In anticipation of moving, we’ve spent more than a year weaning the cats off of their former free-roaming lifestyle.

For years, we let them come and go pretty much at will, and even installed dual cat doors when we remodeled our living room several years ago.

Inside cats have fewer injuries and illnesses, to be sure. But it’s taken a while for them to stop fussing constantly. And Romeo is still a work in progress, although he’s gotten much better.

When we move, they’ll be indoor cats. It’s possible that after getting used to the new surroundings, they’ll be able to take short visits to the back yard, although I’m not looking forward to the first time one of them goes up a mango tree and gets scared about coming back down. We’re just going to play it by ear once we’re there.

There will actually be a bit more room in the house for them to roam, since the new house is all on one level. Here in Kaaawa, we’ve got a downstairs area that isn’t accessible from inside the house, so the cats don’t go there. It’s been a cat hospital room on occasion, in addition to the human uses. Being on one level will mean the cats have more house to spread out through, and they do like to find and appropriate favorite spots.

In our experience, cats are excited by clutter and activity, so arriving in a new space where boxes are being unpacked and furniture moved around shouldn’t unnerve them too much (we hope).

Of course, when we first moved to Kaaawa, two of our cats spent days hiding in a closet before they would venture out into the rest of the house, so you really never know.

And in other news, yesterday Toby started displaying symptoms of a urinary infection. He hadn’t been feeling 100% for a while, but these symptoms were new (or had we just failed to notice them?). In any case, after being told that there were no available appointments at VCA, I explained that it was somewhat of an emergency, since these issues can escalate rapidly. By shortly after noon, we were in an exam room and Toby was being whisked off for diagnosis. Later in the afternoon, I got a call with more news. “A significant infection,” was the short version.

So he’s going to be spending a while under VCA medical care while this (hopefully) gets cleared up. Send Toby your “get well quick” thoughts!

And for this Feline Friday, a brief 30-second look as we open the door and let the cats out for a morning visit to the yard.

Just click and enjoy!