat then fell right to sleep and slept the rest of the afternoon.

Kyle chose to stay outside so after I installed Violet back in the house I went out to spend some time with him, and we saw the first Danaus plexippus, the Monarch butterfly! Of course, I had to rescue the butterfly before Mr. Kyle could turn it into a short-lived toy… Just a week or so ago I’d found a number of Monarch larvae dining on the butterfly weed and just as suddenly as they appeared, they began to disappear and I knew we’d soon see the Monarchs. I never did find them in the chrysalis stage but I could tell this butterfly had just recently emerged from the cocoon as the wings and antennae were still a bit folded, and the butterfly was not yet able to fly about freely. So after a photo session I set the butterfly in a safe spot, then took Kyle inside to be sure the butterfly would survive at least until it could fly away.