How common is it for a cat or kitten to race outside when you open your door?

Cats who run under the sofa are just being shy. Cats who run for the door are being curious. I had a cat who would meow and meow at the bedroom door until I let her out and closed the door, then she meowed and meowed to get back in. She simply wanted to be on the other side, not in or out.

It totally depends on the cat, and how it has been trained.

My female Siamese is an outdoor lover and she often, at least a couple times a week, darts out after dark and I spend another 3 hours trying to get her to come in again. Little shit. She kept me up til 12:30 a few nights ago.

Some cats just really want to be outside as much as possible.
I end up out in the yard shaking the treat jar, zinging the laser pointer around and calling out “brushies”, all of which are good lures, but sometimes they all fail and I just have to wait for her to decide to come in again. haha

I have an indoor cat who races upstairs the second there’s a knock on the door or the doorbell rings—even when the sound comes from the TV. It’s hilarious—he’ll sit calmly on my lap on the porch during a thunderstorm, but he’s totally afraid of that doorbell.

Really depends on the cat. My cat will run back and sort of stare through the door out of curiosity but will never, ever dart out.

My kitty darts outdoors as soon as you give him the chance. I let him outside as much as possible but I really don’t like leaving him out unattended at night time (living near busy roads and such) so when he slips past me at 1am as I come home it’s a real pain in the ass. At that point I usually have to like @Coloma spend the next couple hours trying to coax him to come close enough so I can grab him(since he thinks it’s play time now….“yaaay chase me”- _ -) I’ve found though if I grab a long thin stick and swing it around/strike it on the ground he’ll usually come running out of no where to attack the stick. Must look hilarious to my neighbors though “uhhh honey…..what’s that neighbor kid doing at 230am swinging a stick out in the middle of the street?”

@uberbatman LOL…I hear ya, pain in the ass, bratty cats!
I also call out “breakfast” ( key word for canned food ) randomly as a lure.
“Breakfast” is on the intermittent reward system, usually around 7 – 8 p.m.
My neighbors hear me yelling “breeeeaaakfaaaast” all the time at odd hours. haha

It depends on the cat. My old cat, Katy, used to try like hell to get outside every time you opened the door. She succeeded a few times, but we usually caught her on the front porch (which is less than 10 feet from a major road). She was out all night one time, and I woke to her crying on a windowsill, just begging to come back in. She didn’t try so hard to get out, after that. Most of my other cats haven’t been that interested in getting out.

I thought back to this question and had to update my answer.

Lo and behold, I now have 2 cats. It’s the new one I have issues with.

Recently, I got drunk while in the apartment and opened the door into the hallway for a moment. The new kitty darted out and proceeded to try and run down the stairs. I had to go fetch her. I picked her up and she started wailing.

Don’t worry, she’s actually a very happy kitty.