RAMSES AT LARGE

Steve Cole reports: Leanna and I keep our two Bengal Cats home and safe. They have a huge yard to play in, and it includes eight-foot stockade fence with two feet of metal sheeting mounted on top (it slopes in at a 45 degree angle). They come and go through their cat door and play (safe, inside the yard) as they please. Once a week, sometimes more, they get a walk on a leash around the neighborhood.

Bengal Cats are a crossbreed between Egyptian Maus and Felis Bengalensis asian leopard cats. They are designed to be "show cats", but Isis and Ramses are rejects (not good enough to win blue ribbons) and we got them so we could live with wild animals. These two hooligans are, literally, five generations out of the jungle. Ramses is 14 pounds and Isis about 9. They are faster and smarter than any house cat or barn cat you have ever seen. Ramses can jump eight feet straight up and can jump a ten-foot gap; Isis isn't far behind and has caught birds in flight. While they are loving lap-cats who enjoy a good rubber brush as much as the next cat, they are sudden death to any rodent, bird, other cat, or small dog that comes within reach. I have permanent scars on my legs from times Ramses and I did not agree on whether his walk was over.

Last night I got home early and took Ramses for a late evening patrol. Apparenlty, I didn't get the gate completely latched and it blew open during the night. Ramses apparently discovered this sometime after midnight, and took it upon himself to patrol his newly-expanded turf. We discovered the problem this morning when we couldn't find Ramses, and Isis was playing in the front yard. An hour of searching produced no Ramses, so Leanna and I went to McDonald's for breakfast, after which she went to a meeting while I went back home to find the lost boy.

Another hour of searching was to no avail, and Isis was throwing a fit to see her person walking around outside, so I put her on a leash and let her out the gate. She was off like a shot (well, to the end of the leash) and dragged about 50 yards across an open field to a large bush, under which (of course) Ramses was sleeping soundly. Shaking himself awake, he looked at me for a few seconds and then trotted back home and waited patiently at the gate for me to catch up and let him in. A quick check found no bites or other problems, so I gave him a can of tuna and got to the office an hour late.

Now I just have to explain the missing poodle to the neighbors.