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Roscoe is definitely an indoor-outdoor cat.Best as I can tell he spent the first year of his life on his own, fending for himself. But I often wonder what trials and tribulations he encountered during that first year. Did he have a mother who taught him how to hunt and dismember his prey, or did that come to him by instinct? Did he have run-ins with other feral cats, or the neighbor's dogs, or racoons, or foxes, or coyotes? And if so, how did he learn to defend himself?
Since coming to live with us, he has grown accustomed to regular meals, a roof over his head, climate controlled surroundings, and soft, cushy blankets to nap on. But that doesn't mean he's lost his wild side. It's obvious that he enjoys - even requires - regular forays into the out-of-doors. So I let him go outside, during the day, for a few hours about 3 days a week to do what cats were meant to do. He stays within shouting distance, always returns home when I call, is always content from eating mice, and is always unscathed.
Autumn is here and there's a chill in the air, but today was a gorgeous, sunny day...perfect for hunting voles in the leaf litter. After a few hours of romping through the woods around the house, I brought Roscoe back inside for the rest of the day.
Not 15 minutes after I retrieved our little hunter, I saw a magnificent coyote trotting up our driveway and past the house. No doubt he, too, was enjoying a sunny day of vole-hunting in the leaf litter. It was thrilling to get such a good look at this stunner. We know we have coyotes in our woods because we occasionally hear them yip-howling at night; but we rarely get to see them, and never in broad daylight...until today.
Thanks to humans, cats (felis catus) and coyotes (canis latrans) are the apex predators in our part of the world. So that got me to thinking: what would Roscoe and Coyote make of each other? Coyotes are known to hunt cats and small dogs in urban areas, but we have other abundant and easy alternatives in our rural setting, so perhaps Coyote is inclined to leave Roscoe be. While Roscoe may be able to evade or defend himself against one coyote, what about two coyotes hunting as a pair? Have Roscoe and Coyote encountered each other in our woods in the past? Heck, are they indifferent 'friends'?
Having had the rare opportunity to get hands-on with some live coyotes in my past, I have a special fondness for this particular predator. I love that this coyote (and probably his buddies) call our woods his home. And I'm also quite fond of Roscoe. So I am faced with a dilemma. Do I continue to let Roscoe roam outside so that he can express his true cat-self? Or do I sequester him inside for the rest of his life where he will be safer but perhaps not happier? What I guess I am really wrestling with is what role should I (the ultimate apex predator) play in this wildlife drama?
