Monday started off to be a good day then it all when to hell in a hand basket once I returned to Brooknelle with 5 of Aruds Purdy's cats from Sparta.
I'd already cleaned the other 5 cats and I had nearly all of the new five cats situated in their cages and was preparing to open their carriers and then it happened. I did a stupid thing! I don't take the blame on my own stupidity usually and I really don't think I deserve it here, but nobody else was there, so I have to....RIGHT?
I had to put a little divider between cages because the way things landed, I had a litter box adjacent to another cage's food. I usually run cardboard between the cages but I didn't do it yet since all the cats so far have been from Ardus' colony. I figured leaving the cages open to neighbor view would be comforting to the cats who were practically all litter mates. So rather than breaking down the huge boxes that I picked out of my neighbor's trash, I spied a piece of glass shelving (or something) and I thought....PERFECT. I'll just run it between these two cages to protect the food from the litter. The cats will still be able to see each other. What could be better!
Well, let me tell you....it would have been A LOT better if the glass hadn't just so slightly tapped the bar of the cage and BROKE INTO A MILLION TINY PIECES! Seems the glass was "tempered" and when it hit it's fracture point it just falls to pieces. So one minute I'm holding a piece of 2 ft by 3 ft glass then the next minute I'm picking a sliver of glass from my finger and the entire garage space is covered in gravel like glass fragments. I'm standing in my flip flops trying not to have a panic attack because 1) I'm phobic of broken glass and cutting myself and 2) the gravel glass is in every water bowl, food bowl and litter box. And Gina has just left and I'm there all alone!!!!
The glass shot to every corner of the garage and it's now making a crackling sound as each small piece breaks into three more. So there I am, standing in a heap of glass and every cat is looking at me like "what the #$%&!"
I almost start crying cuz it was a good day but a LONG day and I wanted to get home and sit down in front of the tube and veg out for 15 minutes before passing out! But alas, that wasn't meant to be!
So I start by shaking the glass off my feet and am relieved to find that it isn't the super sharp kind of glass that you might find when a mirror or drinking glass shatters. Thank you Jesus!
I tip toe around and close each cat in it's carrier and remove the ones from the cages where the glass was heavy.
Then I proceed to clean out every cage, throw out every bit of freshly placed litter and food, sweep, sweep and sweep again. I check each carrier to make sure none got in with the cats. I'm thankful that none of these particular residents are super fractious because I'm sticking my hand in each carrier and feeling for any gravel glass.
Finally, I get the place cleaned up to my satisfaction, all the cat are clean, fresh and safe and I go home!
It's time to medicate Dizzy Gillespie and the kittens. They are on clavamox to finish off their URIs. So I go into the garage expecting Dizzy to come running up to me but HE DOESN'T. For the first time, he isn't running up to me! I check his bed (sometimes he sleeps really soundly and doesn't wake when I open the door). No Dizzy! I check his usual hiding spot. No Dizzy! I begin to panic. What if I spaced out and didn't lock him in his cage before opening the door to put my trash can back in? What if someone came by to pick something up and didn't see the "Free Roaming Dizzy" sign on my door and let him out? I'm about to puke!
I set traps inside the garage and outside on my porch. Then I try not to cry and I go about my other chores.
I swear, I must have gone to the door a dozen times to call for him. I was soooo hoping to see him in the trap. But I didn't.
I'm my father's daughter so my worry is escalating at an alarming rate. I call Arlene (my neighbor who comes in daily to take care of the kittens and others) and she tells me that Dizzy hadn't come out for her when she was at the house at 6pm. GREAT!
My sweet, little cockeyed Dizzy is loose in my neighborhood for probably hours and hours and there is no sign of him.
UNTIL....I peek out into the garage again and see that the trap is closed but no cat is in it. Temporary relief. The trap can't have closed on it's own. It must have been bumped. As far as I know, I didn't let a possum in, so it must be Dizzy. Then I notice something else out of place. I'm getting a glimmer of hope here!
Then, SWEET RELIEF! Dizzy walks out from around a stack of boxes! I breathe for the first time in two hours!
Dizzy gets his medicine and I put him in his cage for the night! I go to sleep and
don't have nightmares of Dizzy being hit on the Beltline!
So the next day, I go to wake up Dizzy and I'm calling for him and calling for him but he's sleeping soundly and not waking up. I finally realize it! DIZZY IS DEAF! When he awakes on his own, he comes right to the front of the cage to be released from his temporary prison.
I throw things across the garage that make noise but he doesn't turn to look at them. Confirmation...DIZZY IS DEAF.
Today I found him in the garage turned away from me, screaming his head off for attention. I'm standing right behind him, SCREAMING MY HEAD OFF calling for him and he has no idea I'm there. It's conclusive....DIZZY IS DEAF!
Well, there are worse things in life. I think he may have been the only friendly one of the bunch because he was never scared or startled! Which is lucky for him. Because it has lead him to be taken in by me and now he will go to a good home and he won't have to live in a barn!
So is being DEAF a bad thing? NOPE....NOT FOR DIZZY!
: ) Carol
PS A couple who saw Dizzy at Gina's adoption event last Saturday liked Dizzy but wanted an indoor/outdoor cat to mouse their pole barn. Of course, the answer was no since I don't adopt out to people who put cats outside. BUT I do still have a bedroom full of anti-social Operation Agnes cats and those are perfect for mousing in a pole barn. So tonight, I'm taking the two friendliest (but still skittish) to Tara and Dan's place for re-homing! Yeah! for Sigsbee and Fry!
If you remember from Anita's letter, Sigsbee and Fry were friends and they would always come to eat together. So they will go to a new home and be together for the rest of their natural lives. Yeah!
Good morning Dizzy!!!
