U.C.A.W

United Cats Against Walter is what that stands for.  Today, the youngest cat, Zoe, wanted to go outside in the backyard.  Normally, she is an inside cat.  I have four cats inside: Harry, Henry, Violet, and Zoe.  There are four outside cats: Linus, Sally, James Bond, Jr., and Moneypenny.

Linus used to be an inside cat until I caught him peeing in my suitcase.  Every day, I'd been finding cat pee in my shoes.  All this time, I thought it was Harry, and then I caught Linus in the act. I picked him up, kissed him, and put him outside.  If you pee in the house in undesignated areas, you live outside.

Harry is an inside-outside cat.  Every morning, he cries and cries to go outside.  He comes in at the end of the day, but he has to explore outside every day.  My neighbors across the street tell me that Harry visits with them on a regular basis.  Brian finds Harry waiting to be petted when he goes out in the morning to get his paper.  He hangs outs a lot under their car.

Violet was a feral cat who lived in the backyard, and she tamed herself when she came inside our house.  She has never been outside again, and I don't think she has any interest in ever going outside again.

Henry occasionally runs outside, but he ends up pitifully crying right by the door until we let him in again.  He learned how to push the screen door open and run outside.

Zoe just started going outside.  She threw herself down on the patio bricks and sunned herself.  She's a little princess with a wicked attitude toward other cats.  She growls and hisses at the outside cats like she owns the whole place.

Since we got Walter, every time he goes out in the backyard, the outside cats run for dear life, and climb the tree.  Sometimes, he is between them and the tree, so they just stand their ground, hissing and growling, and doing their impressions of "Halloween cats," with all their fur fluffed out until they look twice as big.  Walter really wants to play with them, but he has gotten bopped upside the head so many times, you'd think he would have given up by now, but in a puppy, hope springs eternal.

Normally, there is enmity between the outside and inside cats, but now they are united against Walter.  It was kind of funny to see the inside and outside cats sitting together "yelling" at Walter.  Poor Walter...