When Hubert’s family adopted him from a local shelter three months ago, they could tell right away that he was full of personality and spunk.
“We always describe his personality as a grumpy old man who secretly loves and needs attention,” Laci Reamer, Hubert’s mom, told The Dodo.
The 8-year-old cat settled into his new home right away — and made it known from the very beginning that he’s absolutely obsessed with trying to go outside.
Despite the fact that the shelter said he’d always been an indoor cat, Hubert has an intense fascination with the great outdoors, and even though he loves his new comfy life and his family so much, that hasn’t stopped him from trying to escape and go play outside every chance he gets.
“He tries to escape on the daily,” Reamer said. “He succeeded one time in his escape. We didn’t know until he started walking up the sidewalk! How can you miss a 31-pound cat escaping through your legs at the door? Yes, you read that right! He’s 31 pounds. He’s chunky, but spunky (he is on a diet).”
It got to the point where every single time someone new came to the door, Hubert would try and convince them that he was allowed to go outside — and so finally, his family had to put up a sign.
“We made the sign because he will truly give anyone that look with those big eyes like, ‘Please help me. I have things to see and do out there. If you just open that door, I’ll slide right by you,’” Reamer said. “He’s very good at begging, so we wanted to make people aware. We live on a busy street and don’t want him to get hurt!”
So far, the sign has worked wonders at keeping Hubert safely inside, and as a bonus, everyone who sees it gets a huge kick out of it.
“We get A LOT of comments on it,” Reamer said. “The UPS driver even knocked on our door to just tell us how much he loved it and made him laugh.”
Thanks to the sign, Hubert’s extensive escape plans are no longer successful — but to help with his intense love of going outside, his family is working on a fun surprise that will allow him to explore in a much more supervised way.
“We just ordered him a harness and leash to start his grand outdoor adventures,” Reamer said. “Fingers crossed that will go well!”
Original post here.