I recently moved my office and living quarters to an apartment, and about ten days ago brought my Favorite Fuzzy Buddy to live w/ me. It took him (Oliver, ~7 yo DSH, orange and white tabby, 25 lbs - he's a big boy ;-) about 24 hrs to get accustomed to my little 'fish-and-see' apt, and he seems quite comfortable and content being 'cooped up' and getting a
lot of attention from me, his adopted human.
But he has spent his entire life 'till now as an indoor / outdoor kitty, I am concerned that his current contentment will not last long, and my original concept in bringing him here was that after an initial period of confinement to acclimate him to his new home, I would begin to let him out and eventually he would come and go as he pleased just as he had in the past at the house in which he grew up.
The problem is (for me), that while I have had (or been had by) many cats in my life, I have never before lived in an apartment, and I would like to 'hear' from other Cat People who have lived with an indoor / outdoor cat in a suburban apartment complex.
The building I live in has maybe eight or ten units in it, each unit has its own external door (no internal hallways, it's a two-story structure), my apt is on the second floor, and the stairway to my unit is 'shared' by only one other unit. There are maybe eight or ten other buildings, quant suff parking places, quite a few trees, and good amount of lawn. Several other cats live w/ other residents in the complex, and a few dogs too, but the dogs are all smallish, supposed to be always leashed, and generally are.
My preference is to receive personal emails in response to this query, and not take up TeeEss bandwidth, so if you have knowledge or experience to share w/ me, please send an email msg to:
kbear@kbeartx.com
TIA,
- kbeartx
FYI, I
also like/love dogs - but I will admit that I prefer cats somewhat, and for apartment dwelling, felines offer certain 'logistical' advantages...
