Back at the office Carl was terrified of the door. Whenever it would
open he would run away or act very cautious. A couple of times I tried
to take him near the door but he ran away in terror. When I moved up to
Oregon though his habits have changed quite a bit. He got used to
riding in cars (because he had no choice) and he realized being outside
wasn't anything to be afraid of. Now instead of running away from the
door when it opens I find him trying to escape. I never thought I'd
live to see the day. He's managed to get out once, but he didn't go
far. He just wanted to smell the fresh air and see what was on the
other side. This is in stark contrast to when Belinda's dog, Petunia,
would escape and run away like her life depended on it.
What about your cat? Do they ever try to escape? Have they?
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Ms Can Opener OH yes, I have two big escape artists, Spot and Tinker. In fact, Tink just positions herself by the door with an confident expression that "This door will open". Spot is quicker than greased lightning. They both run out and hide in the bushes around my house or the neighbors. The baby (Bebop) has not yet acquired the skills or desire to escape her little piece of heaven.
Ms Can Opener PS, because I'm a mean human, I "let" them escape into the garage, where they are still confined but they get the feeling of cold cement. Yes, I'm bad.
janessadawn When this summer started, I had the front screen door propped open with a fan in it. Mischa (cat in pic) who is the most skittish cat ever was suddenly very curious about what lay outside! She was found outdoors by the shelter where I got her, and I wasn't about to go running around the neighborhood for her. I ended up having to buy a pedastal fan because it made me too nervous.
Lady Doone Both Mr. Misty and Abbey are seasoned escape artists. However, I'm rather lucky to live in an apartment, where the farthest they get is down the one flight of stairs to...a closed door to the outside. And as to say 'I've done it, I've escaped!!', they pause for a moment on the landing to give the carpet a hearty scratching. Fun to watch.
shadowfire127 Frogger is terrified of everything, so he has never made a break for it. Domino, on the other hand, has managed to get by me several times, but he never truly got to experience freedom. Being blessed with quick reflexes, I have always managed to catch him before he gets more than five feet from the door, whether I fall on him, scruff him and yank him back in, or catch him by the tail. Since the last incident, the one in which the only part of him I could grab was his tail, he hasn't tried to escape anymore. I guess he learned his lesson.
catena Joe got out once when he was little, and stood on the porch quivering...what now, you could see him thinking. I took Meg outside on a cold, wet day...she shivered, and went back inside. I do take them out on the back deck, but only with me holding them (it's easy to jump on the roof there). Lincoln was an outdoor/barn kitty before he came to the shelter where we got him. We wondered how he would be, but he doesn't try to escape. Of course, we don't give them many opportunities...we come and go primarily through the garage. When we have company, they're either closed in the bedroom (for parties), or we keep a close eye on them when the door's open. No one's ever tried to run for it, though. Knock wood.
BellaPrints My cats aren't restricted to indoors. Although, on the occasions I have had to keep Roman inside, he has gone nuts trying to find a way out.
Scoots84 My Thomas is strictly an indoor kitty cat. He tries to escape and actually did for a few days this summer. I was so worried about him, but luckily I called my neighbor and asked her to keep an eye out for him. She found him later that night and returned him to our house. Naughty Thomas!
Alessia I have had a couple of my cats escape- sometimes its a group effort! I found a basement screen knocked out and 2 of my cats in the driveway once. I had to nail that screen shut after that.
Another of my kitties likes to run out when I open the door. She is pretty smart though. At first she races towards the street- then she realizes thats not good- and veers towards the back yard where she plays "Yag" with me for a bit and then lets me catch her. Goofball :)
LibrarianJessica The princess isn't scared of the door, but she's never tried to escape either. She's just not interested in the outside except as a reality show.
BEWmom Bob is allowed in the back yard, he is old, doesn't move real fast and it is fenced in. Ellie is a rescue, she wasn't interested in the outside until about a month ago. Now when I go out to get the paper in the morning she is interested in the front door but I push the newspaper in front of her so she doesn't get any fancy ideas
Canuck Cat I live in a ground floor apartment and my cat Penny takes off into the courtyard every chance she gets. I have to squirt her with the water bottle to get her back home (but I have to find her first in all the bushes - the little twerp).
