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The Outdoor Adventures of Frankie D. Cat

Chris and Frankie have both been increasingly annoying lately in their attempts to get one of us to let them outside. Frankie is the vocal one. He will make lots of noise while sitting and staring at the door. Chris is the sneaky one. Every time I go outside I check to make sure there is no cat around and then make a quick dash out the door. More often than you could imagine, before I get a chance to close the door, Chris is already outside.

At least I don’t have to worry too much about Chris running off and often I will let him stay out for a few minutes before I bring him in. He mostly just eats grass or lies on the driveway. If I leave him out too long he will start to wander off and then I know it is time to bring him in.

Frankie I have to worry about. If he escapes it is very difficult to catch him. He tends to travel far from home and I worry if I ever lose track of him he might not remember how to get home. So to allow Frankie to have some outside time and also to let him get used to the neighborhood, I have been trying to take him for a walk more often lately.

These walks are always an adventure. Granted, a good part of the time spent outside is Frankie standing around smelling bushes.

Some of the walk is a bit boring for me, as you can see from the video, but there is always some excitement, such as Frankie trying to run after a bunny or a lizard. On our last walk we had both of those plus a snake, which required great effort to keep him from catching.

One time we even encountered a big dog off his leash.

The camera just stopped recording at that point but everything turned out fine. The dog owner apologized and said the dog was best friends with a cat at home. Even so, I hope he keeps him on a leash from now on.

The main problem I have with taking Frankie out is that the more he goes out the more he wants to go out. At least, that used to be the main problem. A new, bigger problem appeared the other day.

On Friday Rose noticed what she thought was an eye booger on Frankie but when she removed it she discovered it was a flea. That led to DEFCON 5 in our house and we had to buy flea medication for all the cats, which I don’t like because it is unhealthy for them, but Rose thinks my all natural methods are a bit crazy at times and I knew I wouldn’t win this round with fleas in the house. We bought a six-pack of Advantage II for cats at PetSmart which was expensive, about $76 before tax. I then discovered it on Amazon for much less but we needed it right away.

Now Rose insists that Frankie and Chris never go out again. I don’t agree with that but for now Frankie is stuck inside. Chris has already been out this morning but only because he is better than Frankie at escaping.

Another Big Adventure For Frankie

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Rose and I came home a little later than usual on Tuesday evening. It was a bit colder than it had been recently and I forgot my jacket at work, plus I had to go to the bathroom, so I didn’t wait for Rose while she got the mail. I noticed the squirt bottle was not outside the door like it was supposed to be.

Since we bought that bottle, Frankie has been better about trying to run out the door. I try not to squirt him with it because I don’t want him to associate me with unpleasantness, but I will squirt it at the ground just so he will hear the sound and stay away. It has worked well lately. So well, in fact, that Frankie usually stays away from the door so the bottle is not even necessary. That is what I was hoping for when I opened the door but it was not to be.

I opened the door and held the bag I was carrying low to block any would be escape artists but a gold flash slipped under the bag and into the bushes next to the house. I looked to see who it was, hoping very much that it was Chris, but then I saw Frankie and yelled to Rose, “Frankie’s out! This is bad.”

We spent the next ten minutes trying to catch him without success. I kept trying to get on the other side of him to force him in the other direction but he was too fast and smart for me. We eventually lost sight of him and decided to go back to the house and regroup. I still had hope that he would tire and head back toward home. I fed the two cats that were not naughty that night, went to the bathroom, put on a jacket, grabbed a flashlight and a paper plate with some cat food, then Rose and I were back outside looking for the trouble maker.

We walked a little past where we last saw him but he was nowhere in sight. The last time he escaped I stood in one spot and waited for him to show himself so I thought that might work again. We walked back a little toward our house and stopped and waited. It was then Rose heard our next-door neighbor calling. She was standing at the edge of our property with Frankie in her arms. We hurried back because we knew Frankie didn’t like to be held and wouldn’t last long.

As expected, he struggled until he broke free and was loose again. He ran to the condos next to our property and hid under a vehicle there. I was able to coax him out with the cat food and slowly put my had out to “pet” Frankie while he was eating but he didn’t trust me and was off running again. This time he didn’t get far before our neighbor grabbed him and held him until Rose could pick him up and bring him home.

