Parenting

A Renegade Shelter Cat Breaks His Friends Out Of Their Cages Every Night

by Julie Scagell
Updated: 
Originally Published: 
Instagram/Friends for Life shelter

Quilty the Escape Cat will not be contained by your silly cages

An animal shelter in Houston, Texas is on a mission — to find a forever home for one of their residents, a rambunctious cat named Quilty who is driving shelter employees crazy. Quilty is a six-year-old cat who enjoys breaking out of his enclosure — multiple times a day — presumably for his own shits and giggles. Not only does he break himself out but Quilty also breaks the other cats out of their rooms.

The Friends for Life animal shelter posted about Quilty’s shenanigans on their Facebook page last month, letting everyone know he’s available for adoption — immediately. “Please. Come meet him. And take him home. Please…Quilty will not be contained. And he has no shame,” the organization wrote. “Quilty loves to let cats out of the senior room. Repeatedly. Several times a day.”

The shelter wrote that the furry escape artist breaks free so often, it’s become a sort of challenge to see if they can contain him. (Hint: Quilty will not be contained.)

“We have since Quilty-proofed the cat room,” their post continued, “while he took a brief hiatus in the lobby. His roommates missed him while he was banished to the lobby. They enjoyed their nighttime escapades around the shelter. The staff, however, did not miss the morning cat wrangling, so we’ll just have to agree to disagree there.”

Apparently, this isn’t Quilty’s first brush with the law. He also let his dog siblings out when he lived with him in his previous home, which may be a clue as to why poor Quilty is looking for a new forever home.

Once news of the feline’s antics spread, people demanded to be kept in-the-know on his whereabouts and how he was coming along in his escape plan. The shelter obliged, keeping followers abreast on all Quilty news:

“Update: Quilty’s review with the parole board was denied, so he released himself of his own recognizance today,” the shelter joked on Facebook on Halloween. “He felt that confinement had nothing more to offer him. He has been returned to solitary.” Then another update: “To reacclimate to the room (and all his roommates), Quilty had to go into the integration kennel in the room (we do this with all the cats when they join the room)…THE DISPLEASURE! He is being a spicy a-hole now because he is, once again, contained…” You can’t really fault him for that.

As his popularity soared, the shelter even began selling Quilty merch like shirts branded with the hashtag #FreeQuilty, and started an Instagram account for him, where he is described as a “door ninja” and “freedom fighter.” He is clearly displeased to be contained, even in hug form.

Though it may be tempting, don’t go filling out the adoption paperwork quite yet. The shelter updated the cat’s online profile recently saying that Sir Quilty is on a one-week trial period with a potential adopter, and it sounds like things are going swimmingly. “He hasn’t shown any slickness at all yet; he is the most loving and affectionate cat I have ever met!” his potential human told the shelter. Here’s hoping Quilty lives in a home free of the confines of doors, windows, and anything that keeps him from living his best life.

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