I brought Orion home a few months ago when he was only around 6-7 weeks old. I wanted my 4 year old cat Sage to have a friend, since moving to an apartment made me re-home my sweet pup due to lack of space (a story for another time). However, Orion got downright violent with Sage as he got older. I got him neutered, as I would have anyway, and gave it some more time hoping he would mellow out and be nicer to Sage. But he was never nicer. I was really trying to wait and stick it out, but as the weeks passed, Sage became more and more injured. Bloody, limping, hiding and sleeping all the time… just miserable. So I started advertising Orion for a new home.

Meanwhile, he started dashing out the door nearly every time it was opened. So I put up this gate around our patio, and it stopped him for a while. But he is a smart cat, and he waited until just the right moment, dashed out the door, and ran quickly around the gate. He saw the weakness and went for it. That happened Wednesday night. A short while later I heard my doorbell and answered the door to a kind gentleman who was wondering if this cat was ours. Orion ran back inside, and I confirmed he was ours and he’d been dashing recently, and thanked the guy for letting me know he was there.

But a little while later, Orion dashed again. And when he does that, he literally runs off quickly. I am unable and unwilling to chase him. So I gave up for the night, knowing the low was only going to be 40F overnight. I knew he’d be okay.

I feel it needs noted at this point that when Felix and I go to bed, the bedroom door is closed and a box fan is on high to drown out any weird noises. It helps us both sleep. For this reason I have security cameras up in case I miss something while I can’t hear (or while I’m away).

I woke up Thursday morning around 9:30 AM and had 2 more doorbell rings around midnight, and a text from my apartment manager to give him a call. I texted him back and said I’d call when I could, because Felix was still asleep next to me and I didn’t want to wake him. About an hour later, Felix was still asleep, but I heard a very loud thumping somewhere in the building. So I got up to investigate. I found that it was a police officer pounding on the door that leads to the apartment building hall. So rather than open that door, I went to the sliding door where I normally go in and out, opened the door, and asked what was going on. (Full video detail below)

The neighbor had called the police early in the morning, and they called the apartment manager at 7:30 AM. He said he’d take care of it, and we connected through text when I woke up. The neighbor had attempted to enter my apartment, to find my sliding door was locked (as it always is). The apartment manager apparently wasn’t acting quickly enough for the neighbor’s liking, so they called the police again. The police arrived, rang the doorbell, knocked, and also attempted to enter only to find the door was locked. They attempted to look in all the windows, and then pounded on the door, which is what I heard.

The police were told by this neighbor that I hadn’t been seen for several days and our cat was left outside, so the police were just doing a wellness check. I told him I’d talked to people the night before and that I had been texting my apartment manager. They asked about the cat, and said the neighbor wanted to return it. I gladly accepted…. but then the neighbor’s roommate came around the corner and said “what, no animal abandonment charges then?” I said the cat had been dashing and I wasn’t going to chase him around. The roommate replied with “well honestly then you shouldn’t have a cat.” I said you want him, keep him. The roommate then went on to try to say “I hope you take better care of your other pets and your kid..” and was abruptly cut off by the police officers.

***Video montage below of all the doorbell cam footage I got, as there’s a lot that was said and done that I wasn’t even aware of until I went through it all***

And this is all because Orion dashed out past me on a chilly night, and then I went to bed. He was not going to die. He was not going to freeze. He would have come back in when I started my day, I’m certain. And then hopefully he would have learned that being outside is not as fun as he thought. Sage did that once – dashed and stayed out all night. And she’s never tried it again. But these meddling neighbors just wouldn’t let that happen.

As a follow up, I did take Orion’s vet records from his neuter and vaccinations, and posted them on the building bulletin board with a note saying they belong to the orange kitten that was taken. But those neighbors walk hard up and down the stairs, and I was able to catch the mouthy roommate out in the hall. They were taking the vet records when I came up behind them (and kept a distance) and said I’m glad they’re taking them. We ended up chatting for a few minutes, and we both spoke from our own experiences, and I assured them Orion was well cared for, but just too speedy for me and my bum hip. They apologized several times, and I feel like we had come to an understanding when we parted ways. They were taking Orion to their dad’s, and I said if it didn’t work out, I’d help find him a new home again.

So all of that commotion for nothing, really. What a way to start my Thursday!