What a shock!! The girls had escaped tonight!

When I got up this morning, I found the apartment door wide open! Either Lily must have opened it, or the wind (we had a storm last night). I immediatly knew the cats wouldn't miss this opportunity to sneak out. Grabbed my key and went out into the stairway, fearing the worst.

I live in the second floor, and the cats could fall down to the ground level through the banisters, especially my clumsy Luna girl. So my first look was down there, it was a real nightmare. Saw no dead cat on the floor two levels below, but the next moment I noticed Luna one floor above me, sitting in front of the attic door. (Luna isn't familiar with stairs, she only walks upstairs and then doesn't know how to go down). I have no idea how long she sat there. Rescued her (she seemed to be quite happy) and brought her back to the apartment, then left again to find Lily.

I have more faith in Lily when it comes to avoid accidents, but I know that as soon somebody would open the entrance door, she wouldn't hesitate to walk outside. And since my landlords usually get up early I was almost sure Lily has escaped to the outside. But I fould her playing one floor below, and when I approached, she ran away, to the ground level, where she freaked out and jumped onto a deco thingy at my landlords' apartment door. After that, she speeded back to the first level, where I talked to her and finally calmed her down enough to pick her up and bring her home.

So, both my girls are back home safe, but I was trembling. What a horror! I don't even want to think about all the things that could have happened! And I have no idea how long they have been outside! I've been up three hours ago, and at that point, the door was still closed.

Also, it concerns me why the door has been opened. First, I really thought it was the storm (there's a lot of draft), but when I later checked the stairway for possible potty accidents, I heard someone (most likely Lily) jumping at the doorknob, obviously trying to escape again. Lily is acting very wild since she was outside, and I found even Luna sitting in front of the door now, crying and complaining with her little voice. Now I really have to be extra careful and lock the door with the key all the time, even when I'm only away for a couple of minutes. It's been sooo scary, I really thought I'd lost them!!!

Right now, btw, both the girls are sleeping in the living room, snuggled together, probably dreaming about their adventure.

Kirsten

Nawtee Kitties ....

Funny how some cats are not stair smart ... Bastet was like that - I had to teach her to walk down them too - meaty treats work great! :D

Oh what a scary night...already the storm made me frightened, but I would have been really shocked when my cats would have sneaked out like Luna and Lily...that must have been terrible, Kirsten!

Maybe your Lily girl has learned to open the door, my sister's cat has learned it too and you know, once a cat is familiar with a trick, they'll never forget...I would not only close the door, but always shut it with the key, just to be sure Lily won't be successful again...

Yes, I think she has learned it now. :(

There are these ugly glas tiles in my apartment door, so I have a curtain in front of them, and Lily always tears it down. I thik she might have accidently hit the door knob and opened it, and now that she knows how it's working, she's trying it again. :( Scary stuff, now I never ever must forget to use the key and lock the door, all the time!

Kirsten

Oh Kirsten that must have scared you to death!!! I'm so glad you found them before they managed to make it outside. It sounds like you may have had a problem catching Lily if she had gotten out!! What a little stinker Lily is!! They are going to be sneaky now. Everytime you open the door they are probably going to try to get out. Kitties love an adventure but they just don't realize the possible harm that can come to them.
Luna and Lily you behave!!! Your meowmie is only trying to keep you safe!!!

At least Lily would definitely walk outside as soon as she'd have a chance. Concerning Luna, I'm more worried about accidents, like falling through the banisters.

Here you can see how far they would fall down, and they would land right on an ancient sewing machine, they could never survive that: :eek:
http://www.tillyschanze.de/pix/stairs1.jpg


These are the stairs up to the attic where I found Luna this morning, unable to come down:
http://www.tillyschanze.de/pix/stairs2.jpg

A view down to the first level and the ground level, where I found Lily:
http://www.tillyschanze.de/pix/stairs3.jpg

My apartment door. Lily loves to tear down the curtain on the left, I think that way she has accidently opened the door and now has learned how to do it!
http://www.tillyschanze.de/pix/door.jpg

Kirsten

I would have had heart failure in your situation!!! I am so glad that they were found safe and sound. Now that I see that you have a latch handle (Can't think of the proper name of that knob) I can see how easily they could learn to open the door. My screen door has that type of handle and if I ever leave open the storm door I always lock the screen because it is easily opened even by accident.
Now listen you NAW-TEE-GIRLS!!!!!!! You stay inside that appartment, you hear??!!??

Jen, I believe that Lily has already learnt now how to open it, she has tried it again. I wonder if it is possible to replace that one by one of these "round" door knobs you have to turn around (sorry, don't know how to describe that better), and I wonder if my landlords would let me (they have hardly tolerated the cats anyway).
If not, I must never forget to turn around the key from now on!!!

Kirsten

OMG! I'm glad they are safe and sound! You must have had terrible moments of utter panic!

Lily, please behave! Pouncer knows how to open the round doorknobs, but only if they push out. He has yet to figure out how to operate the lever style knobs on our french doors... but he's tried. I am dreading spring when he starts to want to slip outside again (right now its so cold that he's quite content to remain indoors.)

I hope they were acting wild only because they had so much stimulation at once and they will settle back down into their normal routine and not try this adventure again.

Kirsten, no wonder you were frightened!! It's a long way down. :eek:

However, I think if you keep the door locked, she'll try for a while, and then forget about it when she sees that it doesn't work anymore.

