I awoke this morning unlike most mornings. There was no cat purring on my chest or nuzzling on the bedspread or meowing at my daughters door in an attempt to awake my daughter, which in turn would make me wake up, so she could be fed.
I went downstairs to let the dog out and feed the cats. When I fed them, only 2 showed up. The other, Roara, the one who loves to harass me in the morning, was nowhere to be seen.
Over the next hour or so I sporadically checked rooms, closets, garage and even outside (they're all indoor cats) all to no avail.
My wife awakes and starts searching. She calls me to the basement eventually and tells me she hears here mewing from a corner of the basement. Theres nothing but brick wall there. I now hear hew mews and in fact, it is coming from that corner. I start to look around the basement for any sort of entrance to the ceiling or wall behind it. I notice above some shelves a small opening. I get a stool and put my ear to it and the mew's are definitely coming from there, I go on the other side of the wall and I pop open the lowered ceiling and peek in. I see a hole going down about 2 feet long and 1 foot wide and the distinct crying of a cat. Above this hole is a hot water copper pipe. I now have two lovely burn marks on the top of my scalp (shaved head) from trying to peek down there. I get a flashlight and shine it down the hole and I see 2 eyes reflecting at me. Found her.
My first attempt at rescue involves dropping down a knitted blanket and hoping she'll grab on to it and I can pull her up. You see, the hole she is down is about 8-9 feet from the top of the ceiling to the floor with not much wiggle room. She is surrounded by concrete blocks so theres nothing for her to get out with. Back to the blanket. I'm dangling it down the hole and she finally jumps and grips onto it, unfortunately I wasnt ready for such a hard tug and she pulled it right outta my hands and down the hole it goes. Strike one. I try another blanket (with a much better grip now) for a good 10 minutes but she is unwilling to grab on.
My wife comes up with an idea to tie a string to a small bucket and put some food in it. I roll my eyes and amuse her. The bucket is pretty small but fits in nicely. I drop it and immediately feel tugging. I cant see whats going on because of limited space and that pipe but I start to pull it up and I can feel the weight, but about half way up the weight disappears and shes off. I'm assuming she was hanging on by here paws and eventually fell off. This continues for 5-10 minutes with limited success. Strike 2.
We then say lets try a slightly bigger bucket because maybe she cant fit in the other. She's pretty small for a cat, about 10-11 pounds. We tie a string to it, load it with snacks and drop it down. This bucket just BARELY fits down the hole. I feel the weight of a cat again and try pulling it up. After a few failed attempts she eventually jumps in the bucket, I'm pulling it up and I can tell shes in it. I get it to the top and she nonchalantly walks out onto a ledge and jumps down to the floor like nothing happened. SUCCESS.
I estimate she was in that hole for about 14-18 hours. Her new name is buckethead.
I'll take some pics if anyones interested.
Heres the culprit.
roara.jpg
CLiffs:
Cat got stuck behind wall in basement.
Multiple attempts failed.
Eventually a bucket tied to a string with treats in it gets her out.
I went downstairs to let the dog out and feed the cats. When I fed them, only 2 showed up. The other, Roara, the one who loves to harass me in the morning, was nowhere to be seen.
Over the next hour or so I sporadically checked rooms, closets, garage and even outside (they're all indoor cats) all to no avail.
My wife awakes and starts searching. She calls me to the basement eventually and tells me she hears here mewing from a corner of the basement. Theres nothing but brick wall there. I now hear hew mews and in fact, it is coming from that corner. I start to look around the basement for any sort of entrance to the ceiling or wall behind it. I notice above some shelves a small opening. I get a stool and put my ear to it and the mew's are definitely coming from there, I go on the other side of the wall and I pop open the lowered ceiling and peek in. I see a hole going down about 2 feet long and 1 foot wide and the distinct crying of a cat. Above this hole is a hot water copper pipe. I now have two lovely burn marks on the top of my scalp (shaved head) from trying to peek down there. I get a flashlight and shine it down the hole and I see 2 eyes reflecting at me. Found her.
My first attempt at rescue involves dropping down a knitted blanket and hoping she'll grab on to it and I can pull her up. You see, the hole she is down is about 8-9 feet from the top of the ceiling to the floor with not much wiggle room. She is surrounded by concrete blocks so theres nothing for her to get out with. Back to the blanket. I'm dangling it down the hole and she finally jumps and grips onto it, unfortunately I wasnt ready for such a hard tug and she pulled it right outta my hands and down the hole it goes. Strike one. I try another blanket (with a much better grip now) for a good 10 minutes but she is unwilling to grab on.
My wife comes up with an idea to tie a string to a small bucket and put some food in it. I roll my eyes and amuse her. The bucket is pretty small but fits in nicely. I drop it and immediately feel tugging. I cant see whats going on because of limited space and that pipe but I start to pull it up and I can feel the weight, but about half way up the weight disappears and shes off. I'm assuming she was hanging on by here paws and eventually fell off. This continues for 5-10 minutes with limited success. Strike 2.
We then say lets try a slightly bigger bucket because maybe she cant fit in the other. She's pretty small for a cat, about 10-11 pounds. We tie a string to it, load it with snacks and drop it down. This bucket just BARELY fits down the hole. I feel the weight of a cat again and try pulling it up. After a few failed attempts she eventually jumps in the bucket, I'm pulling it up and I can tell shes in it. I get it to the top and she nonchalantly walks out onto a ledge and jumps down to the floor like nothing happened. SUCCESS.
I estimate she was in that hole for about 14-18 hours. Her new name is buckethead.
I'll take some pics if anyones interested.
Heres the culprit.
roara.jpg
CLiffs:
Cat got stuck behind wall in basement.
Multiple attempts failed.
Eventually a bucket tied to a string with treats in it gets her out.