Flip, Capriola, Micio, Sorcio, Cucciolo, Amorino...

Just some of the many names per day I call my cat, Flip. I thought an update might be merit worthy and so i'm giving one -- especially in highlight of some recent, exciting news. Which i'll get to. Just keep reading.

So Flip has adjusted quickly and well to his new home. Yeah, it HAS been only about a week and a half since he's been allowed out to 'wander' all by himself but he's proved a faithful cat and has always come home. After all the sweat and tears we went through putting netting up all along our garden only to watch Flip scale this netting in the matter of 2 seconds the first time we let him in the garden and turned our backs -- it became very obvious that our efforts were futile and that Flip had the upper hand. Cats can get out of anything. Perhaps not a steel enclosed case but I wouldn't bet on it -- and I think it'd be a bit inhumane to try it.

Comunque--ahem- it wasn't easy. I went chasing after him the first 10 times he got out and kept bringing him home until one day I said "basta" and let my little Flip run off on his own.

I would have never have made it had it not been for living on a Private Street.

So the verdict? Flip is happy with his indoor/outdoor cat life. Really happy. He comes home all cuddly and sweet and exhausted and only wanting to be coddled by us. He's calmer, he's sweeter --- he's healthy and fit.

He still spends most of his time in the house --- at first it wasn't that way but I guess after he had a taste of "Liberty" he chilled out a bit. He greets us at the door when we come home and ----- he's the cute part --- cries when we leave. And now that he can get out of the garden he follows us when we walk away, crying.

Because Jac and I often "walk" away instead of driving this has become a big problem. We don't want to walk him out of the street, onto the main road --- so we've taken to keeping our walks short and closing him up in the house while we are gone. The only other option is taking the scooter or the car (to make for a quick escape so he can't follow us) --- but often we're only walking to something a few minutes away so it's a waste of gas.

For now I find it really cute to have my little black kitty trailing us because he adores us and wants to be with us so much --- but it's going to technically become a problem if we hope to keep him away from the street. We've thought about getting him a lease so we can start taking him with us --- but I don't know --- you might say cat's aren't made for leashes but I tell you with my most serious face on that Flip is in many ways not like a cat at all --- and much more like a dog (in that he plays fetch, rolls over and other inexplicable feats that we never actually trained him to do....).

Ideas are welcome.

So here's the exciting new news. Now that we have the space, and a garden (and lots of love to give) --- we've decided to get our long awaited second cat! We're thinking that she (yes it will be a femminucia) and Flip could take care of each other during the day. Friday we'll make some calls and hopefully go pick one up. Rome has no shortage of "gattini" (little cats) --- so finding one in the local classifieds will be a cinch. A lot of the ads are for boxes of kittens that have been abandoned on sides of roads or similar --- which sadly happens a lot here.

Anyway --- it's like planning a second child! Jac and I actually sat down and had a serious talk about it the other day over a beer. We've actually been talking about it and waiting for the right moment since we got Flip --- and now feels like a good time .... so we're ready for the challenge.

And you may say --- why a challenge?

Well i'll ask you to do as our "cat manual" says and think about a 2 month old kitten like a 2 year old child. With claws. That can climb curtains.

Think about it....