The other night at work (I always work the late shift 3-11:30 p.m.) about 10:00 p.m. I got this dreadful feeling in the pit of my stomach. I knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that something was wrong at the house.

I don’t know how I knew, but I did. I called, but Mike was asleep and he can’t hear the phone anymore (he is to deaf) plus the pills he is on right now knock him for a loop.

I couldn’t leave work as I was the only one there, so at 11:10 I took off. I wanted to speed, but of course a state trooper decided to follow me most of the way out of town. I get home, check on Mike, he’s fine, I check on the cats in the house, they are good. I still have this unsettling feeling in my stomach, so I go off in search of the outside kitties (there are 4) I find 3 after considerable searching and they are all good and happy to see me. I can’t find Chaplain though.

I head up to the house going on the back porch and before I get to the door, I stop. I hear cries of distress, very faint. The meows are unmistakable, they are Chappy. He is under the house and crying softly non-stop.

I grab a flashlight, beat it out to the side of the house where there are small openings- about the size for a german shepherd to get into, but not a person. I kneel down- of course it is pouring rain, and I shine my light and I see him sitting just beyond reach. He is semi-feral and the only time he ever comes to me is at night when I am laying down.

I check him all over with the light looking for blood, swelling distress anything. I see nothing out of the ordinary. There is nothing I can do until morning. I go back inside, and spend an uneasy night listening to his soft cries of distress (virtually non-stop).

In the morning, I throw on my overalls and grabbing a flashlight, I scoot under the house, no easy feat as I had to stay prone on my stomach and scoot underneath pipes and other obstacles. It was very claustrophobic.

I see him in the deep corners of the house, unaccessible to me. He is watching me, he is crying and he is not moving. The normal chaplain would be gone by now. He lets me get close, then moves off slowly. I watch for signs of limping, tenderness, I see nothing. His eyes are bright, there is no discharge from his nose, nothing amiss with his mouth. But he won’t let me close.

He has food, water and shelter under there. I have been under several times, each time he moves away. He is crying (I hear him now) We had a bad rain storm last night, thunder lightning, the whole 9 yards, it could be that storm has unsettled him, or he could have been in a fight with another animal and be hurt but I can’t get my hands on.

He is so trap savvy which is why he is still outdoors. I have even contemplated using a fishing net to grab him, but under the house on my belly- it would be so hard to manuever the net, plus it would scare him and if he got away, a distinct possibility, he wouldn’t even show up for days again.

I get so mad at this county. I already know if I call animal control, they would just tell me that it is my problem and deal with it. They don’t do cats at all. Even cats you have trapped, they want no part of it unless the cat is suspected of being rabid, then they are here in a heartbeat.

I gave him fresh food and water, set out pans of food under the tree in the hopes he will come out in the open and I can see him better and see if he is even eating. But I don’t know what to do and for four hours now, all he has done is cry virtually nonstop. I know something is wrong witih him, I baited the trap and slid it under the house, but I know he won’t go in.

I’m sorry I am rambling, I don’t have Mike’s help or we might be able to circle Chappy and drive him into an area where he could be caught. But again, there is limited room under our home, I have to stay on my belly and scoot and I can barely raise my head.

At this point after seeing him move freely from me, I am hoping it is just a matter of the storm spooked him and he hates the rain. It is pouring here right now. But cats hide pain so well and right now I can’t get my hands on him. Not while he stays hidden under the house.

The following morning:
I had to work a long shift today. When I got home the rain had stopped. He was under the house again as calm as toast. He ate the dry food I gave him, drank the water then backed into the shadows again. I cannot tell you how sore I am being under this house four times today. I can hardly move. My hope is he was scared of the high winds and the hard rain- plus we have a fire nearby which has unnerved all the cats. The rain was a welcome sight for the weary fireman battling the quartzville fire. He is quiet now. I will keep my eyes and ears open for him and hope that he is okay. He looks okay and moves okay, but I know from experience that they can really deal with a lot of pain and not show any discomfort until it is to late. I am afraid he got bit by a spider.

That afternoon

I JUST GRABBED HIM! And only by the Grace of God did this happen. He has never spent a large amount of time on our enclosed porch (we have two exits from the porch so the barn cats can come in and get warm in the winter on the heated cat beds.

