Sunday, October 13, 2019

The great escape

Cats will break your heart and drive you nuts with anxiety.  Mama cat is out roaming the neighborhood.  At least she can't get pregnant again. 

And she has a microchip. 

Greg built the catio some years ago, overall I would say he did a good job.  Except he used a flimsy wood door (our culprit today) and didn't do a great job on the shelves.  The shelves are about impossible for the cats to use now and the door warped at the bottom.  Allowing Mama Cat to get out. 

I got a paving brick and put that in place that should keep any more problems from coming but Mama cat is out.  I knew something was wrong when I didn't see her for breakfast.  I fed the kittens and they had fun eating it, then raising hell like a couple of bikers for a while, dragging workboots into Ron's pathway and knocking things over.  I should have made a video, they were really having a good time.  But no Mama.  I checked the garage, empty.  I checked the catio, empty.  Then Baby Girl went out staring at something and I realized it was Mama cat, had gotten out. 

I am really worried I will find Mama flat in the road. 

I put on my loud yellow bathrobe and called her.  A squirrel came right over but no cat.  I wandered around calling for Mommy like a demented person.  I went back in the house.  I would like to put out food for her but I will never catch her if I do that.  I will go out with food and call her, a couple times today.  We will let the Mixed Grill do the talking (it's her favorite).  Maybe I will put out some water, it has been pretty dry. 

Other than that, I slept well, slept in (8:30) and did not wake up with a headache.  I usually had a dairy thing with my pills in the morning but I can't do that.  But I was manic when I made my Walmart order so I bought some already made egg salad.  It was pretty good and I have not gotten sick (most important) so it is viable for morning pill times.  I got my antidepressant on board. 

Houston is having really bad allergies right now, mine are OK unless I get my face near a cat (kissing, etc) then I get congested.  But I take my Claratin every day so that helps.  I also got my multivitamin.  I had very good blood test results taking that multi.  The iron in the multi, and the antidepressant, both can cause nausea which is why I'm so happy. 

I need to take a shower (it has been short rushed ones all week so ideally a longer one), yay do not need to shave my legs.  I am still using up my tired old Zest bar but when that is done I have some nice soap I got at Swanson and Walmart.  Walmart had a nice myrrh soap and also Dr Bronners peppermint which I like.  They had Dr B's lavender as well but I still have some of that left over from my Christmas present.  I like practical gifts I can use up. 

The litter boxes are OK so I don't need to do them yet.  If course the usage is reduced with Mama running around outside.  It is good weather for a cat, about 60, overcast.  I never figured Mama would run.  Spotty, absolutely.  He isn't neutered yet and is a curious young man.  But Mama had enough on the streets for a lifetime.  But maybe she wants to visit old friends. 

I have to go to Walmart today to pay the electric bill so hopefully I will find her on the porch when I come home.  We have sales tax due this week so a very tight budget, it's me on the bus all day (with my stun gun).  I don't plan to buy anything heavy so it should be easy getting home just a little long. 

But both of us could use a break from the other anyway.  I just hope I find Mama on the porch when I get home.  She's a good cat. 

10 comments:

Anonymous said...

Put out a litter box and it will help bring her back. Sounds like that guy built a craptio and not a catio. First the possum and now this. You are lucky that Biscuit and the others never got out like Mama cat.

Anonymous said...

The cats should never have access to the catio unless you are home to watch and make sure they come inside. Sounds like you let them have 24/7 access to it. Hopefully you will block access to it when you go to your conference.

Heather Knits said...

I'm not impressed with the overall job, for what we paid it should have been top notch.

Odds are very good I will block it when we go out of town (a pet door provides access, and I can lock that).

Mama did get back in the way she got out and I found her in the house when I got back from paying the electric bill.

Anonymous said...

This is not going end well. I suspect you won’t do anything to secure it at all times and spot will get out and impregnate the neighborhood. Or get stoned.

Heather Knits said...

I fixed the bad spot and another questionable area. Spot was too dumb to figure out the cat door so pretty likely he never escaped. I can lock the cat door, and will, when we go out of town.

Anonymous said...

If you fixed the bad spot then Mama cat would never have been able to get back inside the catio. So you refuse to keep the catio locked down when you are at work or asleep? What is wrong with you? If those kids are as evil as you say they are they could hurt the cats in the catio when you are not home. Why do you refuse to do the simplest things to protect yourself or the cats? Since you are home the majority of the time there is no reason to keep that area off limits during the day.

Heather Knits said...

I explained this in my video blog: two weak spots. The door, which I fixed after I found Mama gone. But she had gotten out through a hole in the fencing, hard to see because the grass had grown up. That was her spot, she came in through that. When I found her in the house I realized there was an additional point besides the door, tracked it down, and fixed it for now.

Friend of Heather said...

Omg anonymous what is wrong with you that you sit in such high judgment over someone who obviously works her ass off to reconcile her life? Support instead of chastising always works better. Besides heather has been completely transparent about her mental illness’s cut her some slack and be kinder to her and yourself! Wowee zowie you are a curmudgeon lol.

Anonymous said...

The other anonymous person is right. It is not too much to ask to keep the cats out of their catio when no one is home or awake.

Heather Knits said...

The hole is blocked and likely took years to develop. They will be fine, while we are in town. Ron used to talk a lot about "probability estimating" and that applies. What are the odds they will rip a new hole in the catio in a couple of weeks? Not likely.

The second we have some ready cash we will be calling Greg to come out and run another course of fencing around the bottom. We're not ignoring it and there is a very big, heavy, paver on top of the hole right now.