Hey guys, how are you doing?
I mentioned in my introduction post that I have a cat named Rory, and that I would do my best to feature her as much as possible. Well, Rory apparently wanted to be featured here very much, and decided to take me and my friend Hadas on an adventure.
Before I get into the actual story, a little background- I moved back in with my parents a few months ago, and Hadas, being the awesome friend that she is, agreed to take my cat for a little while, until I can take her home with me.
Rory has been staying with her for a few months, when she had a weeklong vacation in the dead see, and suggested I stay in her place during that week. A week of quality time with my cat? Yes please!
Well, sadly things did not go completely smoothly. Rory, for the first time in her life, decided to brave the outside world, and didn’t think to consult with me. I remember leaving the house for the day and seeing an unfamiliar manic look in her eyes, and when I came back, she was gone.
I knew she wasn’t there from the first moment I walked through the door, but both Hadas (through the phone) and myself kept saying that I’m imagining it, and Rory really is an antisocial cat, she could very well be hiding out in one of her many hiding places in the apartment.
The thing is, I walked through every possible corner in the apartment and she was just not there- I was convinced she is outside. To cat (cut-cat. Get it? hahaha) a long story short, she was indeed outside, she has probably been outside for most of the day- since the moment I left and until about 2:00 am. She was trying to get in through on of the windows, but it was too high and the gap in the blinds too narrow.
I managed to get her back in pretty quickly (with some food as bait and leaving the door open), and in no time she was cuddling with me in front of the heater and cleaning herself like a little kid that’s just been out in the cold for too long.
I thought the whole saga was over- Hadas would not open the windows unless she was there to oversee and Rory would go back to her neurotic ways. Except Rory was not on board with this plan- she wanted to go back out- she would stand by the door and mew for hours wanting to go out, until Hadas said it is time for me to take Rory home- before one of the neighbors found out she has a cat and tell the landlord.
I came over for a week on my birthday and Purim (which is basically the Jewish Halloween- we wear costumes, drink and party the whole holiday), and the plan was that I would take Rory back with me when I go home. But-Plot twist Rory ran away again- on the night of my birthday. Hadas found out when she got back home and told my only the morning after.
Obviously I went over to try and help Hadas find Rory, but unlike the first time she ran out, she was nowhere to be found. We started worrying that something happened to her or that she just decided she would rather be a street cat.
We looked and looked, but the street was so loud and crowded, that there was no chance she would go out of hiding, so we decided to return in the evening when it's quieter.
When I got there in the evening, I tried opening a cane of tuna to lure her out. She was not lured, but all the street cats in the neighborhood were. I found myself walking around, calling for Rory, with a bunch of street cats trailing behind me meowing for food (did someone say crazy cat lady?). Needles to say, I received some odd looks- I should be at least 20 years older for this to be normal behavior.
Eventually we managed to find her, in the same place as before, but she was not cooperating as well as she did in the first time. We had to start a complex operation, in which Hadas created a food trail into the apartment and waited there with the door opened, and I stayed outside and shooed the street cats away from the tuna, all the while maintaining connection over the phone.
The operation, I'm happy to report, was an outstanding success.
A few days later, I took Rory to her new home up north, with all the green and quite of the country life- so far, she seems to be adjusting nicely.
This was the story of the brave rescue of Rory (the) Stupid Cat from herself. Remember that curiosity killed the cat guys ;)
Until next time, stay happy!
Ruth