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Indoor Cat Escape Artist

1K views 4 replies 4 participants last post by  Aulora 
#1 ·
My 7 month old cat keeps escaping the house from small cracks in the door as we leave or come back inside. I've caught her each time a few minutes after she got out. She is a good climber and we've seen her jump 3 1/2 feet, so a baby gate doesn't seem effective (plus most are climbable). She does wear a bell collar but it's breakaway and she discards it when we aren't looking. I want to avoid a normal collar if possible. Thoughts?
 
#2 ·
Hi Aulora,

I had a door-dashing kitty too. Even after she went blind, she would take every opportunity to try to get out. From what you say, your kitty will always be lurking by the door when she sees that you're leaving, or when she hears you (or anyone) coming in. The only thing that will work (short of confining her somewhere every time you need to open the door, which doesn't seem feasible) is hypervigilance. I learned to always open the door just wide enough to stick my foot in the opening first, before opening the door all the way, whether I was leaving or entering. If you can train everyone in your house to always open the doors the same way - and I mean always - that should be effective. :)
 
#3 ·
I use a similar method as spirite with the foot in the door, but for a determined door dasher is may help if you walk backwards out the door rather than going forward.....this way if your door dasher looks like she's going to sprint, stomp your foot hard on the floor....that usually stops them from dashing. If she gets out and wanders away, I would put one of those electronic tracking devices on her collar (https://www.thetrackr.com/) so you can find her easily.
 
#4 ·
Okay, this isn't going to be the solution for everyone and some people might think it's mean, but one of my friends had such a bad door dasher and it was hard to catch her cat when she got out. When she walked into the house one day, she had a little bit of water in a glass and splashed her cat with it when she walked in. It took a couple more times, but now whether she's inside the house leaving, or outside coming in, her cat backs up when that door is opened.
 
#5 · (Edited by Moderator)
I think I'll go with catloveramiand get her a normal collar so she can't get it off. And maybe for both (just to be safe). My vet informed me that she doesn't believe in breakaway collars, since more often then not they get out of them. I'll try and get everyone in my house to walk backwards but the 2 doors have stairs right underneath them and my mother is an elderly women. I'm afraid she'll fall, so she won't be walking backwards (and my brother is stubborn and refuses to listen to me, so there's that too).
 
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