We decided to let Minnie outside for a couple of hours this morning, and we both felt it was a good decision. Minnie sniffed around a bit, hopped off the front porch, went into the barn and emerged from one of her secret holes in the wall. She moved quickly and confidently, did not jump high but went through the barn and out to the stone wall foundations of the old collapsed barn in the pasture. She dug a hole, ate some greens and roughage, eliminated, covered up the waste, and perched on one of her favorite spots, the corner of the stone wall,  where she could look for the many mice who live in the wall.

She started hunting almost immediately. She was wary for about a minute, and then simply returned to her normal habits.

It is easy to forget that Minnie is a great hunter and has been her whole life, this is why she has always been hefty, even though we feed her little. While we were doing our morning chores, she walked right through the donkeys and the sheep, then into the barn, where she found a pile of hay in a dark corner to lie on. We picked her up then and brought her back into the house where she is resting, clearly a bit worn out. It was an affirmation of our instincts, Minnie wants to be free, the outdoors is her natural element, she navigated it well and confidently, we will let her out for short periods for a day or two, and then bring her in at night for the foreseeable future. There are risks to this approach, but there are always risks in a barn cat’s life.

I believe the more Minnie is outside, the quicker she will heal, her normal digestive functions will return and she will figure out how to live on three legs. Good for me, she is a barn cat through and through.