Deanna Because I live so close to a busy street I dont allow my kitty to go outside. She loves watching the birds though but she shakes like crazy when shes in the car so I never thought she would really want to go outside. This Summer though she got thru the screen because its not very sturdy. I freaked out but we found her within an hour and she had so many cobwebs all over her. Im sure she had an adventure. Her only one alone though ;)
Melissa Our little guy loves going out on his leash, but I think he's too scared to go out alone. Once we accidentally left the front door open and the screen door doesn't latch. But, he was still inside and didn't even care that the door was open. Another time we were cleaning windows in our apartment and left the room. When we came back, he was sitting in the open window, kind of looking out (we had taken the screen off). That scared the bejeebies out of me, because it would have been a 3 story drop! Fortunately, I think he's smart enough not to jump.
Kitten1568 Sydney is allowed out on the balcony pretty much whenever she wants, unless I'm not home, sleeping or in the shower, so she gets her fill of fresh air and sunshine. Since I live in an apartment, when I open the front door it's just the hallway. Late at night after all the other residents are sleeping, we go out in the hallway together and she explores, but if there's a noise or the elevator opens, she runs like hell back to our apartment. I keep telling her that the boogey man will get her if he catches her out there. Apparently it works. :)
RockonMom I would love to let Rockon out to play but my husband is afraid of him getting lost or stolen. But when the hubby isn't home, I open my back door and Rockon plays out side and is gone for a few hours. Most of the time he will come back when called, but only if he's had his fill of the out side. Cooper on the other hand... he won't go further than the porch.
zigs_mom I live in an apartment complex and I try not to let my two girls roam. One of them is deathly afraid of the great outdoors so I don't have to worry. The other is a stray who'll make a run for it occasionally and once she's free she'll go check out the neighbors porch and then come sun bathe on her own porch. She just has to check it out.
lesleymullin Madame is always curious about the outdoors but everytime we carry her out there, she freaks and tries to get back inside. When she is stuck inside, she sits on the window sill staring at the doorknob like she's trying to figure out how to work it. She is not allowed outside. There are other cats that live outside in the apartment complex and I don't think she could handle a fight if she were to get in one so this kitteh is not allowed outside unless she's in her box or one of us is carrying her.
titipusmom OK, I'm a bad cat mom, but I'd rather have them fat than flat , so I don't let mine out - often. When I do let them out (other than to go to the vet), I wait until it's a cold, snowy day, the radiators are nice and warm and they're sitting on the radiator, warming their tush. I take them out into a snowbank, set them in it, wait about 20 seconds, then whisk them inside again. I offer them a bowl of food next to the radiator and tell them that outside is like that *all* the time. It seems to work pretty well!
DarcysMom I'm with Librarian. Darcy rushes to the door to greet me but doesn't try to go outside. I leave the door open with the screen shut. She loves to look at the blowing leaves and moths and birds, etc. She never darts out when I go in and out. She may trip me, but not intentionally. At least I don't think it is intentional...
Rhiyaya For the most part Squirt tries really hard to get out, but if he does get out he just goes a few feet. If it's near any grass he goes to eat grass and throw it up.
sarahpickle Pickle is a free wheelin' indoor/outdoor kitty. He can't bear to be confined so you can imagine his distress when he was kept indoors after being hit by a car and having his jaw broken. ( It still didn't slow him down) He went nuts, he started licking the toothbrushes, knocking things over and finally, he climbed up and used all his weight to open the louvre windows in the backroom, tore a hole in the screen and nicked off.
SilversHuman The only time Sivler leaves the house is to go to the vet, so she really doesn't have much desire to go out. Sometimes, she will go out into the garage, but she runs back in if the garage door goes up.
