scaredThomas has been able to open doors for a while now.
Thomas has never previously opened the front door. So this was new.
I got up to get ready for bed and discovered the front door of the house standing open, and an utter absence of cats. This, naturally, triggered INSTANT HYSTERIA, and lots of frenzied cat-calling, which probably frightened the neighbors.
Lilly came immediately, looking faintly ashamed of herself, and limping slightly. Thomas was in the yard, sniffing things, and came when called. I closed the door and turned to inspect Lilly's paw...during which pause Thomas OPENED THE DOOR again and let himself back outside.
I retrieved Thomas, called my mother, put on trousers, went outside, locked the door, and began searching the neighborhood for Alice. I found her halfway down the block, investigating someone's garden. I got her to come by clanging a can of wet food with a fork. She's mad now because she didn't get treats. I'm mad because, well. ESCAPING ISN'T COOL. Poor Vixy got me calling her in hysterics, wailing about how they got out.
All three cats are fine and uninjured. I cannot sleep. I have notified work that I'm going to be in late tomorrow, because there's no way I'm sleeping in the next hour. And from now on, the front door is locked even when I'm in the house.
Stupid cats.
Why My Cats Don't Go Outside. HORRIBLE THING WARNING!! DO NOT READ IF HORRIBLE THINGS EAT SPOONS!!!!
June 23 2011, 19:30:55 UTC 6 years ago
I once lived in a neighborhood where someone had an airgun. Many of my at-one-time-20 cats (my sire thought generic cat food was cheaper than spaying, ARGH) just vanished, one dragged herself home with an airgun pellet in her spine, my oldest cat carried an airgun pellet under the skin in her chest for the rest of her life (she was around 20 when she died), and shortly before we got the remaining 9 cats to take to our new house... One of them was found lying in the cat door in/out of the garage, with an airgun wound between her eyes. It was a Sunday. We had to take her to the humane society to be put to sleep because she was still breathing.
A cat who believes humans are safe, wonderful people is just a victim to the cruel scumwads of the world, even if the street is low-traffic and the wildlife is appropriately terrified of a cat (nearly) as big as it is.
END HORRIBLE THINGS. You may resume reading.
Re: Why My Cats Don't Go Outside. HORRIBLE THING WARNING!! DO NOT READ IF HORRIBLE THINGS EAT SPOONS
June 23 2011, 23:54:49 UTC 6 years ago
Back 10-15 years ago, one of our older and most-loved kitties went missing from mealtimes for a days. We got worried, but with semi-feral cats, it sometimes happens. She finally crawled home later the next day, paralyzed from the waist down with an airgun pellet in her spine. If I ever had definitive proof of who did it, I'd have to roll a miraculous saving throw to avoid the temptation to shove the airgun where the sun doesn't shine.