Amy Shojai of thesprucepets.com writes: “Indoor cats sometimes try to escape from the house, and this can be especially scary for their owners. Most indoor cats are not equipped to handle the sensory overload of being outdoors and coming back inside immediately, but if your indoor cat goes outside, they are at the greatest risk of getting hurt (or being hurt by another cat, person or car). ).”
Fortunately, we avoided such outcomes, but each cat clearly saw our residence as “their” home. And as responsible “homeowners,” they tried not only to protect their home, but also their yard.
Naturally, since our three cats didn’t have keys or codes to open the doors leading to their backyards, they had to find other ways to carry out their inspections.
Bailey and Abby, both women, tried using a dog door we built in our sunroom. Unfortunately, our two dogs at the time, Mocha, a Miniature Schnauzer, and Lucy, a multiple mix, never had the opportunity to use the doggy door.
That’s because the two cats quickly learned how the door worked and we learned just as quickly that it should say closed to prevent the two felines from turning it into a turnstile.
When Pip graced us with his presence several years ago, we had already abandoned the idea of a dog door.
Abby also tried to escape through the front door. I was at the front door talking to a neighbor when the tuxedo-colored cat decided to run into the open door. Lucy, our resident barker, ran after her, caught up with her and placed her front paw on the cat, stopping her from flying to freedom. Lucy held Abby until my neighbor picked up the cat and unceremoniously brought her back inside.
Last spring, Pip tried his luck. The weather strip on our garage door was replaced, leaving it loose and easy to open. One day Pip, noticing that the door was slightly open, entered through it. At the time, I was in the bedroom making the bed and my husband Ed was downstairs. I happened to look outside and see a black and white cat crawling around the edge of our porch.
“Wow,” I shouted.
In the next breath, I was screaming for Ed to call Pip.
Luckily, he heard me, along with half the neighborhood. Ed, the former cross-country runner, promptly ran up the stairs, through the house and out the sliding glass porch door, catching Pip just before the cat fell what appeared to be at least a mile away. , from my point of view. the yard below, although it was only a few feet.
The weather stripping on the door was replaced that day. It took me about two days to stop shaking and about a week before I stopped giving Ed dirty looks for not fixing the weatherstripping when we first noticed it.
Pip? He was fine. No care in the world.
Karin Spicer is a member of the Dog Writers Association of America. She lives with her family and two furry animals who inspire her. She can be contacted at Spicerkarin@gmail.com.
Precautions for escaping the cat
1. Annually check escape routes, doors and windows for repairs.
2. Place a sign on outside doors stating that visitors are not allowed to leave the house.
3. Place obstacles in front of escape routes, aluminum foil at door entrances, etc.
4. The cat(s) must always wear a collar and tag, as well as have a microchip if it goes out.
Source: thesprucepets.com/preventing‑cat‑escape‑553924