Once, she did go outside. Before our older kitty, Shelby died, they escaped through the front door, and got in the bushes right outside the door. About the time they got a little comfortable, my husband came around the house with a weed eater, and nearly scared both of them to death. They were both scratching and clawing at the door, wishing they could reach high enough to ring the doorbell. Silver hasn't offered to go out since then.
ScoutsMama My cat tries to escape every chance he gets!! We moved from an apartment house with a balcony where he could go out often, to a house with no balcony, so he has to be supervised outside, but he doesn't realize that and tries to sneak out every chance he gets!!
Arell When my boy was younger, he couldn't restrain his curiosity when the frond door opened. He's darted out a couple of times, but once he got to the edge of the porch (about 10 feet) he freaked out and froze. I suppose the "no ceiling factor" got him. He's gotten into the garage a few times and I found a way to get him quickly back inside. Of course, he went under the car and out of reach, so I plugged in the leaf blower I only had to turn it on once. I never knew he could move that fast.
Gabzilla9 Phoebe used to be an outside cat, but since we live in Nashville she hasn't been interested in being outside.
Toby, who has NEVER been outside (save for the random trip to the car) is BRAZEN and thinks hanging by the door is, well, the cat's pajamas. And he likes water so I can't use a spray bottle - I use canned air. And it's working.
thegrimtuesday Lucy use to try to escape. then one day, she tried to paw her way out the hinge-side gap when the door was open. she ended up getting her little foot smooshed pretty badly because i didn't know she was there and shut the door on her. Oliver is a weenie. Either that or he remembers kittenhood under a rotting porch and isn't interested in the outside because of that. both are highly interested in the sliding glass door in the back, however. i think that is because the dog can get on the porch.
Dina My kitty who thinks he is a dog, plays fetch and runs to the window when he hears a noise outside, Mr. Fuzzy Butt escaped Tuesday and I have not seen him since. This isn't the first time but usually he is screaming to be let in the next morning. At least I know he isn't out making babies I had him neutered when he was a baby. It is really weird because he was so friendly the couple of days before he dissapeared. I miss the little bugger. Why do they do this?
Spritzy Tipper isn't allowed outside without her "clothes" on (that would be her harness and leash) and she isn't allowed past the porch and she's ok with that. Cow and Bahji are afraid of the outside. They'll get thier sniffs if a window is open but that's enough.
vickieree Both my guys are indoor cats because I don't want to have to worry about ticks or cars or other animals. I live in an apartment building, so even if they run out the door, they're still inside. Both my boys are totally cool with staying in my apartment and don't try to dash out. Only time they do is when I carry them outside the apartment, they try getting out for a few days and then their interest wanes.
and good luck Dina - I hope Fuzz Butt returns to you safe and sound! :)
kukuigirl We used to live in an apartment and Diesel was happy being indoor all the time. Now that we've moved to a house with a lawn, I made a mistake of letting him out. Now everyday at 5.30pm, he will stands by the door and meows till someone lets him out. He just sit on the lawn and occasionally sleeps. I never leave him out there by himself and I'm normally there with him. Initially I was worried that he would run off so I stayed to keep watch but I realized that he will never run. He's perfectly content sitting there, just watching. Now I realized that he likes to have someone there when he is outdoors. A few time I had to run into the house for something, he would follow me into the house and meow at me. He doesn't like to be outside alone. needs company. :) He would wait till I am done with whatever it is, and will meow again to go out....with me accompanying him.
galadrieltypo I have an escape artist and one 'break in artist'. I have two indoor kitty sisters, Daphne and Chloe. Everything was fine until Chloe started finding young cat sized holes in the new addition. She would drop down under the floor, go through the crawlspace, go through a hole in the old foundation and end up in the "michigan cellar". We went through rounds of me losing her, finding the hole she'd found, plugging the hole.......then her finding another hole. Nerve wracking! On the other side of the coin is an old outside cat. (He refuses to use cat boxes) He lurks by the door and whenever anyone goes in or out, especially if I'm coming in with groceries, and bolts into the house. He knows that he's back out when I find him, so even though he's a chubby cat, he vanishes in the house and I have to wait until he lets his guard down and goes for the cat food.
