Escape Artist

So last night we learned that Virgil is an escape artist. We put him in the bedroom while I was getting ready for bed in the other room. We have a temporary gate made out of poster board blocking the bottom half of the door so he can't get out. He hadn't been able to jump out because it was too tall, but the big cats could go in and out if they wanted to (well, not Kirzon because he is a bad jumper but I think his eyes are bad and that is the problem, anyway that isn't the point). So last night he was in there as usual - he usually eats and plays with his toys and goes to sleep while I get ready in the other room. Brad was downstairs. I don't get ready in the same room as him because I don't want him to get scared from the blow dryer. I learned the hard way that cats (at least mine) hate the noise and the air on them (I have a lovely scar on my chest to prove it). So I was sitting and combing my hair getting ready to go to bed and in walks Virgil. I asked Brad if he let him out and he said no. So I went out and checked to see if one of the other cats had a bad jump and knocked the gate down (it is held up with tape but it is only cardboard so if they jumped badly and landed on it they won't get hurt, it will just rip). But when I looked the thing was perfectly in tact. No rips or holes. That means that Virgil - little tiny Virgil - must have jumped up and gotten over the gate. I can't believe it. I mean, I knew eventually he would be able to but I didn't think it would be so soon. So this morning I was getting ready and he was with me in the bathroom, but he looked like he needed to pee (he had an accident yesterday and was doing the same thing today) so I put him in the room and at first he was confused and wanted to be with me, so he jumped up to the top of the gate and climbed over with no problem - I actually got to see how he did it. I took him back in and showed him the litter box and he was like "oh, yeah, I have to pee" so he stayed and I went back to getting ready. When he was done out he came on his own. So we are definately going to be kitten proofing this weekend so he can run around upstairs and downstairs. The other cats will like that too.