Closed-Door Policy

Ilario - aka Larry - joined my family last month, the orange tabby fluff ball bringing the feline head count up two. His arrival put older cat Clara's nose so out of joint that she darted out when I opened the back door for the dogs and took up residence on the neighbor's porch for the better part of a week.

Ilario - aka Larry - at 10 weeks. She had slipped out a time or two before, but I have been trying to keep her contained to the house and a fresh-air enclosure off the kitchen.

She had accepted indoor life happily. But with an invader in her home, there was no bribing her back inside. She refused to come home until she finally decided the kitten wasn't leaving, so she might as well learn to get along. One night she slipped back in, warily, and hasn't left since.

They're getting along, mostly. But my working to keep Clara (and now Ilario) content and contained is no doubt part of the reason why she decided that rejoining the family inside wasn't such a bad idea after all. And her escape gave me reason to re-evaluate the life I was offering her inside.

Environmental enrichments and lots of attention will help keep an indoor cat from being bored. Keeping a cat inside reduces the risk of an early death from accident or disease, and it's also more considerate of your neighbors. Indoor cats also can't prey on native birds and small animals.

But when we keep cats from roaming, we take away a large part of what makes them happy, which means we need to put in "environmental enrichments" to make up for the loss. And we need to spend time with our pets - playing with them, petting them and even grooming them - to strengthen the bond we have with them.

Giving an indoor cat safe access to the outdoors is always appreciated, such as with a cat door into a screened-in porch. You can also buy kits for portable outdoor pens, complete with tunnels to connect them to the house. I know of several

people who have put together some grand outdoor spaces, including a two-story enclosure clinging to the side of the house with areas for climbing, sunbathing and hiding. These needn't be expensive, especially if you're a capable do-it-yourselfer.

Indoors, cats need places to perch and scratch (such as cat trees), greens to nibble on and toys to play with. Food can be made more of a challenge, too, by using toys that make a cat work out a puzzle to find and eat his daily rations.

After she came in from her snit-driven escapade, Clara fussed to go outside again for the better part of a week. But I was more stubborn than she was, and now she has settled back happily into her indoor routine (with visits to her outdoor enclosure).

Ilario hasn't figured out that he, too, can visit the outdoor enclosure, but in time he'll be big enough to enjoy it.

I'm counting on them both being content and contained for many years to come. But that will happen only if I keep the inside almost as interesting as the outside, and work to keep them engaged as part of my family.

For more information and ideas, visit the Indoor Cat Initiative Web site (http:// vet.osu.edu/indoorcat.htm), created by the College of Veterinary Medicine at The Ohio State University.