It is hard for me to see a creature used to living outside freely trapped in a cage, but Minnie is healing well, she is alert, vocal, curious. We let her out of the crate as much as we can – she walks around, sits on the sofa. We have to keep her hood on as she works on her stitches and she is still having trouble eliminating but the vets say she is looking great, they plan to remove the stitches later this week, perhaps on Friday. Maria and I are both clear on Minnie returning to her life as a barn cat, she will not be living in the house.

Minnie has spent her life outside taking care of herself and I can see she is anxious to get outside and do her exploring and hunting, she is walking well, still a little off-balance. I believe strong in giving animals like barn cats the opportunity to live their lives naturally and freely, there are clearly risks involved in that, it is a trade-off that I think is in the best interests of me, she is the priority, not us. Looks like she will return to her life by the weekend. I think she is enjoying sitting with me and Maria on the sofa, getting a lot of attention, she seems much too free a restless a creature to be happy with a sedentary life.