# "Indoor" house cats that escape: what do they do while away? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [February 3, 2010, 3:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/indoor-house-cats-that-escape-what-do-they-do-while-away/527530 "2010-02-03T15:47:38Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Shakespearo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ed8c4c/32.png) [@Shakespearo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shakespearo)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2010, 3:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/indoor-house-cats-that-escape-what-do-they-do-while-away/527530/1 "2010-02-03T15:47:38Z")
I have 6 neutered/spayed house cats, and over the years 3 of them have escaped the house, and been outside for several days, eventually realizing that there are no litter boxes, cat treats, or controlled weather in the wild, and come back begging, scratching the door and mewing. One kitty escaped and came back after a week! Now, I don’t THINK they are out fucking when they do this, and if they are good for them, but they cant make kittens (and all my cats are properly vaccinated). A lot of times they hide under the porch, but one cat I saw a half a block away and she ran away when she saw me. What do they do all this time? They cant be hiding. And how far will they wander? How do they know how to get back home? Are they hunting? Fighting other cats? Sleeping? Or is there some secret kitty cat society somewhere in a cave, where all the escaped cats meet, party, and plot the destruction of the human race? ---
**Author:** ![filling\_pages](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/b9bd4f/32.png) [@filling\_pages](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/filling_pages)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2010, 4:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/indoor-house-cats-that-escape-what-do-they-do-while-away/527530/2 "2010-02-03T16:10:37Z")
It’s not a perfect answer, but for a start you can check out [the web site of this guy](http://www.mr-lee-catcam.de/index.htm) who strapped a camera to his free roaming cat. ---
**Author:** ![Omar\_Little](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/omar_little/32/269_2.png) [@Omar\_Little](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omar_Little)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2010, 5:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/indoor-house-cats-that-escape-what-do-they-do-while-away/527530/3 "2010-02-03T17:19:29Z")
They look for other cats. ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2010, 5:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/indoor-house-cats-that-escape-what-do-they-do-while-away/527530/4 "2010-02-03T17:26:48Z")
I got a good laugh imaging the web cam images if the cat was getting screwed. Camera points forward, so all you’d see is this weird up/down movement. 😃 > [@filling\_pages](#): > > It’s not a perfect answer, but for a start you can check out [the web site of this guy](http://www.mr-lee-catcam.de/index.htm) who strapped a camera to his free roaming cat. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2010, 8:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/indoor-house-cats-that-escape-what-do-they-do-while-away/527530/5 "2010-02-03T20:05:21Z")
Probably mostly sleeping, exploring, and hunting, in that order. Think of it as a kitty camp-out. Fighting is also not out of the question, but it’ll depend on the personality of the cat: Some are submissive enough that they’ll always back down from a fight, and some are dominant enough that everything else backs down from them. ---
**Author:** ![Markxxx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5daacb/32.png) [@Markxxx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Markxxx)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2010, 8:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/indoor-house-cats-that-escape-what-do-they-do-while-away/527530/6 "2010-02-03T20:10:42Z")
I had an indoor outdoor cat and as soon as it was dusk she’d ask to go out. From what I could tell she spent the next 7 or 8 hours hiding in bushes. Obviously this was fun to the cat, 'cause she did it every day, until Winter came then she wouldn’t step foot outside the house till it warmed up. I guess what is amusement to a cat is ridiculous to us 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![The\_Second\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bbe5ce/32.png) [@The\_Second\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Second_Stone)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2010, 8:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/indoor-house-cats-that-escape-what-do-they-do-while-away/527530/7 "2010-02-03T20:34:58Z")
They hang out at the local convenience store hoping to get a feral cat to buy them cigs and beer. They come home for food and de lousing. ---
**Author:** ![WOOKINPANUB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wookinpanub/32/132_2.png) [@WOOKINPANUB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WOOKINPANUB)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2010, 8:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/indoor-house-cats-that-escape-what-do-they-do-while-away/527530/8 "2010-02-03T20:35:08Z")
I think they run around smelling everything they can possibly get their little snoots on. The funny thing is, on the few occasions that my spoiled cat has gotten out, the first thing he’s done once he returned is to use the litter box. What a pussy! ---
**Author:** ![KneadToKnow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kneadtoknow/32/3999_2.png) [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2010, 8:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/indoor-house-cats-that-escape-what-do-they-do-while-away/527530/9 "2010-02-03T20:39:42Z")
_Fluffy Bueller’s Day Off_ ---
**Author:** ![The\_Second\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bbe5ce/32.png) [@The\_Second\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Second_Stone)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2010, 8:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/indoor-house-cats-that-escape-what-do-they-do-while-away/527530/10 "2010-02-03T20:51:41Z")
> [@WOOKINPANUB](#): > > I think they run around smelling everything they can possibly get their little snoots on. > > The funny thing is, on the few occasions that my spoiled cat has gotten out, the first thing he’s done once he returned is to use the litter box. What a pussy! As prissy as this may seem to you and I, cats don’t crap in the open when they are feral either. It is harder to track them this way. For a small feline, that matters. Dogs, which face far fewer predators due to pack behavior, will poop anywhere unless trained. ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2010, 8:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/indoor-house-cats-that-escape-what-do-they-do-while-away/527530/11 "2010-02-03T20:52:07Z")
Several years ago my elderly cat got out, and I didn’t get him back for 18 days. He was finally found over a mile from home, very frail and severely malnourished and dehydrated. But other than that he wasn’t harmed, and was back to normal in a few weeks. He lived to be 20. I assume he spent the time sleeping, when he wasn’t (unsuccessfully) looking for food and water. ---
**Author:** ![lieu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c2a13f/32.png) [@lieu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lieu)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2010, 9:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/indoor-house-cats-that-escape-what-do-they-do-while-away/527530/12 "2010-02-03T21:00:46Z")
Our indoor-only rescue cat got out once. We looked in a several block area for a couple of days calling to her all the time. Finally, my wife found her in the back corner of the yard tucked in a very small space under a fan palm facing away from the house and toward a wooden fence, eyes shut, not moving or responding to calls. She was competely freaked out. I have no idea what happened ‘outside’ but she was doing her best to shut it all out.