Cat escapes his home, insteantly regrets it, and attempts to break back into the house in the silliest way: 'The risk I took was calculated, but man, am I bad at math'

Author image for Mariel Ruvinsky
Mariel Ruvinsky • Writer and Editor
Oct 12, 2026 1:30 PM EDT

All cats seem to desire to see the outside world, but not all cats know what to do with the world once they have seen it. 

This is something that I know from purrsonal experience. Cats have an unyielding fascination with the outside world. Yes, all cats. Not every cat tries to escape the house. Not every cat tries to become a hallway kitty at every opportunity. Cough, talking about you, Mia. That's my cat, if you didn't know yet. But all cats sit in front of the window for hours at a time. Maybe some of them like it for the birdwatching, while others like looking at the rain. Maybe some of them are fascinated with the sounds, while others are with the lights or the other people or animals outside. But they all do it. Because they are all fascinated. 

And yet, these same cats are also spoiled as heck. We know it, but they… don't. They have no idea what the world outside is actually like. They don't understand that it is not full of free food and fluffy blankets. Our houses are all they know, and our houses have all of these things. The cat in today's story proves exactly this. His attempted escape, for once, was successful. But before his pawrents could start worrying about him being gone, before they even noticed he was gone, they found him again. Attempting to break into the same house that he escaped from. And as is the job of the internet, the first thing that people did when they saw this now iconic image is meme the heck out of it. 

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  • 01

    "My parents’ cat escaped and they sent me this pic of her trying to get back into the house"

    Cheezburger Image 10669682944
    via u/persimmonsareawesome
  • 02
    Col_fuzzybottoms
    via Col_fuzzybottoms

  • This is a face of regret if we have ever seen one. Goodness, house cats are so overconfident. They live their lives in such a spoiled way, getting everything that they want if they complain long enough, that they really do believe they can conquer the world. My chonky house cat, who has never been let outside, who screams her head off every time I put her in her carrier to go to the vet - this cat still tries to escape into the hallway every time the apartment door opens. You would think that she's not the most spoiled cat in the world, but she is. And the funniest thing? If she ever actually manages to get past me and close to the door, she looks up at me, confused about what the heck she is supposed to do now. Come back in, child, you are not ready to face this world. 

  • 03
    Atty_for_hire Hooman! I have made a grave error!
    via Atty_for_hire
  • 04
    rmay14444 I've made a huge mistake.G
    via rmay14444
  • 05
    luanibb "I won't do it again, I swear, let me in."D:③CH_
    via luanibb
  • 06
    PsyShoXX The risk I took was calculated, but man, am I bad at math.
    via u/persimmonsareawesome
  • 07
    MassivePersonality61 LET ME NNNNNNNNNNNNNNNN
    via MassivePersonality61
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    Lumpy_Link_1569 GIF
    via Lumpy_Link_1569

  • No, we love that the internet's first response in situations like this is: a - to meme the heck out of the cat. And b - to share similar pictures. It's not just this one. There is a list. You just need to scroll a little further. If you thought the original cat was funny, hold on tight, because there are some strong contenders in here. 

  • 09
    jkelly161 I have one just like that Imao
    via jkelly161
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    Cheezburger Image 10669682176
    via jkelly161
  • 11
    The_Spyre My girl Egypt was outside and this was her reaction when a large stray Tomcat came looking for her food.
    via The_Spyre
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    Cheezburger Image 10669682432
    via The_Spyre
  • 13
    Sightedburrito 1
    via Sightedburrito
  • 14
    Moist Baseball1341 Sometimes I umm and then I uhh
    via Moist_Baseball1341
  • 15
    crunchsaffron9 Lol, I have a similar photo of my cat being a dingus trying to escape
    via crunchsaffron9
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    Cheezburger Image 10669683968
    via crunchsaffron9
  • 17
    aaslipperygypsy Lazarus trying to escape the house.
    via aaslipperygypsy
  • 18
    MonsieurReynard So this is a true story about how a long ago girlfriend and I acquired a wonderful orange boy. He was a local feral who hung out at our place where we already had a few cats in the house. Of course we had taken to feeding him. But he also disappeared a lot and seemed to be just fine on his own. (This was a warm southern climate.)
    via MonsieurReynard
  • 19
    But naturally, he grew on us, and I guess us on him and he started coming around quite a bit, it was pretty clear where this was headed. Then came a week when my girlfriend and I had to take off in the car for a long vacation.
    via MonsieurReynard
  • 20
    We had a cat sitter coming to the house to feed our spoiled girls. We asked the cat sitter to put some food out for our stray pal. But as we pulled out of the driveway, he was sitting on our front porch, looking at us with quite a forlorn expression on his face.
    via MonsieurReynard
  • 21
    That was when I made the "mistake" of rolling down the window and saying the following to this cat: "bro if you're still here when we get back, you're coming inside." And away we went for a week of adventures.
    via MonsieurReynard
  • 22
    We pulled back into the driveway late at night a week later. And as our headlights lit up the front porch, there was Uncle Leo (as he came to be called), doing exactly what the cat in the OP photo is doing, splayed spreadeagled on our screen door and holding on for dear life while looking back over his shoulder like "See! I'm here!" And a promise is a promise. I keep mine.
    via MonsieurReynard
  • 23
    Naturally, he came inside that night and every night thereafter for the rest of his life. Edited to add: wow I had no idea this would blow up and get so many comments and votes, thank you everyone I'm very touched! I started thanking people who commented below, but I realized I can't do every single one so thank you to everyone who commented too!
    via MonsieurReynard
  • 24
    And for the many demanding a picture, alas, this was in 1989 before digital cameras and the Internet were a thing. All my pictures of uncle Leo are in photo albums in a box somewhere in my basement and I don't have any to share on my phone. I am sorry!
    via MonsieurReynard
  • 25
    And finally, I'll mention that we did not name him after the Seinfeld character. We didn't even know what Seinfeld was. I'm not sure if it existed in 1989 or not. My girlfriend had an actual uncle Leo, and this cat reminded us of him!
    via MonsieurReynard
  • 26
    He was the goodest boy, though, super sweet and affectionate without a mean bone in his body. Our other cats were high strung females, and Leo got along with them just fine. He lived another 9 years, happy to his last day.
    via MonsieurReynard
  • 27
    For a feral, he was strikingly human- centered and he liked everyone right away and vice versa. He was a big boy, very self-confident, we always thought he must've been socialized as a young cat and then somehow wound up a stray. We did love him very much.
    via MonsieurReynard

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