So, the next story involves the cat. In the end, it was best we were out of contact so we only lost 24 hours to being worried sick rather than six days of our eight day cruise. Our cat is quite timid and skittish about strangers and strange places so I decided to leave her in our empty house and have a friend look in on her and feed her there until the Pet Consultants picked her up for transport to the airport. The woman looking in on her is an animal lover with two dogs and several cats of her own and, she works at least several days a week at a no-kill cat shelter as a volunteer. She knows her cats!
Well, because of the cleaning crew and then an endless stream of contractors entering the house (that's a whole other story - the home buyers from you-know-where!), the cat disappeared. The natural assumption was that she slipped out the door and ran off.
Shelley spent DAYS and NIGHTS looking for the cat - an ad in the Zionsville Times, posters around the neighborhood and knocking at all of the neighbors doors. She set food on the porch and came and sat silently on the porch until past midnight every night, hoping Izzy would come home. She crawled under all the neighbors bushes and porches. They left the garage door open hoping she would find shelter there.
It was on day Five that we were in port in Southampton and Gary's phone got cell service. He decided to call the consultant because we hadn't gotten an e-mail update on the pick up of the cat and they have been innundating us with updates all along. Sure enough, they give him the report of Izzy's disappearance. We were very upset, not only because she was missing and we knew, as an indoor, de-clawed cat, she had little chance of survival outside for more than a few hours, but because having her move with us was a big part of feeling "at home" during our stay in Germany.
Despite the thorough search of the house that Shelley had done several times, I was still perplexed about where the cat might have gone - she has never tried to sneak out of an open door because she is so timid. But, I thought, perhaps if she was really desperate with no furniture to hide in or under, perhaps she did.
A wide variety of friends and others wound up involved in the Great Izzy Search! Gary had called his brother, Barry, to help with a search as well as our friends from our old neighborhood. Unbeknownst to us at the time, the microchip company had contacted a friend of mine in Indy who I had put down on the form. And, the cleaning company (who they thought might be "responsible" for letting her slip out) and the realtor are also involved.
On Day Six of Izzy's disappearance, Shelley and her daughter, Anastasia (Molly's good friend) went over to our house to move the food, litter box and water into the garage as a final effort. They had given up on searching the house any further - they had opened every cabinet, closet and drawer days ago.
Just as Anastasia was moving the litter box from the kitchen to the garage, she heard a meow.. just one meow. They figured out that the cat had somehow gotten up on the highest top of the cabinets and crawled into a 3 - 4" wide opening between the wall and the cabinet top and then fallen down between the wall and the side of the oven - behind the cabinet "filler" that was installed between the edge of the cabinet (which the wall oven was in) and the wall because the cabinet was not quite as wide as the space available. The cat was missing from Friday afternoon until Wednesday evening - six days with no water or food and minimal space to move! Here's my brother-in-law's account of the experience:
The whole things was kinda scary. When Patrick and I got there, Anastasia was in tears, Shelley was desperate to find a way into the cabinets and Izzy was making nasty hissing sounds. I tried to assess how to get in and though I could get in by breaking the panel under the drawer under the stove, but that just revealed a solid piece of MDF between us and Izzy. I then tried to pry the panel between the stove and the wall, but that would not budge. At that point, I called the fire department, but they refused to help.
I got more medieval with the side panel and realized that the molding piece was in the way - I got that off which revealed that the floor molding was in the way - I pulled that off and then was able to pry off the side panel with my claw hammer. Izzy was in the very back at that point and I could not reach her as the space was only 3" wide. Sherrie and Anastasia both tried but could not reach back. I then took the metal drawer slide that I had pried out earlier was able to pull Izzy to the front where Shelley was then able to grab her. Shelley and Anastasia where off to the vet with Izzy in a flash.
I am afraid I did some pretty serious damage to the kitchen. Your cabinets and moulding were clearly top notch and very well constructed.
So, the vet pronounced her (after expensive x-ray and blood work to check kidneys) perfectly healthy expect for being dehydrated. She put her on an IV for 24 hours and now the only telltale sign of the drama is her shaved leg where the IV was, of which only a vague remnent of the shaved fur is still visible in her picture above!
