Abi cat is not allowed outside, in part so she does not get ticks or fleas or get hurt by any of the dangerous things in the world outside our house, but also because, since Abiko still has all her claws, she could climb up the fence surrounding the back yard (or a tree in the yard...) and escape / get lost and become a lost cat.... Abiko likes looking at the outside through the screen door.   21 May 2005: I noticed I had accidentally left the screen door ajar (open a few inches). I didn't know how long it had been that way. Immediately, I started looking for the cats, in case either or both had got out. I found Misu on the bed upstairs. But I could not find Abiko anywhere. I looked in the back yard but could not find her. I was getting really worried. Then I looked inside again, and when I returned to the back door, I found Abi at the door, wanting (or at least willing) to come in. I opened the door and Abi sauntered in. What a relief! Abi immediately went to the litterbox, so the reason she came back may have been that she doesn't know anywhere else to go to the toilet than in our litterbox? But, whatever the reason, she was safely back inside. (And this negligence on my part on the day I had earlier taken the cats for their annual checkup at the vet....)   06(?) June 2006: The kitchen of the new house has a big door opening to the back where a terraced hill rises. I came home from work and opened the door to get some air, and started working on the computer. About a half hour later, I somehow noticed that the screen was not shut: the doorway was open to the outside! I immediately started worrying about the cats having escaped. I soon saw Abiko half-way up the terraced hill, and I went out the door and called her: "Abiko!" Fortunately, even though it looked to me like she was enjoying being out in nature, she slowly walked down the hill and straight back into the house, whereupon I shut the screen. Then I started looking for Misu. Fortunately, Misu had not got out but was under the bed in one of the bedrooms upstairs. I was so relieved that Misu had not got out, and that Abiko had not wandered far and had come back in so cooperatively as soon as I called her. [Just a few days before, 22 May 2006, while we were moving out of our old house, I had feared Misu had got out while the doors were open for the movers, but she had not: Read story.]   Saturday, 10 June 2006: I take the cats for their annual vet visit and, on leaving the veterinary clinic after their checkup, I forget my sweater with my cellphone in the pocket -- fortunately they have it when I call the office on Monday: Read story.   [ Bless your pet! ] Learn  more about Abiko (and why I refer to her as: "PTSD kitty").   See  Abiko's "mentor", Jethra cat, looking in same screen door Abiko is here looking out.   http://www.cloud9.net/~bradmcc/GO/AbiDoor.html Copyright © 2004 Brad McCormick, Ed.D. bradmcc@cloud9.net (2008-04-05 ISO 8601) 05 April 2008CE v01.13