Winston

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exlibris
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Winston

Post by exlibris »

So, I come back from a long day at work at 6.30pm to be greeted by Whisper.....but no Winston. As its been so cold and we'd had a lot of trouble bonding with these two we hadn't let them out yet. After a lot of fruitless searching of the house, my partner finally realised that the upstairs window might have been left open wide enough for him to go on an adventure.

So I venture out into the darkness of the back garden, thankfully high fenced in on most sides. Winston has bonded with me, but skittish with my partner, so I'm on my own or Winston would just flee. So my partner provides powerful illumination from a torch from the upstairs window, while I use a smaller one digging around in the bushes. I mew and call his name....and get a response! Hallelujah! Get ready for TWO HOURS of this. Winston is a completely black cat. We have very thick bushes. I have no idea if he is physically injured and can't move, traumatised and can't move, or scared and moving all the time.

I mew and move. Then mew and move. I keep trying to pinpoint Winston's position from his responses. In the end I deduce he MUST have ended up in my neighbour's garden, which is what happened with old Backy when we first moved here. So I asked my neighbour to check - no sign. So I went back to the bushes again, tried to pinpoint him again. This time I found my secateurs, and at 8pm I started cutting back my shrubbery! This time I got to the fence. The mewing MUST be coming from the neighbours side. All I could do was clear a space on the edge of the fence for Winston to jump up onto. I illuminated it with my little torch. I mewed. I gently scratched and patted the top of the fence. I kept doing this. Winston sounded like he was responding. And then......


......THE SWINE STARTED TO RUB AGAINST MY ANKLES! How long had he been sitting there watching me pat and scratch a fence!?!?

I still have no idea where he'd been hiding.
alanc
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Re: Winston

Post by alanc »

Don't you just love them when they do that!
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lilynmitz
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Re: Winston

Post by lilynmitz »

8-) :lol: :lol: That made me smile! Little sod! Glad you got him though. Hope the garden recovers!
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fjm
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Re: Winston

Post by fjm »

Winston has a wicked sense of humour! I highly recommend teaching the treat box rattle inside the house - my cats have a better recall than many dogs after so many years of really good stuff happening every time they come when called.
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Mollycat
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Re: Winston

Post by Mollycat »

Oh cheeky mischievous Winston I love this.

Reminds me of the time my Misha had got into a patch of scrubby brambles and nettles, then it had rained and every time she tried to move the rain on the leaves fell on her. I had to wade in, wearing shorts, and reach in to pull her out. Little cowbag!
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Ruth B
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Re: Winston

Post by Ruth B »

No matter how much trouble they cause us we still love them.

My Mother's old cat was arthritic and mostly blind when I took her in, she would plod around the house and would get on furniture only if she could get her front paws on it while her back paws were on the ground, jumping down was a little more of a leap of faith, but she learnt her way around well enough. As we have a cat flap for the others I did let her out after she had been with me for a month or so, the garden has a 6' fence all the way around so I didn't think she would escape, I was wrong. i was getting ready to head out for an appointment and just checked to make sure she was in and ok, no sign of her. Check the garden, she enjoyed plodding around it and sleeping under the bamboo, still no sign, check the pond with trepidation, I can't imagine it being a problem as there are areas that would be easy for anything to climb out, but i had to be sure, breath a sigh of relief as still no sign. Then I hear her calling and realise it is coming from the far side of the fence. Fortunately it is the lift out panel style and I can lift it enough for her to get underneath it. Watching one of the other cats later I realise that the bags of bark chippings make perfect steps on to the garden table, then there is the battery box for the pond pump, meaning the top of the fence is only about 18" to 2' above that and the cat use it as an easy route onto the fence. I can only guess that she followed the scent trail they left and then just scrabbled down the other side. Fortunately she never did it again, I think it worried her not being able to get back. I also moved the bags of bark chippings away from the table.

So glad that Winston was safe and well and did respond to you in the end.

Winter is actually one of the best times for pruning, I've just done my pear tree, Acer, and Cotinus the other day, the plant is sleeping, the sap isn't rising and there is less chance of invection getting in the fresh cuts, but i would advise doing it during the day not at night.
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lilynmitz
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Re: Winston

Post by lilynmitz »

“Winter is actually one of the best times for pruning, I've just done my pear tree, Acer, and Cotinus the other day, the plant is sleeping, the sap isn't rising and there is less chance of invection getting in the fresh cuts, but i would advise doing it during the day not at night.”

Thanks for the gardening tip! My blind puss Mitz and arthritic lass Lily were foiled by just a three foot fence (like your boy, Mitz wouldn’t jump anything he couldn’t reach with his paws). Lily managed to get over it once, but my (nice) neighbour spotted her and came over for a chat, and despite her trying to flee in panic she couldn’t quite get back over the fence and I had to haul her over the last bit. She never tried it again!
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