DemBratzMomma After being outdoor cats all their lives, we moved from our farmhouse into a 3rd floor apartment. Maybe it's because they're older now (14 and up), but noone has tried to escape. The door can sit open and they don't even notice. Of course, escaping would mean they would have to get up from the bed.
MoosesMom Moose escaped two weeks ago! But he came back home. But my mom who lives with me, (she is 80) opened the door to accept a package. Well she checked around to make sure Moose wasn't around and she opened the door. Moose saw his escape plan and poof he bolted outside. My mom bless her heart cant run and when she would call him he just went further out. She left the door open and called his name and waited for him. 10 minutes later he came strolling back in the house, cleaned himself up and went back to bed. Course when my husband came home Moose had barfed up some grass he ate while outside. Needless to say he hasnt been out again. (he is declawed and can't defend himself)
erkala Gary has tried a total of twice. The first time was in AZ and we had just "taken" our other cat away. I think he was trying to find out where she went. I flipped out, dropped all the grocery bags I was carrying and pinned him to the ground. Scared the heck out of him. The second time, was in NYC. My friend who doesn't know not to linger with doors open around cats left the door open too long. Her suit case was in between me and running after him so I grabbed his tail (it's pretty long) and stopped him mid threshold. He should know by now escaping means bodily harm. Mamma doesn't want to risk losing her baby...
dixiekittylove My Mo is afraid of everything. The sound of a crinkling trash bag sends him scurrying into another room. He got out of my ground floor apartment once (new boyfriend's mistake) and we found him hiding around the corner in an open circuit breaker box. He didn't go far and was happy to be rescued.
i_heart_theB I recently just moved, and my kitty has been an outdoor cat for all her 8 years, but where I moved to it was far to wild out there and I don't want my kitty to be coyote bait so she's now an indoor cat. I thought it was going to be really hard to make that switch, but it wasn't really. She's not thrilled about it, but she's getting use to it. She jumped out the second story window onto a storage shed, but she didn't go far, and meowed like crazy for someone to rescue her. I feel bad to keep her in, but I just couldn't bare if i lost her. She's a little more use to it, just longingly peers out the window, but i can tell she has a heathly fear of the outside now.
BrookeLovesNittany We have a balcony off of our living room, and everytime I am out there, Nittany wants to come out, but I was always afraid she would jump through the rails (we are on the second floor). My boyfriend always said to let her out and that she would not jump. So a few times I kind of held her out there but didn't let her explore. Then I got bold and let her wander a bit. She went to the far side and the next thing I knew, half her body was through the rails! I screamed and she turned around and ran back in the house. I realized that to the left of where she had been looking was a ledge that ran to the roof...little miss curious wanted to climb on there! Another time I came home and opened the door to the house from the garage and the garage door was not closed all the way. She bolted over to the door and I screamed bloody murder, sure she had gotten out, but when I turned around, she had run right back in the house! I think she is too scared to actually go anywhere!
kateb64 As a child, my cat (Fluffy - not very imaginative but very descriptive!) was terrified of outdoors. She would clamp herself on like something from the Alien movies. Then we moved house and overnight she reverted to normality and went out with the other cats as if she always had done. There was nothing in the first garden to scare her that we knew of, but she had a new lease of life when she found the great outdoors!
catmommy9 The late Stripecat was always trying to escape. We had taken him in as a stray, and we think he may have escaped from a previous home. We knew he had a previous home, because he was already neutered when we found him. However, we never did find his previous owner, so we kept him. Every single day, he'd try to escape, and we always had to play goaltender at the door when coming in.
He did escape a few times. Usually he'd run right out into the street, which was scary because we live on a busy street. But he never got hit by a car, I thought for sure that was how he was going to die. He ended up just dying of old age last year.
There was this one time when he got out and we couldn't find him anywhere. I was about to go out on my bike and ride around the neighborhood looking for him, when I heard meowing coming from under the porch. I looked, and there was the little striped fool, scared to death. Not that he learned from this little experience, he still kept trying to get out all the time.
