Well, the two-door rule was very helpful this weekend! It’s the policy of my house that we go in and out of the house only through the door to the garage, and we only open the door to the garage if all the doors from the garage to the outside are closed.

With my back troubles, I’m a little slow this week. This weekend, my NEW Mr. Stinker, a certain Mr. L. Bit, made a mad dash outside, while I was bringing Gracie in from a walk.

The good news was the Little Bit could not get very far, as all the doors from the garage to the outside (I have five, can you believe that – two “garage doors”, two large swinging doors from the attached shed, and a regular door to the back shed, where I store my firewood). As soon as I got Gracie safely in the house, I “hunted” down Little Bit. He was exploring the attached shed.

Why does he not realize that the garage is a very dangerous place!. The large, noisy boxy things that take him to the V*E*T are there. It gets dark and cold there! Daddy does not have a hot box there to curl up next to. And, worst of all, there is no boxy thing to jump up on to get daddy to feed him (AKA the laundry dryer).

Little Bit is just upset that Gracie gets to go to the garage and he doesn’t!

Mark

Sparky is jealous that our "dawgs" go outside too..... but I've been letting him out. He's not fond of getting snow on his feet so he doesn't go far (stays on the porch mostly) and he wants in in about 5 minutes cause he's cold. It's not too bad right now.....At least he knows what's out there!

Two of my cats have managed to get outside since they have been with me – Little Bit and Ranger.

It happened at the same time. The contractor was working in my house, fixing the trim around my windows. He had taken the screen out of the window (for what ever reason) and forgot about the cats. He looked up and saw two of them in the yard – and he then was in a merry chase.

Little Bit gave in easily. He was frightened of the outside. Ranger, on the other hand, had quite a bit of fun playing chase with the contractor. After the fact, he told me that it took him almost an hour to catch him (not sure it really was an hour or only seemed like an hour). After that, he was much more careful about the kitties.

Another time, Ranger managed to push out a window screen in my bedroom and escaped. Ranger later “wrote” to her aunt about his great adventure outdoors and the fun game of chase he played with his daddy. Daddy did not think it was funny.

To this day, I still close all of my windows when I am not home – even in the summer. It actually keeps the house cooler – assuming I have the shades drawn. When I get home, I open things up and let the cool evening / night air in. That, combined with the ceiling fans works for me.

Little Bit’s former owner told me that he would occasionally put Little Bit on a leash and take him for a walk. I never saw the leash – and, given Little Bit’s fear out the outside, I would never do that to him.

Mark

When we first moved into our house I had the windows open..... Milo (the biggest cat) went to lay on the sill in the bedroom and - luckily I was in the room - he knocked the screen out of the window. I grabbed him as he looked to jump the 15 or so feet to the ground. Neil then nailed all the screens onto the house so that would not happen again. The only problem is washing the windows on the outside now.... have to remove all the nails and then renail them when finished - not to mention having to be high off the ground to do this in the first place. At least I don't have to worry about anybody falling out a window anymore.

Well. Little Bit made another mad dash for the garage yesterday night.

I was coming home from a long day at work. Actually, I was arriving home 90 minutes later than normal, which, I’m sure, had all the kitties upset and hungry.

As soon as I open the door, Little Bit makes the dash for the garage. I was expecting it and was able to catch him, or more correctly, his hind legs.

As I held on, for his dear life, I was a bit concerned that

A) Little Bit might become a tad upset and bite or scratch me
B) I might hurt the little stinker
C) One of the other cats might make a break for it – as Ranger, Dusty and the Pippin Monster were right there, too.

The good news is that there was a happen ending. Neither Little Bit nor the others made it out. Little Bit was too shocked by the “leg lock” to do anything but meow.

I am concerned that he will make it out again – as he is trying really hard to break free!

Mark