In my six month update, I mentioned one of my worst fears: that one of my roommates’ cats will jump the gate and encounter the dogs. Well, it’s happened. Twice.
A quick background for new readers: in January, I moved in with roommates. Roommates who have cats. I have two dogs who are known cat chasers, at least when we’re outside. The cats and dogs are kept separate thanks to a baby gate.
I wasn’t home for the first gate jumping experience, but here’s the story: Kachiko hopped the gate and wandered into the office, looking for roommate M., her beloved mommy-man. As soon as the dogs spotted her, they gave chase. She climbed up into the office closet and M. was able to wrangle the dogs in my bedroom. Kachiko was returned to the master bedroom (behind the gate) safely.
I had a front row seat for the second gate jumping extravaganza… though it happened so fast it’s going to sound crazy. I was in the office; my dogs Moose and Lally were laying on their dog beds. They do the hard work of napping while I’m tapping away at the keyboard.
Big grey kitty Shiro came walking down the hall. Or at least, he must have walked down the hall, because suddenly he was in the room. For a blink, he was at my side. I grabbed Moose’s collar while roommate M. grabbed Lally. Then, suddenly, Shiro was in the middle of the room. Then, another blink, and he was down the hall. I’m pretty sure he teleported… that’s how fast he was moving!
To add insult to injury, Shiro tried to go back through the baby gate and got stuck!
No dogs, cats, or people were injured in either incident, but it’s got me worried. The cats are getting brave enough to hop the gate and come looking for their people, but the dogs aren’t getting any less jerky. Hopefully, the kitties can move quickly enough to get to safety if they do hop the gate again! But since the two incidents, we’ve been more diligent about keeping the master bedroom door closed — removing the gate temptation entirely for the kitties.