The Great Escape

I have arthritis. In my hips, knees, jaw, fingers, who knows where else! Knowing that the aging process will make some things more difficult, we designed this house so that it could easily adapt to whatever the years and maladies will require.  The hallways are wide enough for a wheel chair; the entrances could easily accommodate ramps, the open floor plan is flowing and spacious, the bedroom doors are wide and the closets are walk-in, if not large. One bathroom has a pocket door, and a walk in shower. The doors are all fitted with lever-style hardware rather than doorknobs.  I hope to live here forever.

Enter Houdini, the door-opening cat. 


I fell asleep with BK on the bed and my bedroom door closed. Tight.  I woke around midnight, and for a minute, it didn't register...what was that light coming in from the left?  I quickly realized, it was the nightlight from out in the hallway.  The door was ajar!  Smokey and Shadow were asleep in their respective spots (Smokey on the top perch of the kitty tower,  Shadow on the couch) and I'd heard no arguments; I suspected I knew where BearKat had gone, so I switched on the light and went downstairs. There he was in the basement, peacefully sleeping on the bed. When he saw me, he did that languid stand-up-arch-and-stretch ~ I picked him up and carried him back into the bedroom.  This time, I double checked that the door was securely closed.

Sometime around 4AM, BK started meowing and cooing at me. I told him to behave and go back to sleep, and I rolled over to do the same.  Click.... and light pouring in through the open door; he did it again!!!! I brought him back into the bedroom, but not before he marked a little new turf on a closet door in another room.  Stinker.  I'm beginning to know his behavior, and so I gave him a can of food.  He ate it all, and settled down to sleep.  Then, I hooked up the trail cam☺ 
Around 6AM, I allowed him to go outside through the bedroom window.  He must have been out all of 3 minutes, when he sauntered back in through the pet door. It was cold out there! If he opens the bedroom door again (which, naturally, he has not done since the camera installation), I hope to capture the great escape. Meantime, we have a plan to deal with his obvious desire for more room to roam in the house. I still need to keep him apart from the other boys. 

When they do see one another, there's hissing and growling from both parties, and I understand it will take about a month after his neutering for the 'spraying' hormones to exit his system.  So he may take up residence in the basement for a while. I just have to re-arrange some kitty "facilities", and Shadow & Smokey will have to stay on the main floor. I don't think they'll mind, since they'll have another available bedroom!

His leg looks much better...

Meantime, BK's wounds are healing and he's making himself right at home. I guess he plans on staying here forever, too.

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"You might as well expect the rivers to run backward as that any man who was born free should be contented to be penned up and denied liberty to go where he pleases."  

Chief Joseph, Nez Perce (Nimiputimt)

I think that goes for my cats, too!

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