Cat Starvation Averted: A Reason to be Thankful
Last summer, on the night James was born, things were understandably crazy, and we never locked the cats in that night. (For anyone unaware, they are outdoor cats that live in the garage.)
The problem is, Dortmunder never came back that night. Or the next. Or the next.
With the new baby I didn't have much time to worry about it, and I figured he could take care of himself. We wondered if he had finally had enough of Vin and decided to run away. We walked around the neighborhood calling for him, and I even went into some of the houses under construction and called for him in case he had been trapped.
After about 10 days, he finally came home one evening, scrawny and starving but otherwise looking okay. Katie in particular wondered where he had gone, and was disappointed that we would likely never find out.
Later in the summer Sam and I were out taking care of the lawn one day, when our new neighbor came over to chat for a minute and ask about our cats. She asked if we had a fluffy orange one, and I said we did. As it turned out, Dortmunder had been stuck in the furnace of their house as it was being built. He apparently crawled into a heating duct and had fallen down to the furnace area and was unable to climb back out. She eventually got the builders to come extract him, and they took him home for a night to feed him. Their little girl wanted to keep him, but they felt certain he belonged to someone, so they brought him back to the neighborhood and released him. It just so happens that he lives next door, so they can play with him whenever they want.
Last week Vin disappeared for a couple days. The day before Thanksgiving Sam and I decided to check some of the houses currently under construction. Sure enough, there she was, in the furnace of a house just down the road. We were able to get her out and bring her home.
There might be a moral here about how curiosity isn't good for cats. That'll probably never catch on, though.
The problem is, Dortmunder never came back that night. Or the next. Or the next.
With the new baby I didn't have much time to worry about it, and I figured he could take care of himself. We wondered if he had finally had enough of Vin and decided to run away. We walked around the neighborhood calling for him, and I even went into some of the houses under construction and called for him in case he had been trapped.
After about 10 days, he finally came home one evening, scrawny and starving but otherwise looking okay. Katie in particular wondered where he had gone, and was disappointed that we would likely never find out.
Later in the summer Sam and I were out taking care of the lawn one day, when our new neighbor came over to chat for a minute and ask about our cats. She asked if we had a fluffy orange one, and I said we did. As it turned out, Dortmunder had been stuck in the furnace of their house as it was being built. He apparently crawled into a heating duct and had fallen down to the furnace area and was unable to climb back out. She eventually got the builders to come extract him, and they took him home for a night to feed him. Their little girl wanted to keep him, but they felt certain he belonged to someone, so they brought him back to the neighborhood and released him. It just so happens that he lives next door, so they can play with him whenever they want.
Last week Vin disappeared for a couple days. The day before Thanksgiving Sam and I decided to check some of the houses currently under construction. Sure enough, there she was, in the furnace of a house just down the road. We were able to get her out and bring her home.
There might be a moral here about how curiosity isn't good for cats. That'll probably never catch on, though.
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