Life With Cats
Chapter Eleventy-One: Life with Becker
Becker has always been exit-seeking. Oh, he's better than he used to be, definitely. But whenever he sees an open door, he has to escape. Sometimes we notice, sometimes we don't. When we lived in our old apartment, he got out and walked into the apartment of another tenant. She called us, we got him back, life went on, but a pattern was set. When we lived in the townhouse, he escaped all the time. Before he got diagnosed with FIP, we would even toss him out when he got annoying.
The FIP diagnoses meant that we couldn't do that anymore, so we got vigilant again. Becker wasn't let out, and when he escaped, we ran after him until he tired and got caught. Our condo makes things easy, since we enter and exit the house mostly through the garage. So, even if he gets out into the garage, he doesn't get out.
I wasn't thinking about any of this last night. Becker hasn't escaped in months, and more recently he hasn't been feeling well, so he wasn't hovering next to the door, either. I fed them dinner before we went out shopping, and when we returned I didn't think anything of the fact that I didn't see him. Like I said, he hadn't been feeling well, and had taken to curling up under the covers on my bed and sleeping there.
If ever I needed a sign that Becker was feeling better, it was this. I went down to my room to go to bed, stopping to pee. And while I was in the bathroom, I heard a distant muffled yowl. I yowled back, he yowled again, and then it hit me.
Becker was in the garage. Becker had been locked in the garage for hours. I let him in the house, and he was cold and shivering and excited to be back with me. He slept on my head, and now that I'm up, he's sleeping on my legs.
Did he learn a lesson? Haha, never. Though it might be a while before he decides to escape again.
Becker has always been exit-seeking. Oh, he's better than he used to be, definitely. But whenever he sees an open door, he has to escape. Sometimes we notice, sometimes we don't. When we lived in our old apartment, he got out and walked into the apartment of another tenant. She called us, we got him back, life went on, but a pattern was set. When we lived in the townhouse, he escaped all the time. Before he got diagnosed with FIP, we would even toss him out when he got annoying.
The FIP diagnoses meant that we couldn't do that anymore, so we got vigilant again. Becker wasn't let out, and when he escaped, we ran after him until he tired and got caught. Our condo makes things easy, since we enter and exit the house mostly through the garage. So, even if he gets out into the garage, he doesn't get out.
I wasn't thinking about any of this last night. Becker hasn't escaped in months, and more recently he hasn't been feeling well, so he wasn't hovering next to the door, either. I fed them dinner before we went out shopping, and when we returned I didn't think anything of the fact that I didn't see him. Like I said, he hadn't been feeling well, and had taken to curling up under the covers on my bed and sleeping there.
If ever I needed a sign that Becker was feeling better, it was this. I went down to my room to go to bed, stopping to pee. And while I was in the bathroom, I heard a distant muffled yowl. I yowled back, he yowled again, and then it hit me.
Becker was in the garage. Becker had been locked in the garage for hours. I let him in the house, and he was cold and shivering and excited to be back with me. He slept on my head, and now that I'm up, he's sleeping on my legs.
Did he learn a lesson? Haha, never. Though it might be a while before he decides to escape again.