It was a nightmare at dawn.
I had just finished feeding everyone at Bunny’s Place.
The Blondies were happily darting to and fro, playing as usual.
Gerald, as usual, had come to the ledge to socialise.
Ever since we transplanted the heliconias to provide shade for the new platforms, the Blondies and Samantha have been playing on them, which is good.
So, the Blondies went up to the highest platforms and were playing with Gerald. Gerald would poke his paw through the holes and the Blondies responded similarly where suddenly, to my utter horror, I saw that half of Indra’s body had squeezed through the hole and she was getting out through the hole.
This was exactly what Yui Ping asked me yesterday when Ming-Yi and he visited. “Wouldn’t the kittens escape through these holes?”, he asked. And I said, “No, I doubt it. They are big now.”
And that was precisely what was happening right before my eyes. By the time I got a stool, Indra was already completely out onto the ledge with Gerald.
I rushed upstairs to call my husband out. I shouted that Indra had escaped and we needed to go over to the back neighbour to get her back. You see, our houses are built back to back without any alley. And the house behind is on higher ground, so it is likely that Indra would jump down to their compound. But will they allow us to go in and take Indra, I don’t know. The house at the back is a RYABK too, but previously, the owner said he did not like cats.
This was an emergency indeed. We have to go over to the back neighbour, I said.
My husband came downstairs, I told him what happened, and he did a quick evaluation of the situation. He decided he would go out onto the roof from upstairs, walk on the roof and rescue Indra.
All this while, Gerald was following Indra, both walking gingerly on the ledge. It sure looked like Gerald was trying to help but how could he, right? There is no way Indra could squeeze back through the hole back inside. Indra looked scared and wanted to come back. She has never been out before.
So hubby went out to the roof from one of the upstairs bedrooms. He walked on the beams just in case the polycarbonate roof could not take his weight. I climbed out too, but figured I couldn’t do much.
Then, horrors of horrors, guess what was happening down at Bunny’s Place?
Kai was trying to get out too!!
I rushed back downstairs and got a stool and was just in time to pull Kai back. Half her body was already out of the hole too. I pulled on her tail and she was angry, but that was all I could catch hold off. So I pulled and pulled and finally got her back inside. Then, I took down all the higher platforms.
After that I rushed back upstairs and hubby had caught Indra, but how was he going to get her back by walking on the roof again? Indra was struggling. So he told me to open the windows of the other room so that he could walk on the tiled roof instead of the polycarbonate roof.
Through it all, Riley was also in the room and while the window to the roof was wide open, she did not attempt to escape. That was mighty good of Riley. If she had wanted to, she would have stepped out and that would be another story within this story.
But she did not and I quickly closed the windows and booted her out of the room. Cannot take any chances.
So hubby walked back on the tiled roof with Indra in tow and I got her from the window and took her back downstairs and heaved a big, big sigh.
It was later that hubby narrated what happened on the ledge. Now, this is a classic story here….
Gerald was REALLY trying to help. He prevented Indra from wandering away on the ledge by blocking her. Then when hubby was approaching Indra to catch her, guess what Gerald did?
You won’t believe this and I have no photos to show too. I’m not the camera-first kind of person.
Gerald hugged Indra.
Yes, Gerald used his front leg and hugged Indra to prevent her from going anywhere so that hubby could catch her.
Tell me, please….do you not love Gerald?
So there are two heroes in today’s story – hubby and Gerald!!
Now, the aftermath photos:
Hero No. 1
Indra is obviously very grateful and hung around his hero for the whole morning.
I had taken down all the higher platforms and at the point of writing this, I’m waiting for Tony to come lower or relocate all the platforms. We could just not put the platforms until the kittens’ head circumference increase, but it’s still taking a risk. What if Indra decides he can balance on the frame and still escape? There’s too much space to cover for putting temporary netting on anti-climb material.
For those who are new to this blog, the anti-climb with this hole size was chosen because at the time of making the roof, I had no idea I would be rescuing Samantha who would give birth to kittens. So this catio was done up purely for our Super Seniors and the Monsters. None of our adult cats can escape through these holes. And this size was also chosen because the time of making it, Bella (the bird) was still incubating her egg in our tree in Ginger’s Catio and I needed holes big enough for Bella and her mate to fly in and out and for the little birdy to fly through.
That is why this size was chosen.
Hero No. 2 of the day!!
Gerald, you are the best!!
Indra was visibly shaken by the entire incident, but did that stop her from trying again? No. She wanted to go again.
She would definitely have tried again had I not taken down the platforms.
Gerald, patrolling the polycarb roof.
Then, we realised to our horror, there is also a possible escape route here as well. So we are removing the blue platforms here until the kittens grow bigger.
No mishaps so far…