Escape Attempts?

Last night Pussington made a break for it, she bolted out of the house and went right under my car, where she hid. My boyfriend then decided to poke her with a stick to get her out, and she ran under his car, she then ran back and forth for about 5 minutes. Eventually we scared her out, and she ran under the step.

After around 15 minutes of chasing her as fast as I could I caught her. Any one got any suggestions on why she is doing this, or how to stop it?

 

A cat I used to have, Dorian, would sneak out all of the time. We lived in the middle of nowhere, so there wasn't any huge risk for him getting ran over. At first it terrified me because he had never really been outside, other than every once in a while when I'd take him out on a leash. No matter what I did he would continue to get out when someone opened the door and didn't think about where the cat was.

Eventually we gave up. He became an inside-outside cat. We'd let him out whenever he felt like it and he'd always come back about an hour later, waiting patiently by the door. If this is not an option for you (declawed cat, you live in an area where you feel unsafe letting the cat out, etc) I would suggest maybe taking her out on a leash and harness sometimes. Maybe she's equally curious and terrified of the outside world.

 

Is this the first time she has done it or does she do it regularly?

My cat will do it if the chance is there. The thing is, she HATES being outside. Once out there, she just cries and gets upset as though it's somehow *my* fault for letting her go out there, lol. I think she's just curious, though, or likes to take the opportunity.

 

That's strange. Sounds like your cat is playing hide-and-seek because it doesn't want to be caught. Not exactly what I would expect from a home cat. With stray cats, that's normal behavior. So how often do you let him out? Mine either go out on their own or go out with me. The big ones go in and out as they please. The small ones always make sure I am around before they would go out.

 

My cats are very docile, and very tame, so they would not last as outside cats, for example she tends to run into the middle of the street and lay down, and she is basically the same colour as the road .

I dont let them out very much, in the summer I let them outside on leashes to play while I am outside, and they tend to hide when I take them out.

I took her out a few weeks ago to play in the leaves because she was crying at the door. She often runs up to the door and circles you when you are leaving, but usually saying Pussington, No! will be enough to get her to back off.

I think she might just be curious, but it was so weird how she really did not want us to catch her! I have taken them out before, but I worry if me taking them out is just fueling her escape plan, I know I am not just paranoid, I have read online that Ragamuffin cats make awful outside cats because of their docile nature, she also likes to chase cars. We stay about 1 block from a major intersection so I worry she would die within an hour of being outside.

 

A thought just struck me.

Your cat's name is very like a Malay word. The Malay 'pusing' means 'turn'. Turn as in turn round and round. So if you are in Malaysia and you call your cat Pussington, the locals will think that you are adding an English twist to the word 'pusing'. Of course, those who understand both English and Malay will even be more amused because Pussington will sound like 'pusing' + 'turn' to them meaning, in effect, turn and turn.

 

I also have a cat like Jessi mentioned. She hates to go outside and is a shy feral kitten, but she will bolt out the door if no one is there watching. It's always a pain to get her to come back in too. We usually have to wet the flowers she hides in to get her to run back inside.