Highlands — Yesterday had all of the makings of a historic day for the Turner family. Their 4-year-old cat, Socks, attempted to break the world record for number of times being let out in one day.
Socks’ owner, Terry Turner, indicated that a number of variables played a factor in the landmark effort — perfect weather conditions, Turner’s daughter staying home sick from school and large amounts of leftovers from the weekend.
According to Turner, “It was really the perfect storm. We couldn’t leave our daughter sick and home alone, so we were all just here together watching TV all day. Plus, we had a ton of leftover pizza from Tony Boombozz.
It was around lunch when the Turners began to notice something different.
“Right around the end of the ‘Price is Right,’” says Turner, “is when we began to notice something strange about today. Socks had just come back in and was back at the door looking to be let out. I even said, ‘Socks, you were just outside,’ but I let him out, again. And again,” explains Turner.
Most of the morning was standard being-let-out stuff, maybe at a slightly quicker pace. Socks, who most often prefers to be let outside when there is a bird or squirrel on the back patio, seemed to be more interested in checking out other stuff this morning.
“Yeah, at first it was pretty annoying,” Turner explains. We were like ‘make up your mind Socks.’ But then we realized he was in the zone. So we treated him like any great athlete — moved to the other side of the couch, didn’t talk to him, just let him do his thing.”
Unfortunately, the courageous effort came to a screeching halt when Socks stopped at his food bowl for a snack. Within minutes, the run at history was over, as Socks was hit hard by a series of catnaps.
“The fact that he didn’t make it doesn’t bother us. We’ve always loved him, but we now consider him to be one of the greats, along with Garfield, Sylvester and The Cat in the Hat,” says Turner.
Socks is said to be napping comfortably on the kitchen counter, where he knows he is not supposed to be.
Turner concedes, “That cat has earned the right to nap wherever he wants.”