One more cat in the house...
May 10, 2019 8:06:11 GMT -5
suzorse, marseydoats, and 10 more like this
Post by Lannie on May 10, 2019 8:06:11 GMT -5
Now we have 8. I must be insane. But it's little Baby Ewok, the tiny black fuzzball with the green eyes that I fell so in love with when she was tiny. She was very sick very young, so she's still tiny (stunted), but she's 7 or 8 months old now, and has used up at least two of her nine lives, so I made a command decision yesterday to bring her inside. I was kinda hoping to keep her as a "friendly barn cat" and have her live outside, but she was gone for two weeks after our last blizzard, and we presume she was trapped under one of the low cedar trees by snowdrifts all that time (and still managed to survive against horrible odds).
Then yesterday, I was out back with one of the dogs and heard tiny kitten mewing, but couldn't tell where it was coming from. Finally, I realized it was coming from UP ON THE ROOF, so I looked up, and sure enough, there was her fuzzy little black face with her emerald-green eyes, peering around the chimney at me and crying pitifully. I have NO idea how she got up there. The only way would have been for her to climb up the lilac branches on the north end of the house, but I wouldn't have thought those were sturdy enough to support her weight, especially up by the roof line. However, they must have been, because there she was.
I couldn't get her to cross back over the peak of the roof and come back to the lilacs, so I went and got the 20-foot extension ladder and leaned that up against where she was sitting, hoping she'd come down it. I know, a long shot, but I figured if she wanted down bad enough, she might try it, but no dice. Rich and I went out to do chores and came back, and she was still up there, so then we had breakfast and went back out and she was STILL up there, but now she was sitting up on top of the chimney, and if she went down that hole, that would be it, she'd die in there because there'd be no way to get her out. It's like 20 feet from where she was sitting down to the ground - we'd have to dismantle the whole chimney. GAH!
So I tried going up the ladder and only made it to the 4th rung before I froze up (I'm deathly afraid of heights), so Rich, wobbly as he is, went all the way up there and snagged her. He was scared to death, too, but at least he made it up there.
Anyway, he carried her back down and handed her off to me, and I took her straight in the house and this is where she lives now. I think she's just going into her first heat, so she's confined indoors until we can get her to the vet for spaying. Amazingly, she's not afraid of being in the house at all. She's been exploring, finding all the good hiding/sleep places she's going to need later, she's not the least bit afraid of the dogs, and the other cats, after an initial session of sniffing and hissing, have totally accepted her into their group. She knows where the food, water, and litterbox are, so she's all set.
But it's one more cat in here. I thought 7 was too many. I guess 8 is just right.