When John and I visited a friend in Sevilla (Sirocco) we were SO scared her cats would fall down. One of them liked to lay in the flower bed on the outside of the bannister!! There were 2 floors down to an atrium - to a floor covered with tiles!! We could hardly look, but Nita was used to it, and nothing ever happened. :)

Perhaps you can "get the picture" from these.

http://www.imagestation.com/picture/...6/fc3d65a7.jpg

http://www.imagestation.com/picture/...7/fc3d65ae.jpg

So very glad to hear that Luna and Lily were found and unharmed! Now, for you Miss Kirsten.... why in the world would you go to bed without locking your door anyway!!!???:eek:
That's not safe for YOU either!!! ;) Now you be more careful, and kitties you stay out of mischief!!! ;)

(((Hugs to you all))):)

catnapper, I see Lily and Pouncer also share the bad habits. ;) Obviously they are very intelligent which isn't always a good thing!

Randi, I don't even want to imagine that! I couldn't have looked either, hopefully your friend's sweet kitty is always careful!

Kim, nobody can open the door from outside unless he's using a key. Even when it's unlocked, you can only open it from the inside, so it's usually safe (of course when I go out, I'm always locking the door).

Kirsten

One thing you can do: turn the door handle so that it shows up. THen they can't open it any more by jumping on it.

I am glad sneaky Lily didn't manage to go outside. One time Filou was outside about 45 minutes -because we were sure he was only hiding in the apartment:eek:

Quote:

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Originally posted by Barbara
One thing you can do: turn the door handle so that it shows up. THen they can't open it any more by jumping on it.

I am glad sneaky Lily didn't manage to go outside. One time Filou was outside about 45 minutes -because we were sure he was only hiding in the apartment:eek:

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We've tried that already - it's not working because the entire construction is really old and it did not allow to take the door handle off! :(

How scary about Filou! How did you eventually notice he's been outside? :eek:

Kirsten

Wow, that would have scared me half to death too. I'm so glad you found them.

Ripley can open the round door knobs. He is so big and tall that he can stand on his hind legs and reach the knob. He will stand there and work it until her gets the door open. When he was about 1 1/2 years old my parents kept him and Disney for us for about two months while we were looking for a new house (we stayed in an apartment that didn't allow pets). Ripley really drove my parents crazy opening all the doors. It amazed them he could do that. When I'd go out with my parents and we'd run into their friends they would always ask "are you the daughter with the cat that opens door?". Always made me laugh. They still talk about it even though it's been over 10 years.

Kirsten,

I'm so glad your kitties are safe and back home! When I was in CT, every night when I got home, I'd have to take a head count because my oldest, Mollie Rose, was famous for scooting past me in the dark of the night and out the door into the hallway. I had the same kind of bannisters you did, and lived on the second floor.

One night I got home as usual, closed the door and went to sleep. Around 2 a.m. I heard this cat yowling at the top of it's lungs. I got up thinking someone had left their cat outside of my building. When I opened the front door (there were hallways in both the back and front door) there stuts the divine Miss M with a look on her face like "I meant to do that. What the hell took you so long to let me in anyways???"

Hence the cat inventory.

Kirsten,

Be careful of the round doorknobs...Hallie knows how to open doors with round doorknobs AND latches. I found this out when she managed to get outsided overnight! Fortunately, she did not go far but she took a few years off my life!

Lives up to being a "naughty tortie!

By the way I'm new to PT.

We have a dead bolt lock on our back door (you have to turn it to get out, it's a good 5 inches above regular door knob height) and the front door has screen door which we keep locked at all times. I've never heard of cats opening doors that way.

Wow! That sure must have been scary to wake up and find your front door wide open and both cats gone. :eek: I'm so glad that you were able to find both of them and bring them back home again. Hopefully they've learned their lesson and won't do it again.:)
My Storm has also opened up doors before. He's also very tall and can reach the doornob. I always lock my front door even when I'm home. Good luck.:)

I'm so glad you got everyone in! How scary to find out that they got out!


Ashley

Glad your girls were found safe. Mine have never tried to open the apartment door. I have a deadbolt that I lock as soon as I come in.

I was happy to hear that you found them and that Luna did not get outside. I would have been terrified had mine gotten out.

Just to let you know that if you want to put in another door handle it shouldn't be hard. It all depends on how different the opening for current hadle is from an older style. I think that the hardest part would be getting the old handle out. However, actually changing to another handle is really very easy.:) A new handle in the US is only about $20 for a decent one.

It may also be that if she can't get out when it is locked she may just forget about it.

What a fright you must have got!! Glad the precious girlies are back safely.

Those are very steep steps. I don't blame Luna for being nervous of coming down. Very steep and a little slippy - nowhere for little cat claws to hang on!:)

I'm so glad you found them! How terrifying! Nawtee kitties.. *stern face*

My apartment has a deadbolt for a lock only and the door leads outside facing west. I have to always lock it because the wind can blow the door open and off Zam would race. :rolleyes:

She's no fun to catch outside, but I can catch her. Logan on the other hand, I'm afraid I'd never be able to get him back inside. :(

I think I'm going to install a little hook at the door which I can close from inside, that would be some additional security.

It's really been a huge shock to find the door open and my girls gone, and so much could have happened... :( I really think they had a guardian angel watching over them that moment!

Kirsten

My goodness....I would have been so scared and upset. I'm so glad you found your nawteekats and they are home, safe and sound.

Thank God my cats aren't all that smart in the door opening category. Half of them have a hard time figuring out they need to push the door to get in...not try to dig under the carpet to tunnel to the other side. :rolleyes:

LOL, Luna also tries to dig through doors, she just doesn't get it. :) But Lily is different! She's a tiny cat, but she has a lot of brain, I guess... Not always good to have an intelligent pet! :rolleyes:

Kirsten