While I don’t exactly appreciate having to chase Frankie around at night in the cold, there was a positive side to this story. Frankie came back to the house on his own, which is a bit of a relief knowing that I can worry less about losing him.

If you haven’t read the previous “escape” stories, Check out:
Frankie’s Big Adventure
This and That
We’ve Created a Monster
Bad Cat Frankie

Frankie’s Big Adventure

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Thursday evening, after I got home from work, I prepared to cook pork chops on the grill. At our house, grilling has become such a chore because every time I go through the door Chris is right there trying to get out. Unfortunately, we had the meat since the weekend and it needed to be cooked before it went bad.

Before I even got close to the back door, Chris had suspected I was going outside and “followed” me from the front. I decided it wasn’t worth the hassle and let Chris out. I figured he wouldn’t annoy me about going out if he was out. Once out, he immediately started eating grass while I turned the grill on. I watched for a couple of minutes while Puck and Frankie became very jealous of what was going on. Frankie was standing on the little table near the grill when Puck jumped up alongside him and pushed him over with his body so he could see better what was going on.

I felt bad for the other two cats but, believe it or not, Chris has become the least bad cat when it comes to bringing him back inside. Puck will stay close but sprint away when I try to get him. Frankie, we learned from his first and last time outside, that he is eager to explore beyond our imaginary boundaries (see here). He went through the fence on the neighboring property and I thought I was going to lose him.

I brought Chris inside so Puck and Frankie wouldn’t feel deprived and proceeded to go in and out while I cooked our dinner. When it was just about ready I went inside, grabbed a plate and then went out the door to shut the grill off and bring our dinner inside.

Just then Frankie slipped past me and out the door. I put the plate down and tried to get him but he moved away from me. I didn’t have my phone on me so I had to decide to pursue him or let Rose know what happened so she could help. I didn’t want to burden her, because she stayed home sick with bronchitis that day, but I decided I would need help, so I quickly yelled through the back door and then went back out to try to catch Frankie.

He was still close when I saw him run at full speed for the fence and then walk through it. He then walked back through it and then again, as if he was taunting me. I opened the gate that separates the back yard from the front yard. Fortunately it was unlocked, unlike the last time he did this. It was then a long walk to the end of the fence and then back again on the other side. I found him but he was not letting me get close and wound up back on our side of the fence and I had to make the long walk back around the fence. He then went back through the fence to the other property and I could see he was very interested in the water. I worried he might end up in the water so I quickly went around the fence again.

By the time I got back around he was on top of the fence and jumped back to our yard, this time in the front yard. I went back around again and Frankie went back through the fence and then again to our back yard. At this point I felt like a sheep herder and eventually got him close to our back door. I took that opportunity to shut the grill off and save our dinner.

Frankie then got past me again and crossed over into the other property. Again, back around only to find him on top of the fence again. He jumped back down to the front yard and I went around to catch him before he started wandering the neighborhood. I tried to corner Frankie but he slipped past me to the front yard where he became interested in the bottom of a truck. I tried to coax him out but he just went to the other side. Eventually he came out and ended up close to our front door. I took that opportunity to knock and say “Hey, I need help!”

Frankie then started to head the other way toward the marina. I tried to get around him to keep him on our property. I did not want him to go on the marina property and I especially wanted to keep him away from the busy road just past the marina. Fortunately he turned back just in time. He then headed south again, past our front door as Rose was coming out to help.

He quickly ran to the edge of our property and onto the next. He seemed to be oblivious to us as many small birds grabbed his attention. We tried a couple of times to grab him while he was distracted but came up empty-handed. We might have tried harder but if we missed and scared him there would be no hope.

He ran into the next yard and then across the street. It was starting to get dark and I was afraid we were going to lose him. He crossed the street again and ran into the next yard. He kept getting farther from home. I wondered at that point how far a cat’s territory stretches. I was hoping we were at the edge. He eventually ended up close to a house and I was hoping to corner him there. I tried to get him but he ran the other way, right into Rose’s hands, to end his big adventure.

Fortunately Rose was there to help or I don’t know what would have happened. I do know that Frankie will not be going out again any time soon.