Another one?!

So far, we seem to average about one a year. Which, depending on how long we stay here, could amount to a fair number of cats.

While he was doing security rounds at school on Monday night for the end of year awards ceremony, Stephen had to haul this wee cat out of the performance centre which she was trying to infiltrate in order to pilfer the prizes. He called me up at home and requested I come get her as he was pretty sure she hadn't eaten in a while. So, I gobbled up the rest of my dinner, jumped in the car and drove on down to the school. Sure enough, the cat almost jumped into the crate in order to get the fresh fish and bowl of food I'd brought along. Once home, I tucked her into the bathroom with a hot water bottle and some more food and water. I think I've seen her up on her feet about 5 times since then (2 days later) and one of those was to go to the vet. She is one tired kitty. Hopefully, she'll be back on her feet in a few days and we can get to know her a bit better.

Meanwhile, we'll wait to see if someone is missing her. Otherwise, well, time will tell . . .

Stuck Cat

Yesterday we found a cat stuck in a tree. It was not however in the place you would expect it to be. It was stuck in the middle of the hollow trunk with only a tiny window of a crack opening onto the driveway and apparently a larger hole up top through which it could not return. The first thing I did was laugh.

By the time Stephen came home the cat was a little more upset by its predicament (ie, it hissed rather than meowed pitifully). So I dumped a some food down the crack and managed to get a small yogurt container in as well, into which we siphoned some water (using the fish vacuum-y thingy). This seemed to calm the cat down and it curled up at the back corner of its little prison. Stephen meanwhile got the saw and began to enlarge the hole enough for the cat to get out.

This was of course, all happening in the dark. So there I was in my socks holding a weak flashlight on the hole, Stephen was beside me sawing away at the tree (which is very spongy) with a flickering headlamp on his head and the cat was curled up looking so utterly comfortable in his little nook.

At one point our landlord came by, bringing the rubbish bins up from the curb. I feared he might um, worry about what we were up to. But he was just as worried for the cat and offered to bring the axe tomorrow if we couldn't extract the cat ourselves that night.

Finally, we had what we thought would be a big enough hole (and I had to grab some dinner still before I headed out to quilting). So we packed up and headed in, hoping the cat would sort the rest out itself. Which it seems to have handled just fine, that or a space ship came in the middle of the night and used their tractor beam to pull the cat back up through the hole in the top and off into outer space.

I wonder. . .

(sorry no pictures, my camera is at the doctors' office and I'm not too sure how photogenic angry cats are anyways)

A Guest

Well, we have our first guest. An overnight one none the less. I know, I know. You've seen the layo.ut and your wondering where on earth we're fitting them in. Well, knowing her she'll probably snuggle into our bed with us. She seems to be that kind of cat.

Yes, we have a wee cat in our lives at the moment. She came in with the neighbours, who were coming over to thank us for looking after their cats while they were away. She just sort of waltzed in and made herself at home. We asked if they knew if she had a home, but they had no idea, and could we maybe keep her since they had tried introducing her to their cats and it was really no good. So, since about 4pm this afternoon we've had this little sweetie in our lives. And sweet she is. Apparently she can not be more than about 5inches from one of us at any time, preferably close to the face. She has no qualms in jumping up onto you (while you're standing) and clambering up to your shoulders where she can snuggle up under your neck. I called her Smaug, after the dragon in The Hobbit. She's kind of all over you and won't leave you alone and she sort of looks like a little dragon (though she doesn't breath fire as far as I know).

We've put a little ad up in the hallway of the house, in case she belongs to one of our neighbours (no knocks yet). And tomorrow we'll put up notices on the poles outisde and at the local grocer. I figured I'd call the SPCA too in case someone calls them looking for their cat. But I'm pretty sure if she doesn't already belong to someone she will get picked up pretty quickly simply because of her need for constant cuddles. Maybe I should just have my friends over from Gateway. . . . . . I'm sure one of them needs a cat.