Miss Birdy safe and sleeping once more after her terrible ordeal
Surely, I must have mentioned before that at the time when Stephen and I went into Lockdown at the beginning of March, we also made a prisoner of our little cat Birdy who has fully lived with us for almost two years. Before that she appeared as a stray and stayed having found a true pair of soft touches. She has complained a great deal throughout the total incarceration period. We bought a cat harness and started to take her out in the garden with us when we were attending to outside things. She perfected a couple of good escape moves but we always got her straight back by shaking a bag of Dreamies cat treats. She starts to purr the moment either of us picks up the harness and long lead knowing it means she will get a wander about in the garden that has a six-foot wall all round.
Another small treat that she likes is to go out into the garage with either of us. I take her with me when I am doing the washing, since the washing machine and tumble dryer are both in the garage. Most of the garage space is taken up though with Steve’s Hot Tub. Before she was fully adopted, she moved into the garage and slept in the laundry basket. When we went away on a work trip, one of our kind neighbours came and fed her in there.
Since she joined us fully as a member of the household she has used a cat litter box and there has only ever been one time accident when her vigorous covering up operation resulted in throwing out the dainty little poo! Steve, not having noticed it then trod on it then HE made a mess walking up the stairs. Yuk. She is very clean indeed.
This morning while I working with the washing and other things, she took a journey around as she has done dozens of times exploring the dark side of the hot tub. She can get in there that side, through a small space close to the washing machine, then she walks through to the garage door end and comes out again. It is a narrow space and she cannot turn round in there, it is a one-way street. Unbeknown to me, Stephen had been tidying up his shelves and had blocked on end.
Poor little girl got totally stuck and started squealing alarmingly in a panic. I tried talking her out, but then realised that things had been moved and that it was almost completely jammed. She was making such a dreadful noise and I just kept talking calmly to her, while I looked to see what the problem was. I opened one end of the lid of the hot tub which a bit of a struggle for me. I took off my jeans and stepped in the water and peered over that side to see that she was well and truly stuck in there. There was not room enough for her to pounce or jump up. There was only one slightly larger space at one end where the tub had a small curve. I tried to reach down but here was not room for me the get a grip on the scruff of her neck and she was cowering to boot.
In the end I picked up a small thin towel and draped it over the far end at the curve and called her drumming my fingers for her to jump. It took several try’s but them she got just her front paws and nose up and I gave a quick tug and grabbed her neck scruff and hauled her out while she howled to let me know that my vice like grip was hurting. I held her close to me while I was still standing in the tub with no pants on! The she started to purr and her ordeal was over. It was a bit of a struggle getting dressed whilst still holding her so that I didn’t lose her again. I took her in and fed her which made everything right again.
When Steve got home, his first chore was the clear her tunnel of fun again. I had had dreadful visions of her getting stuck there and dying if we ever returned to normal life again when her prison term was completed and she was given back her freedom.
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