Of the six cats we have now, only Dusty tries to escape once in a while. The last time she got out was when I opened the door to the pizza guy, it was dark out, she's a mostly grey cat, and no one saw which way she went. My husband went outside with a flashlight to look for her, while he was doing so, Dusty came back onto the porch, and was crying and scratching at the door to get back in. I let her in, she was scared.
At least it seems she learned a lesson, she hasn't tried to get out again.
LisaP I fixed up a "screen porch" on my deck by duct taping the curtains of my gazebo down so my kitties could go outside in nice weather but not escape into the world. One night, Gus-Gus figured out that he could open the zipper by headbutting it over and over. I caught him outside trying to figure out how to get back in. He has escaped several times since, but he doesn't really like to stay out - he just likes the process of getting out. Viv tries to take advantage of Gus's escape routes, but after the first time, when she spent the entire night out, I always catch her before she succeeds. Maggie, the queen of her castle, can't be bothered to go outside.
kitty alone I bought a house with a glassed in porch. They THINK they are out
tignlu In my old apartment my roommate let Tig out and never found her. I was working nights at the time. When I got home in the morning Tig was no where to be found. It was the 1st time she was out and it had snowed 6 inches. When I finally found her she was under the deck in the back. She would not come out at all I had to slither on my stomach to grab her scruff and get her in. She was a scared little kitty and cold. Since that she really doesn't go near the door anymore. LouLou on the other hand is a little stinker. I have to make sure she is no where the door when it is opened or she will be out in a flash. She only goes by the door and sits there for a couple of minutes and then comes back in but I can't take the chance that she will think it is a better place for her.
gypsysmommy My Gypsy is scared of the outside. Like LibrarianJessia's kitty, Gypsy thinks of the outside as a *reality show*! The farthest she's gone outside is her 2 front feeties on the top step beyond the back door--that was enough, and back in she went! But she does like peeking out the door and then running back inside, and she also likes watching her baby brother the beagle tearing around the back yard. So only outside in a carrier for Miss Gypsy.
Ariabob You have no idea. Bob is 10 yrs old. He has never really been outside. Recently, I had my dryer vent cleaned. I live on the 3rd floor of a garden condo. The cleaners had propped the landing door open (which leads to our underground garage. They opened my condo's door and Bob made a beeline for the landing door. He headed straight to the basement. I got a call at work they had lost him in the garage. I spent two hours trying to catch him. It did not help the friendly dog walker brought two dogs back into the complex off lead through the basement. Bob was a great chase toy! And I got bit by one of the dogs to boot. Bob is currently grounded. No Animal Planet. for him for a month.
ponceyspeeps1 Poncey has always been an indoor cat except for the one time he escaped about 7 years ago. He always had a look of yearning when looking outside and often tried to make a run for it when the front door would open but always with no luck until one day he got out by jumping ovver my leg as I tried to bar his exit. He hauled ass toward a clump of trees near our house and then down a hill. We called and called and tried to bribe him with food, etc but he was on an adventure and what an adventure it turned out to be. We looked for him all day but couldn't find him. He didn't come home during the night and wasn't around the next morning. After awhile I called the local humane society who said they could not divulge if they had live orange cats being held but could confirm cats that had died. They had no dead orange cats (thankfully) so we drove over and found Poncey. He had been attacked by a big dog (don't know why he didn't run from it) and the dog really tore him up. The "dogcather" had actually seen the cat and saved Poncey's life! We took Poncey to the vet and he needed surgery. His intestines had been torn loose. The surgeon put him back together again and with the continued love and help of his vet, daily doses of lactulose and metimucil, he's in decent health for a 11 year old guy. Can't eat dry food (which he loved) because of his delicate stomach and sometimes gets backed up temporarily but he's a happy, fun-loving fellow that we never let near doors again. There is always a buffer door between him and the front door. We are lucky to still have Poncey to love and enjoy!
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Ms Can Opener Oh give me land, lots of land with the starry skies above....Don't fence me in.
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