You have heard by now many of our rescue stories. Well, I have a confession to make. A few of our four legged friends, at times, feel that they need to explore the world beyond the fence. Actually only about three of the thirty get these urges to explore. What follows once they escape has the ingredients of a rather sad and embarrassing story!
The cats can be divided into three categories.
There are some who have escaped once in a while because someone (for ‘someone-‘ read Anand, my bitter half) carelessly left the gate open. This is a very alarming situation for the cat did NOT wish to escape. However once out it neither knows how to return nor fend for itself. This calls for urgent action where the entire family hits the street combing all lanes and bylanes.
The second category is where the cat knows exactly how to escape and can do it in a split second. Offhand I can think of only Trina who would dash up the spiral staircase and take a flying leap over a eight feet wall till the fence was raised so high that she had to admit defeat. Once she felt that she had enough or gallivanting she would return home. There are also cats like Jandu and Smudge who toodle out but don’t (touching all the woods at once) venture too far and allow themselves to be caught.
The third category has cats who love to escape and are in no hurry to return and exceedingly difficult to catch. When an alarm is raised, the reaction is ‘Not again!’ and the feeling is extreme exhaustion. We have learnt from experience that there is no point in running around. Our housing complex has a wonderful team of security guards and maintenance staff. We inform the guards and sit back waiting for them to call when a cat is sighted! (At times we get calls asking us whether any of our cats has escaped. We whip out our cattendance register and after taking a count, inform that the cat is not ours!)
Kutzn escaped. She has done it so many times that we have learnt to take these escapades in our stride – provided she can be spotted once in a while for the possibility of getting trapped in an unoccupied house cannot be ruled out. Unfortunately, Kutzn’s territory is almost unlimited and, unlike most other cats, she does not believe in hanging around a particular place! The waiting game began. We got calls from various points the campus, usually in the middle of the night (most surface only after dark)!
We would drive down / creep up, armed with a cage only to see her, if that, disappear. In fact, she behaved as though we were her biggest enemies, so much so that a guard commented that she probably has a problem with our house. We grinned and bore it all. We were determined to catch her but didn’t know how! (With the festive season round the corner nobody wanted a neighbour complaining about our cat!)
After several failed attempts, we revised our brief. ‘Call us if she enters an unoccupied house- preferably after locking her in!’ Nobody can deny that the guards tried. We would see them flashing their powerful torches over most inaccessible places. A caretaker, who has helped us to catch the lady on an earlier occasion got down to the serious business of frying fish with windows open. Kutzn appeared but also disappeared as she could smell rat more strongly than fish! A week went by. She was out to break Delta’s record of seven days.
Then, one fine day she decided she wanted food. She appeared on the wall but the same fence that was there to keep the cats in would not allow her to enter!
We gave her some food over the wall to win her confidence while planning for an entry point. At the crack of dawn she disappeared but we hoped for better results the next night!
In anticipation of her visit a sheet was thrown over the fence. She reappeared but the sheet did not work. We waited with bated breath only to have her disappear again.
Next day a step ladder was propped up against the wall, a sheet thrown over the fence and a plank propped up to help her climb! We also remembered the catnip which was supposed to be fool proof as far as attracting cats were concerned. (in fact we had a stock of catnip seeds purchased online for just this purpose- but no time to grow the plants)
Then it happened! She made her appearance late evening. She sat on the window ledge of the neighbour’s house showing no interest in step ladder or the bridge or the food bowl poised on the step ladder. Catnip was our only hope. I made frantic calls to my daughter who was coming home with catnip balls. In-between calls I would rush to the window to verify that she was still there (waiting for the balls to arrive). I did not dare to switch the light or go out in case she took off once again! Just on one of the trips the window I looked out and guess what- she was walking around the garden! I ran to remove the step ladder hoping that the front gate had not been left open. I could hear my daughter enter.
Kutzn saw me and true to form tried escaping. Not finding the ladder she dashed up the spiral staircase. At long last she came in and thereafter she behaved like the most loving cat in the world! What goes around in their tiny heads is not for us to know!
Broti took out two catnip balls from her bag and we waited with bated breath for the cats to go berserk. We waited… and waited… and waited. In fact,… STILL waiting.
Nothing happened. Zero reaction. Rupees 500 down the drain!
Kutzn catches up on some sleep after the long outing!
four legged nonsense 