APPLYING MAKEUP WHILE DRIVING

Smokey has been very reluctant to go outside the cat flap. I could see he was interested in going outside. When the other cats were out, he would watch them longingly through the window. Sometimes he would roam around the house and meow loudly at all the windows.

I've tried several times to encourage him to go out by holding both flaps open for him. Indeed he did go just outside the flap the one day, but he only stayed out for about 10 minutes before getting scared and coming back inside.

Last night I tried something new. Since Smokey has been out in my yard before (often with a harness) , I took him out the front door and carried him down to the main part of the enclosure. I took him inside and stayed with him, and the other excited cats. At first he was afraid, and he tried to open the entrance I brought him in through. After a few minutes though he relaxed and started looking around. I then left the enclosure and stayed outside it with the cats. They followed me around, including Smokey so I just led him through the tunnel back up to the house. Once he discovered there was a route back to the house, he really relaxed and he started exploring his way back out through the tunnel. I retreated back to the house and kept an eye on things. For the next hour he wandered around, exploring and occasionally coming back through the tunnel to make sure he could still get to the house. When my downstairs neighbour came home, he got scared and he ran right back home and in through the flap, just the way he should.

Today he is using the flap like a pro and he has gone in and out several times and he's having a great time!

The youngest horse we have, this is Smokey and he belongs to Mark. He's just starting to get out of his shell and come to me and he was very good about staying still while I took his photo.