We had a bad storm last night, and again, I heard him crying most of the night. I felt so miserable for him. This morning, I went once again under the house even though that was the last place I wanted to be. He moved away from me every time.

At lunch, I was in the kitchen fixing food when I heard him crying and it sounded darn close. I went out into the porch and following the cries, I located him on top of a shelf about 9′ high. He saw me, his ears went flat and he started growling.

I carefully made my way over to the sliding glass door and slid it closed. Then I went over to the window, dropped the ramp that the cats can access the window from and slid the window shut. He stayed put the entire time.

Then, it was a matter of playing cat tag as he evaded my reach everytime I tried to get him. I was talking to him softly but it was clear he was terrified. He finally got back up on the shelf, so I scooted a chair over, stood on the chair and talking to him softly, I managed to touch his rear end. He used to love butt rubs. His ears were flat and his eyes were narrowing and I knew it was now or never, so I took a deep breath, said a prayer shut my eyes and carefully slid my hand up to his neck and snatched him!

To say he was pissed is an understatement and he fought me wildly. I was so sad he is feral again. I got him into the house, and released my hold on him. He dropped to the floor and sped down the tunnel to the cat enclosure.

I didn’t see anything unusual when I was ducking claws and teeth- I am going to let him just decompress for a few days then start working with him again. He had gotten out of the house when we had the new roof put on the place and he has been outside now about 8 months. I have tried so many times to capture with no results. I think, me going underground to find him reminded him that I am his security and comfort and he came seeking me. Maybe I am wrong- it could also be that the weather is turning bad and he hates the rain and just wanted to be back in the house again. I don’t know.

Now, i know I will have to deal with a round of spraying as the resident cats adjust to the “new” cat in the house. But, that is just par for the course when you have multiple cats. HE’S HOME!!!

Amazing Moment

Amazing breakthrough Since Mike’s had his surgery and he has a clunky cast on his arm, I have been sleeping on the couch.

This morning about 2:00 a.m. I heard Chappy crying, so I got dressed and went out into the enclosure to be sure he was okay. He was hunched down in the corner just endlessly crying which broke my heart. His mom (Miss Dash) was nearby, she was overhead on one of the ramps pacing. She looked at me like “Would you do something please?”

I knelt down on the ground near Chappy but not close enough to threaten him. I just talked to him softly and told him how much I was glad he was home, how scared I was every night coming home, afraid to see him on the side of the road, or worse hurt by a wild critter or another human. I told him I prayed for him, and how frustrated I was that he was so trap savvy that even my best tricks couldn’t catch him. (Some people may think this is weird) but I truly believe they understand everything we say to them when they are in moments of high stress. I talked, he listened, then I went back in the house and fell to sleep but not before thanking God for bringing him back to safety.

About an hour later, I hear him crying again. He is right on the floor next to me. I slid my hand out of the covers and snapped my fingers (this is my kitty call for food and pets) Other cats ran over (of course) but I gently pushed them away and snapped my fingers again. Chappy came over. Even though it was pitch black, I knew it was him. I started petting him and he just went for it! He got about 2 hours of constant petting. I gently stroked him everywhere. The old chappy would have bit me after 10 minutes because he is stimulated by petting.

But this boy wanted more! There were head bumps and rubs from him and I was crying the entire time. I gently probed him as I petted him, looking for anything, a wound, a puncture, heat, swelling. All I found were cockleburrs on his tail. Cosmetically he is fine!

I finally had to tell him that I needed to go to sleep. I was so exhausted but happy. He jumped up on my legs and settled down. With my hand on his back both of us slept till dawn. When the sun came up, I woke up and he was gone, back to the enclosure.

I am always so amazed at the capacity of these cats and their trust. I wish humans had the same type of love and forgiveness. I was the one who didn’t latch the door properly when the workers went through. Chappy was one of four cats that escaped. He lived in a scary world for months because of my forgetfullness. Yet, now he is telling me that all is forgiven and the first step to the bridge of trust is again forming.

Yesterday, his appearance to me consisted of ears flat against the head, tail swishing, body low to the ground, eyes narrowed into slits and claws spread. He was in attack mode and I had to be so careful how I carried him or he would have sliced me open. Now, he is more relaxed after our petting session and this morning when I fed the monsters, he was out in the open on the overhead ramp just watching me. I knew if I moved toward him in the light, he would bolt. So I have an overhead feeder and I put the food there so he could eat by himself.