Everyone at home is still sad a mourning the loss of Mia but I did promise to tell you about my first venture into the great outdoors since arriving at my furrever home.
Well, here goes. As I said before mummy had been getting me used to my harness but this time she clipped the lead on and opened the door to the flat, out we went!the lead mummy had was just a short lead so I could stay very close to mummy and follow her and not get scared. I followed her footsteps and off we went, along the corridor, through a door then another one, then we got to something odd, something mummy didn’t have indoors, the floor ended! What do I do, why has mummy led me this way? Then I heard mummy’s familiar tap, tap with her foot she was showing me the way. Nervously I put my paw 🐾 out, lower, lower and I felt something, there was another bit of floor! Then it stopped again, tap,tap went mummy and so I did the same again, more floor and then again it stopped. By now I had figured out what to do so down we went ledge by ledge until there weren’t anymore and we had reached the bottom. “Well done Jenny” mummy said “You’ve conquered your first set of stairs”. She gave me a big rub and a “Good girl” I was very proud of myself 😺.
Then there was then a little click followed by a loud creaking noise which was a bit scary but as soon as the big outside door opened I could smell and hear all these different things. I recognised those smells and sounds, it was the outdoors. They were different here to what I remembered from before I was rescued but still familiar. With mummy by my side I set off on a new expedition into the great outdoors (well mummy and daddy’s communal gardens). First I felt a hard surface, then something I recognised, grass, I sped up cautiously and off we went, following the different smells and listening to the different noises. Mummy was talking to me the whole time, softly and reassuringly, this made me feel better as the sound of her voice made me relax and know that she was there, I trust mummy so I knew nothing would harm me and mummy wouldn’t let anything bad happen. Mummy would tap her leg or wriggle her feet to guide me and say “come on Jenny, this way”.
Oh my, here was so much to smell, animals 🦊, birds 🐦, people, other cats 🐈, Dogs 🐶, flowers 🌷, insects 🕷 🐜 🐝, mice 🐭, rats 🐀, grass, trees 🌳, bushes. I could smell the routes the the animals took which made it easy for me to follow alongside mummy.
There were also lots of sounds, natural sounds such as the wind in the trees, birds singing etc but also human sounds too. I could hear people in the distance and also higher up, these didn’t scare me as I can tell they are not close enough to hurt me but Mummy explained that we lived in flats and people lived above us so that’s where the noises came from, she also explained that there was a park next door where people take their children, dogs for their walkies and also played football, cricket etc. Again reassured by mummy being with me I knew nothing would happen to me so I continued to explore…
Every so often there would be a gentle tug on the lead, I think this was mummy trying to tell me something (I’m not sure what) so I would just pause and then set off again. Neither of us have been on walkies together before so I think we need to practice a bit more to understand each other.
Mummy let me do lots of exploring and I took full advantage, I went everywhere, I even found a tree. I love to climb and so one day I will climb that tree, I will, just you wait. I know that birds live in trees and I like listening to the birds.
After I’d been exploring for what seemed like only a short while, mummy said it was time to to head back home. As it turns out we had been out walking for a whole hour, I was having so much fun that the time had just flown by so quickly. I didn’t have much difficulty finding my way back home as I could smell where I had been and could retrace my steps (with mummy’s help of course). It took a little while to head back home, there were still so many interesting smells and sounds that I kept distracting me. Mummy was very patient and let me carry on exploring whilst we went back the way we came. She had to occasionally remind me that we were heading home rather than exploring more, “There’ll be time for more exploring another day” Mummy said. Another day! You mean we can do this again? Yey, I was sooo excited this was so much fun and there so much more to explore and of course that tree to climb…one day.
We went back in through the big creaking door, then I felt the carpet under my feet and I followed mummy’s footsteps back up the ledges (or stairs as mummy calls them). Going up was much easier as I could feel each ledge above with my whiskers and nose and climbed them each one at a time. We got to the top, went through the door, round the corner, through another door, down the corridor and back to our front door, easy peasy 😸. I went back in and shouted to daddy to let him know we were back and to tell him all about my great exploration of the outdoors. He was so happy to hear of my adventures, he was as excited as I was and full of praise for what a good girl I had been. I was so excited and happy, then suddenly, ravenous! Mummy put out some dinner for me and then I felt really exhausted so went for a nap 💤 dreaming of exploring more of the great outdoors…and that tree.
Jenny’s Story 