And the cat came back...

So... I almost lost my good Doctor Zaius this weekend.

Came home ater a movie, and baby Rar was pretty pannicked..mouthy, needy, following me around... I kinda figured it was her usual neediness.. and we (me and my friend Rico) were only at my house for a few minutes before going to a birthday party. when we heard a weird scratching in the kitchen. We searched every cupboard, but no Zaius. I call to her, we search the whole apartment, no Zaius... and I was beginning to panic, when Rico hears the scratching again... from a cupboard she was not in. He looks closely, realizing that the cupboard is not as deep as the wall... climbs on the counter and sees the tiny little dark hole at the back of the top of the cabinets. The plumbing is behind the rest of the cupboard, but they must have not needed all the room so they boxed it in, leaving a 4 inch by 5 inch dead space, 2.5 feet deep (I measured it later)... with no cover, just a rough hole in the wood. And my good Doctor Zaius LOVES to be on top of the cupboards.. So, Rico reached down into the dark tiny hole and could just grab her hind legs, the space was too narrow for him to even reach further to grab her by the belly or anything, so after a few tries and the poor now howling little Doctor squirming, he managed to pull her out by her feet, like a rabbit. And, unlike Dr Zaius, she did not scratch or bite him when she came out, he just puther on the window ledge and she sat there... stinking, grimy, wet down half her body, her face and mouth filthy, her fur matted and shedding like crazy. She was hyperventilating badly, mouth and eyes wide open... . I watched her pant for 10 minutes as she just lay there letting me rub her down with a wet towel, and she just soaked in our attention... and did not move. Eventually the breathing calmed, I fed her, cleaned her up and put her on the floor, and she just sat back down. Rico was a little worried maybe he had wrenched her legs, although he had tried hard not to. I made her walk though and she seemed ok, I guess just a little tired. It took about a day afterwards for her to get back to her old rambuncious persnickety self... but for 24 hours she wadled slowly around the place.... poor girl.

I was a total weapy wreck of course during the incident. I had been out for hours, so who knows how long she had been wedged face & paws first down in this little hole, peeing on herself, suffocating, unable to move... thank gawd cats have nine lives... I think Dr. Zaius has already used up 2

or 3...*whew*.

And thank gawd for Batman Rico, who saved the good Doctor from certain doom. And Rar is muuch happier now that her sister is back safe and sound....