Welcome to the Wednesday Cats of Catster! Every week, we share a story from one of our cat-loving Catsters. This week is about Isabel and her sassy rescue, Milly.

Milly went from being an indoor/outdoor cat in Johannesburg to being an indoor-only cat when she moved to Cape Town. Then, after about a year and a half, we decided to move to a bigger place, which happened to be on a golf course. Before we knew it, she was back to being an indoor/outdoor cat, and a whole series of wonderful, scary, and wild escapades ensued.

We fell in love with the apartment and all the natural beauty, peace, and quiet that surrounded it. It was glorious. It was idyllic. And, it was, to our surprise, pet friendly! It was an easy decision. As we say in Afrikaans, “Die koeël is deur die kerk,” meaning the matter is settled. We’re moving!

Since she didn’t show much interest in going outside at the first apartment (note: it was on the second floor in a building with three floors), we were curious whether she’d show any interest in going outside in the new place, and boy, she most definitely did!

Welcome to Keeping Up With The Kardashians Milly on a Golf Course! (Part one)

Milly’s first home: a quaint 2nd-floor apartment

When Milly moved from Johannesburg to Cape Town back in 2022, it took about 3 weeks for her to fully settle into her new home. It was a 2-bedroom apartment on the second floor in a security complex with over a thousand units. At the time, she was an indoor-only cat. We didn’t want her going outside when there were so many other people, kids, cats, and dogs (mostly small ones on leashes, but still).

She seemed totally okay with it, though. I mean, I did have my hands full, working full time from home and giving her all the attention she demanded, which I enjoyed (obviously), but it did, at times, get a little hard to do deep, focused work while being interrupted by a furry little baby every 30 minutes. I didn’t complain, however. Time with Milly is temporary, and I try to savor every moment. But I did begin to wonder whether she’d appreciate being able to go outside again sometime in the future.

Milly’s second home: a spacious townhouse on an 18-hole golf course

This place was absolutely amazing. Really. It was a once-in-a-lifetime experience. There were only about 50 or 60 units, ranging from 2- and 3-bathroom apartments to larger houses that made you feel like you needed to wear a ball gown to walk past them. Very boujee, as the kids would say. We wanted to treat ourselves to a slice of paradise for a year or two, and we did. I mean, why not? Life is short.

When I arrived at the new place with Milly, I was concerned about how she’d take it after her previous travel experience and how long it would take for her to settle in. The new place was definitely much bigger than our previous place, and our backyard was, well, the entire golf course. We weren’t sure whether we were going to let her go outside from the start. We said we’d see how she reacts after a couple of weeks and then decide.

I predicted that it would take at least 2 or 3 weeks of her being closed in the main bedroom before she even went downstairs to see the outside through the balcony doors and windows, so I thought I had plenty of time to think about it. Alas, I was wrong.

Milly demanded to go outside the main bedroom within 2 hours of arriving at the new home. I was shocked. I waited for my fiancé to come home so we could escort her downstairs and see how she reacted. To our surprise, she settled in very quickly. She walked around the entire house (locked up like a maximum security prison, of course) for about an hour while looking very curious and alert but not scared.

For the first day or two, she alternated between 1. queen of the castle, prancing around like a little madam, and 2. uncertain scaredy cat sitting in the closet with big eyes. But by day three, she was basically completely at home, galloping around with her tail in the air, purring like she was getting paid, and we couldn’t be happier!

Little did we know that we were going to be having our hands full very soon…

Harness training and daily walks

As Milly got more comfortable in her new space, she showed more and more interest in going outside, especially when we were outside. She would sit by the door and stare at us with the saddest little expression you’ve ever seen. We knew we couldn’t keep the wonders of the tranquil outside world of Devonvale Golf Estate to ourselves. Besides, this place was really peaceful and quiet. We didn’t have any neighbors at the time and we barely even saw other people or pets around our townhouse for the first week. We felt comfortable knowing it was a lot safer for her to explore the outside world here than anywhere else.

It was time.

We started with harness training back in our first apartment, and it didn’t go very well. Milly doesn’t like to be told what to do or wear silly things. But once we started training in the new space, it didn’t take her very long to realize that the harness was her ticket to the outside world.

The first couple of weeks were very annoying for her because I didn’t let her out of my sight. We started off by just walking around on our little lawn, then going around the townhouse, and then bit by bit onto the first hole of the golf course, which was adjacent to our lawn. She was happy to go outside but felt very embarrassed being tied to her mother and being followed around everywhere. But I needed to make sure that she would be okay once I let her go outside off-leash.

That time I almost thought she’d be gone forever

She became really comfortable with going outside on leash, and I was getting ready to start phase two of the process. Letting her go outside without a leash. This was hard because obviously you think the worst is going to happen. You’re going to open the door, and she’d just sprint off into the distance and never return… Luckily, that never happened. But one night, I thought it did…

We were about to let her go outside without the leash for the first time, when I thought, “wait, let me just clip the leash to her collar so I can still have some degree of control, and then I can unclip it when I feel ready” – such a helicopter mom.

She was standing ready at the door, and I clipped the leash onto her collar. I opened the door and we strolled out and around the block. Everything was going great until I saw someone approaching in the distance. Although Milly was very comfortable outside, she did still get a fright and pulled me along home every time there was another person or pet in the vicinity.

In a split second, while I realized that this might be a problem, Milly noticed the stranger danger and made a run for it. I was left with a leash clipped to an open breakaway collar and no Milly in sight. My heart dropped. My first thought was, “She’s gone.”

I sprinted home yelling, “She’s gone! She’s GONE!” all the way. I burst through the balcony door in tears, informing my fiancé that I’d lost our one and only daughter. To which he replied, “She’s in our room, don’t worry; she ran home.” I lost it. I ran upstairs sobbing hysterically, showering her with kisses and cuddles. I felt incredibly relieved and so very proud that her initial reaction to danger was running straight back to our room, the room where she settled in. Her safe haven. The flood gates opened. This time, happy tears.

Both of us were ready

Although that experience was truly frightening, it was what I needed to know for sure that she was ready to go outside without supervision. Truth be told, she’s been ready for a long time. It was I who wasn’t ready. And now, I was. I knew Milly was strong, intelligent, agile, and stealthy enough to go on little cat adventures outside without me following her around like a mad person.

And it all worked out. What a beautiful year and a half it was keeping up with Milly on the golf course.

Check back next week for part two! To hear all about Milly going outside by herself, the cute little off-leash walks and picnics we shared, coming home to Milly waiting for us by the garage, the chaos caused by her unfortunate, yet impeccable, hunting skills, and our solution to save wildlife from the wrath of Milly. You don’t want to miss it!

Cheers vir eers!

(Cheers for now!)