What a shock!! The girls had escaped tonight!

[Kirsten]

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

[BastetsMum]

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!

[bisi.cat]

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...

[Kirsten]

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

[catcrazylady]

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!!!

[Kirsten]

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:



These are the stairs up to the attic where I found Luna this morning, unable to come down:


A view down to the first level and the ground level, where I found Lily:


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!


Kirsten

[jenluckenbach]

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??!!??

[Kirsten]

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

[catnapper]

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.

[Randi]

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

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.

[kimlovescats]

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!!!???
That's not safe for YOU either!!! Now you be more careful, and kitties you stay out of mischief!!!

(((Hugs to you all)))

[Kirsten]

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

[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

[Kirsten]

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

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?

Kirsten

[jazzcat]

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.