Well, because of the cleaning crew and then an endless stream of contractors entering the house (that's a whole other story - the home buyers from you-know-where!), the cat disappeared. The natural assumption was that she slipped out the door and ran off.
Shelley spent DAYS and NIGHTS looking for the cat - an ad in the Zionsville Times, posters around the neighborhood and knocking at all of the neighbors doors. She set food on the porch and came and sat silently on the porch until past midnight every night, hoping Izzy would come home. She crawled under all the neighbors bushes and porches. They left the garage door open hoping she would find shelter there.
It was on day Five that we were in port in Southampton and Gary's phone got cell service. He decided to call the consultant because we hadn't gotten an e-mail update on the pick up of the cat and they have been innundating us with updates all along. Sure enough, they give him the report of Izzy's disappearance. We were very upset, not only because she was missing and we knew, as an indoor, de-clawed cat, she had little chance of survival outside for more than a few hours, but because having her move with us was a big part of feeling "at home" during our stay in Germany.
Despite the thorough search of the house that Shelley had done several times, I was still perplexed about where the cat might have gone - she has never tried to sneak out of an open door because she is so timid. But, I thought, perhaps if she was really desperate with no furniture to hide in or under, perhaps she did.
A wide variety of friends and others wound up involved in the Great Izzy Search! Gary had called his brother, Barry, to help with a search as well as our friends from our old neighborhood. Unbeknownst to us at the time, the microchip company had contacted a friend of mine in Indy who I had put down on the form. And, the cleaning company (who they thought might be "responsible" for letting her slip out) and the realtor are also involved.
On Day Six of Izzy's disappearance, Shelley and her daughter, Anastasia (Molly's good friend) went over to our house to move the food, litter box and water into the garage as a final effort. They had given up on searching the house any further - they had opened every cabinet, closet and drawer days ago.
Just as Anastasia was moving the litter box from the kitchen to the garage, she heard a meow.. just one meow. They figured out that the cat had somehow gotten up on the highest top of the cabinets and crawled into a 3 - 4" wide opening between the wall and the cabinet top and then fallen down between the wall and the side of the oven - behind the cabinet "filler" that was installed between the edge of the cabinet (which the wall oven was in) and the wall because the cabinet was not quite as wide as the space available. The cat was missing from Friday afternoon until Wednesday evening - six days with no water or food and minimal space to move! Here's my brother-in-law's account of the experience:
The whole things was kinda scary. When Patrick and I got there, Anastasia was in tears, Shelley was desperate to find a way into the cabinets and Izzy was making nasty hissing sounds. I tried to assess how to get in and though I could get in by breaking the panel under the drawer under the stove, but that just revealed a solid piece of MDF between us and Izzy. I then tried to pry the panel between the stove and the wall, but that would not budge. At that point, I called the fire department, but they refused to help.
I got more medieval with the side panel and realized that the molding piece was in the way - I got that off which revealed that the floor molding was in the way - I pulled that off and then was able to pry off the side panel with my claw hammer. Izzy was in the very back at that point and I could not reach her as the space was only 3" wide. Sherrie and Anastasia both tried but could not reach back. I then took the metal drawer slide that I had pried out earlier was able to pull Izzy to the front where Shelley was then able to grab her. Shelley and Anastasia where off to the vet with Izzy in a flash.
I am afraid I did some pretty serious damage to the kitchen. Your cabinets and moulding were clearly top notch and very well constructed.
So, the vet pronounced her (after expensive x-ray and blood work to check kidneys) perfectly healthy expect for being dehydrated. She put her on an IV for 24 hours and now the only telltale sign of the drama is her shaved leg where the IV was, of which only a vague remnent of the shaved fur is still visible in her picture above!
I still do not quite get where Izzie was, you all are confusing me with where she was.. Anyways, I am unbelviably glad that she is back... The amazing thing is, that when she came here, she adapted practically immediatly, which is not common for her... What I think, is that she was just so glad to see us that she did not care.. and there was furniture...
ReplyDeleteNot much else to say so I will stop rattling on about nothing..