My kitten was locked in the garage!

meow meow

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I had a meeting to go to tonight. I knew my husband and kids (4 and 6) would be in and out because it was a nice evening so I warned him to keep an eye on the cat.

I pull up at 8:45pm and hit the button for the garage door --- my 5 month old kitten is in the garage freaked out jumping at the door to the house and finally runs and hides somewhere behind the workbench. I quickly hit the button to shut him in and went in the front door.

So, I say to my husband, "why is the cat in the bleepidy bleepidy garage?" "He is? You must of let him out there." Impossible since I was in my car the whole time!

So, I go in the garage and call him. He comes running out at the sound of my voice. He is so happy to see me. I brought him inside and he was all over me.

This makes me so worried. I feel like a prisoner in my own home and like I can't trust anyone. The other day we had a baby-sitter and I told her the kids are not to go outside when we are not home for this reason. I am supposed to go away with some friends for four days in a couple month and I'm thinking of sending my cat to my mothers -- I just can't trust my husband and kids -- if the cat does get out they may not even realize it. My mother would be much better at keeping an eye on the door and she and my dad don't go out nearly as much as we do.

I do have him microchipped and I am toying with the idea of making him wear a collar with the microchip id and my name on it. I think cats don't like collars much though.
 

sarahp

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They do get used to collars. Make sure it's fairly firm the first couple of days - it's easier to get their paws/mouth into it if it's a bit loose, then loosen it to a better fit once he's used to it.

Our indoor kitties wear collars with their animal controls tags which has animal control's phone number as well as their ID number- you just never know!
 

misty8723

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Swanie got out into the garage shortly after we got him from the shelter. We come and go only through the garage since we got the cats, putting the garage door down before we open the house door. Anyway, we came home one night, and I went looking for Swanie. Couldn't find him anywhere, even rattling the treat bag didn't get him running. I was starting to get panicky, asked my husband, he didn't get into the garage is he? Husband said, he's not out there, we would have seen him. As I walked by the door to the garage, I heard MEOW! MEOW! MEOW! Opened the door and he came flying in. I was so happy to see him, he was happy to see me, but I was freaking that he might have found some antifreeze to get into (we have older cars that leak who knows what). I rubbed him all over, he thought I was petting him and loved it. Now we're super vigilant when we come and go.

It's bad though if your husband and kids aren't as committed to the cat's whereabouts as you are - I'm lucky hubby and I both feel the same way.

That's one of the downsides of keeping an indoor only cat, you can no longer come and go the way you used to, and you really have to train yourself to be watchful because they can be sneaky little buggers.
 

sarahp

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We're lucky in that we can take our kitty for walks oustside in the leash, and all she really wants to do is sit at our doorstep and watch the world go by. So she's always trying to get out when we get home, but she just sits on the doorstep and rolls around.

She sometimes plays with her mousey out there as well, and if her mousey falls off the doorstep, she jumps down, gets the mousey, and brings it back to the doorstep
And at least this way if she does manage to "escape", she knows how to get back home.
 

natalie_ca

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I think the problem with your husband and kids is that they probably view the cat as "just a cat" instead of a member of the family. I'm sure that if it was a toddler that they would be more careful and mindful.

Now how you get them to change their view about the cat? I had no idea. I consider my pets members of my family and treat them as such. However, I know some people that have a pet and it's just an "animal" to them. They care about it, but not like they would a person.
 
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