My friend Deborah recently had family visits at her home, necessitating a reminder on the door that Charles (on the left) is inclined to make a dash to “freedom” if the door’s left open long enough.
Deborah writes:
I suppose I can take down the Charles warning poster on the door now that my visitors have gone. In the upper right hand corner is a picture of Charles in his previous life in a 14th century French dungeon cell. He has fond memories of the rose bush growing up the fortress walls! My grandson wanted to know his name in that life and I told him that it had been Charlot and that he had been born in Cambridge (England as opposed to Massachusetts where my grandson was born). Eight year olds are great because their imaginations are in full bloom and they do not yet have any cynicism!
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I can appreciate her concerns! Dougy is my little escape artist. The joke is he’d follow his nose to Fargo before he realized he no longer was at home. He doesn’t want to escape so much as catch up of neighborhood scents.
There are a few outdoor cats around, and they know Dougy knows they know he knows they know he knows that fact! (Sorry for that construction. It seems to have landed in my consciousness and demands I use it till I wear it and myself out!)
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I found Deborah’s sign charming and asked if I could use her photo for this blog. Her response:
Charles says he would be honored to grace your blog again.
He did make a few escapes while the visitors were here although they were good about remembering to check for him. He makes a few escapes on me anyway, with one yesterday when he sauntered down the walkway.
He never tries to go fast but he does have a bit of the “nah! Nah!” In his walk. He is proud of himself and not above taunting his jailer. He is the kind of cat you can sling under one arm if the other arm is busy such as with the groceries one was about to deposit on the table before the cat escaped.
I’ve never had to go bushwhacking to get him. The one time that I did not notice his escape and was only alerted to it by his brother giving the “there’s something in the yard” stare, he seemed quite bored by all the free time he had in the great outdoors and was already walking back up the walkway towards home.
Still, with kids and commotion, I think the sign is necessary because not everyone has an escape artist for a cat.
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I’ve been known to post an “escape kitty” sign on my door as well, though the late Louie the ginger cat, a shelter rescue, definitely had street smarts Dougy lacks:
Louie was an inside cat that enjoyed indoor/outdoor life before I got him at the animal shelter as a five-year-old. He definitely liked his outside time, so I eventually caved in to his wishes and followed him on his walks.
Signs of the times! We kitty people sometimes have to protect our wee furbuddies against their normal curiosity.