Cat drama and sleepless nights

I am convinced that I have had more sleepless nights over my cats then I have my children!

Drama 1 'Leo and the Great Cat Rescue'

About 8 years ago I adopted my first cat Leo, a 2 year old, from a local cat rescue charity called the Feline Network. We had had him one week and he disappeared completely. I couldn't understand it as we had been keeping him in (as you are supposed to do with new cats) and as far as I knew he had not escaped from the house. We were hosting students at the time so I thought there was a possibility of him being let out by one of them. What made it additionally concerning was that when I adopted him he was kept in a small flat and had never been outside in his life - the great outdoors would be a scary prospect for him.

I was also, at the time, feeding my neighbours cat 'Rio' as they were away on holiday (notice the VERY similar name!). Every time I called 'Leo' then Rio would meow back in reply. I started to realise that I was actually getting a 'meow' back in stereo (which is very odd from one cat). One meow was coming from the front door and the other from the roof!

To my horror I realised that Leo was indeed on the roof of the house.

()

A very high roof with a very tall chimney!

It appeared that he had climbed onto one of the student's beds and jumped out through an open roof window.

I decided to call the Fire Service to see if they could get him down. They told me that I would have to call the RSPCA first to see if they could rescue him.

I called the RSPCA as instructed and did say to the RSPCA Officer before he came that he wouldn't be able to get Leo down because the roof was too high.

When he arrived he said (or words to that effect) 'I can't get him down the roof is too high'!

So HE called the Fire Service.

They arrived with a fire engine... but the ladders were too short. They called another one!

Two fire engines and about 14 Fire Officers later (after blocking the road for about half an hour) they managed to rescue a wet and bedraggled Leo. He was not remotely bothered by the amount of fuss that he had caused!

I was half expecting a TV Presenter to jump out from behind a wall and thrust a microphone at me asking me how I felt about losing my cat and having to have it rescued. I would have been mortified!

Drama 2 'Disappearing Peggy

I adopted Peggy (also from the Feline Network) a couple of months ago. She is 10 month's old and a funny, strong minded little cat.

Last night Peggy was acting really oddly. She was curled up on the sofa and everything we went near her or stroked her she would growl at us. We were trying to work out if she was injured in anyway or if perhaps she had eaten something that had harmed her. She was wagging her tail ferociously. This was completely out of character for her!

I was so concerned that I rang the out of hours vet and asked for some advice. She did not seem to think that she had been poisoned or had broken anything by the way she was reacting but perhaps had been bitten and was hurt.

As the words 'keep her in tonight' were just coming out of the vet's mouth, Peggy jumped to her feet and shot out into the garden and disappeared.

We then spent until midnight calling her, and then again at 4am, trying to find out where she was and if she was OK. Both Neil (my other half) and I were really worried and upset. I did say to Neil that we would probably both feel pretty silly I the morning when she came home for her breakfast.

I had also received an email that morning if we wanted to Peggy to appear in the Feline Network cat calendar this year. The thought of telling the charity that we had lost her would not be a happy one.

Guess what? At 7am this morning she reappeared, sitting on our neighbour's fence.

Still a pretty unhappy pussy cat but at least she knew where she was!

I feel very tired and emotionally drained today - over a cat! What can I say - perhaps I am a mad cat woman :)