Scaredy Cat

Now here's something you don't often see. No, not a cat. Not even a cat in a garden. No, what you're seeing is OUR cat outside in OUR garden. When we moved here a couple of months ago we played it by the book. We kept Simba in for 2 weeks. After that we let him out for a short time each day. At first he stayed within sight and earshot of us but after a few days he started to pop out for an hour or so at a time, wandering further afield. During our first week here we discovered that both of our adjoining neighbours owned dogs. A couple of weeks ago Simba met one of them. To be fair our neighbour had warned us that his rescue collie, Owen, liked to chase cats. He also told us that Owen stops chasing when the cat turns to face him. Unfortunately no-one told the cat! Cue Simba flying back into the kichen with canine in hot pursuit. This has since happened a second time and the little chap's confidence has taken a bit of a knock. He'll now only pop outside if we're with him. This means, of course, that we can't leave him out if we're out. Consequently he doesn't get enough exercise and howls a lot through boredom. Having said all that he's just yowled to go out so we've let him. It's twenty to eleven now so if he's out too long he won't get back in 'til the morning. Poor little chap.