Katie Krysan chose to start fostering cats and kittens in need via A.R.F. Animal Rescue Foundation of Illinois after she unexpectedly found herself working from home in March of 2020.

Krysan told The Dodo, “I felt helpless to do anything useful during the epidemic, so I decided to start fostering kittens.”

Krysan is now a seasoned foster parent who is more than capable of dealing with everything that comes her way — albeit naughty kittens occasionally manage to outwit her.

When Jasmine and her kittens — Rajah, Genie, Abu, and Iago — initially came in their foster home, their new foster parents were overjoyed at the prospect of providing them with lots of love and cuddles as well as the opportunity to see them develop. The kittens were unwell at first, but after being nursed back to health, they burst out of their shells and evolved into a rogue gang.

Jasmine and the kittens have been kept secure throughout their stay at their foster home in a large, netted catio. The kittens like climbing all over the catio and have even learnt to scale the netting’s walls like miniature Spidermans. Krysan reasoned that everything was alright because they couldn’t possibly escape — until they proved her incorrect.

When Krysan entered into the cat room one day, she almost did a double-take when she saw Rajah, Genie, Abu, and Iago all curled up together on top of the catio, which was clearly not where they were meant to be. They were sound asleep until their foster mother woke them up, and the expressions of irritation and shame on their cheeks revealed just how they felt about being caught up there.

If they could, they would have stayed up there all day until they discovered it was lunchtime. They were ready to get back into the catio after that.

Krysan was still perplexed as to how the kittens had plotted their great escape, but she and her husband were finally able to discover and address the problem, preventing any more trouble.

“First and foremost, I resented my spouse for not closing all three door locks,” Krysan explained. “I assumed the bottom door was slightly ajar, and they squeezed out.” So I assumed the situation was fixed when I put them away and shut the door. But when I returned, two of the kittens had escaped! We next examined the catio closely and saw several frayed patches in the netting… It’s all okay now that we’ve strengthened it with more zip ties!”

Unfortunately for the kittens, they won’t be able to take lengthy naps on top of the catio any more, but they’ll most doubt find new ways to cause mischief in no time.