House Cat Escapes And Spends The Night Outside -- (Animal Story 22)

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I live on the second floor of a town house. When my neighbours gave me two cats - brother and sister - as a present, it was clear that they would be house bound - or rather flat bound. I didn’t see myself walking the 40 steps up and down in order to let them in and out of the house. They have the living room, the corridor, the kitchen, the bathroom and the balcony with the rain pipes on either side as their territory. Yet, they’re young and curious and, just like human beings, more interested in the things they can’t have than in the things they have. Yesterday it so happened that Lilly, the female cat, dashed out of the flat when I opened the door. I have to open the door every now and then as I am not slim enough to enter and exit through the keyhole! I didn’t notice it at once, only when I went back in, I realized that Lilly wasn’t there. I asked her brother Willy if he could tell me where she was, but he kept shtum. The door to the attic which is beside the door to my flat was closed, so Lilly couldn’t be up there. I called my neighbours downstairs to have a look in the basement whose door is often not closed properly. They did so and also went into the garden behind the house, whistled and called the cat’s name, but it was to no avail. It was already getting dark. I saw no sense in walking round the block calling the cat’s name. If it wanted to escape, it would do so and I could do nothing about it. I thought of writing posters in the morning and copying the photo of a British Shorthair from the internet which I could stick at fences and lampposts. Then I went to bed thinking how a spoilt house cat would survive alone in the wide, wild world. Of course, it was also possible that it would find new owners. Cats do that occasionally. They are not as faithful to their humans as dogs. When I woke up the next morning and went to the bathroom, I found Lilly sitting in the corridor looking sleepily at me with eyes half open. I was dumbfounded and flabbergasted! Had I had a nightmare? Or had I become crazy? I called my neighbours from downstairs to tell them about this extraordinary occurrence. They assured me that I was as normal or crazy as always and explained that when they had let their dogs go into the garden early in the morning, they had found Lilly huddled in the gazebo, taken her into the house and up the stairs. The keys to my flat are always in the lock on the outside. They had opened the door quietly and shoved the cat inside. Hurrah! Unfortunately, it doesn’t make sense to have a serious conversation with a cat and scold it. A cat understands nothing. I’m sure Lilly has already forgotten the night outside and will escape another time should ever the opportunity present itself again. As we could detect a limp in one of the hind legs, one daughter of the family downstairs took the cat to the vet and had it examined. He gave her a shot against possible pains but said that the leg would heal without him having to do anything further. The adventure cost 150 Euro / 129 GBP / $177. ----- The photo is from the net. My cat Lily resembles this cat. Photo: Tiermodellagentur ====== If you're interested in more animal stories, click on the green box above the title.