The doors and closet doors in my house leave a pretty wide gap above the floor. I was using expandable screens to close off the gaps, and then I'd put something heavy in front of them to hold in place.
For over a year, Mush has been obsessed with these screens. He would try to climb, paw and push at them, try to shove the heavy object I was using to hold it in place out of the way. It would drive me crazy!
https://www.instagram.com/p/BHHw3-CDQL-/
This is a video I had posted in that thread of him bothering the screen and making it fall down on him.
I thought he was being a little brat (which he very much can be at times, and why I love him so much) wanting to do the one thing I didn't want him to do. But all along, there was a real purpose to this. I finally figured it out some time ago and it fascinated me! I wanted to share it with others who might appreciate it as much as I did.
Coincidentally, if you open the door for him, he will not go. He will only go underneath the door. I almost died when I first saw him squeeze his big body under the door. Mush is very overweight - even more than his obsession over the screens is his food obsession. So, I never thought he could fit all of his girth under there!
https://www.instagram.com/p/BItYqCRDDu8/
This is him squeezing under the door
Anyway, I quietly followed behind him to see what he'd do because he'd never done this venture before. He walked straight down the hall. He did briefly check out things along the way but he seemed like he had a purpose and when he headed directly into the far bathroom...it finally hit me!
That bathroom is only used as a room for our elderly, arthritic cat who can no longer go down the stairs. We put her food, water and litter box in there to make it easier for her.
Mushy headed right to that cat food and was in heaven!
I think you can actually see the satisfaction on his face like, "I knew it!"
What amazed me is...he was smelling that food all this time from another room on the other side of the house?! Incredible! He obviously was following the scent, could've turned into other rooms but went straight to this one with all the cat food.
Anyway, once he finally experienced what that room was all about...just when I thought he couldn't get worse with the screens...well, nothing was going to keep Mush away from that food now!
I've since finally found something solid that works to close the gap when the lizards come out. Mush still always goes and tries once to see if there's some chance he can get through but then he gives up.
Now, about once a week, I'll set down a plate of cat food mixed with veggies and vitamins and surprise Mushy, let him go off on his adventure down the hall to pig out. I think there's also something about him feeling like he's sneaking off and prowling out of his usual room that he likes also. I have to pick up the other food because he won't touch his own mixed with veggies if the other non-veggie ones are available lol.
My other bts, Duma, isn't quite as food obsessed as Mushy. He will mess with the screens once in a blue moon, I think more for just having something new to do. I let Duma venture down to that bathroom and although he pigs out just as much as Mush does, he's not obsessed/demanding about having to go to that room. He has a more adventurous personality so is more excited about a new place to explore than food.
I just had to share my fascination in the whole thing. That their sense of smell could be so strong that Mush could detect smells wafting through underneath a door from...maybe 20 feet away in another room. And also, that solid year long determination that someday he would find a way to get there...or it's just a dedication/testament to their love of food lol.
Or could it be because cat food has a stronger more palatable smell? I never gave my guys cat food as part of their meal since, as I mentioned earlier, Mush is overweight and Duma can even eat more in one meal than Mush but so far hasn't turned tubby. Neither needed the extra from cat food, in my opinion.
This is Duma. He was chowing down so fast, he had to do the body rolls to get the food to go down.
Big Mush again
