Earlier this week, I stepped outside to take out the trash. My neighbor came to me and said that there was a cat in the bottom of a water reservoir . It is large cement area about 5 meters deep, solid cement with no stairs or no options to climb out. You can see the rim of it from my kitchen window below. It was a pretty white cat that was crouching within a small patch of grass. After scoping the situation, I put my plan in place:
- Get a ladder
- Pickup the cat
- Climb out
- Success (right...no... WRONG!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!)
The first step went great, I set the ladder in, climbed down, no problem. I walked gracefully over to the cat, reached down, and the cat turned into a flipping tigger!!! It hissed at me multiple times, flashed it´s sharp teeth and then ran all crazy for about 15 seconds, then hid back in the grass.
I took a step back and thought to myself...the original plan looked great on paper, but I do not intend to shed blood over this cat. I looked up from within the well, my other neighbor (seen in the picture with the mop in the from my kitchen window) , tossed me a gunny sack and said "here, use this to grab the cat." Sounded easy, but I passed. Told him to not worry and that I will build up a relationship with the cat. While I was down there, I picked up some trash that blew into the tank from the night before and used the gunny sack to put it in, then hauled it up to the dumpster. I told the cat that I would be back later and everyone else went about their business.
I came back at lunch time with a bowl of milk. The cat was stressed and must have been down from at least the night before. I was able to set the bowl about a meter away from the cat without spooking him. It stayed crouching, within the grass, I picked up the remaining trash within the area, climbed back up, told the cat that I would be back in a few hours.
Heading back for the third time around 2PM, I took a dog treat from the pantry. My wife asked where I was going, while our dogs looked at me as if they had done something worthy of a treat... I said I was going to go save the cat. It was an awkward situation, but I marched on out the door. Upon arrival, the cat had a belly full of milk and seemed to be in a calmer state of mind. I was able to get within range of the cat, I dipped the dog treat into the milk and reached out to the cat. It sniffed the treat and took a little lick. I dipped the treat again, repeated a few more times. At that point, was was able to pet the cat. I gently picked it up and marched up the ladder, as I envisioned in my original plan. Once setting the cat into freedom, I gave it a few more pets and then it headed back into the wild (into the fields). I pulled up the ladder and headed back home.
Sure, it was just a cat.... but the internal satisfaction it gave me to take action and save the little guy was priceless. Anyways, hope you enjoyed my first blog. Even if this blog is drowned out within the sea of Steemit, I enjoyed putting it out there.