Squeakers' Big Adventure

Exploring beyond the backyard

This was written on Oct 30, before we departed for Europe and prior to taking Squeakers to her to her first foster home.

I’m convinced Squeakers can understand us. I talk to her like she’s human and the family laughs at me. Whatever! If I’m right, then she knows we’ve been making plans to leave and she isn’t coming with us. Now, it’s possible what happened today was just a coincidence, but I’ll let you be the judge. ;)

See, we’ve been giving Squeakers lots of outside time lately. The weather is cooler and we’re typically home, so it’s easy to let her in and out. For the most part she stays in the backyard. I mean, she's legitimately a fraidy cat; the smallest noises make her jump. Occasionally she’s tried wandering onto the driveway or into the front yard from the far side of the house, but it’s rare and we usually call her name and she comes back.

Well, this morning she was meowing like crazy; she clearly wanted outside. So we let her out. And then she wanted back in; she’s been going in-and-out every five minutes and it was driving us crazy, so C closed her outside in hopes she’d go explore and leave us alone for a bit. Well, she called our bluff. She made her way up to the pool and then over to the edge of the yard and the next thing we knew she had slipped under the fence into the yard behind us and then moseyed over to the construction zone next door. Ruh roh.

We tried calling her back and she ignored us. Friends, she had discovered true freedom and she had no interest in giving it up. I mean, would you? Perhaps she knew this was her chance to make a run for it — or to at least have one last hurrah. For awhile we could see her on my phone via her Apple AirTag, but eventually she went offline. And that’s when I really learned how AirTags work; they only ping if they’re within range of another iPhone, and there were no iPhones where she headed. Oh boy. I knew S was going to lose her marbles when she woke up and discovered her beloved cat had gone rogue two days before her scheduled relocation that we had moved mountains to arrange. I mean, you can’t make this up.

C was convinced this was a good thing; Squeakers is meant to go have outdoor adventures like his cats did growing up. He was excited for her. I agreed in theory, but given the timing of this “field trip,” I had reservations. N was somewhat indifferent. We’d go out every so often and call for Squeakers, but no luck. At one point she popped back up on my phone via the AirTag, so we knew she hadn’t strayed too far, but then she disappeared again. A couple of hours went by like this.

And then S woke up. C made me deliver the news, and S’s wrath reined down on all of us. She was angry at us for letting Squeakers out, saying we lost her. I mean, technically Squeakers wasn’t lost and we were pretty sure she could find her way home when she was ready, and N said this plainly. But goodness, gracious sakes alive S took out her emotion on us!

Eventually I got tired of waiting to see what would happen and headed out to run errands. Every so often I’d check my phone to see if Squeakers had popped up again via her AirTag. She had, but then she’d disappear again. While I was on my way home C called and I asked him if there were any updates: Squeakers had come home! HALLELUJAH. Apparently he, N, and C had all been in the backyard calling to her, but Squeakers was staunchly refusing to acquiesce, so they’d come back inside. But about five minutes later she was pawing at the door, covered in dirt. They had to grab the grooming brush to work some of it out before they’d let her in.

When I got home shortly thereafter she was basking in a sunny spot, clearly exhausted from her big adventure. All told, she was probably out for 5+ hours. That may not sound like much, but typically she’s only out for 1-2 hours and doesn’t stray too far. I think she senses that change is coming; she’s a smart cookie. And while she won’t be able to go out for the first month, once she gets settled at her foster home and familiar with the inside, she’ll have access to the outdoors and will be able to come and go freely through a cat door. I think she’s going to be in seventh heaven.