Posted on 04/06/2007 7:58:41 AM PDT by TimeLord
NEW CASTLE, Ind. - A cat helped spare a family from death by carbon monoxide poisoning by jumping on the bed and meowing wildly as fumes filled the home, the owners said. Eric and Cathy Keesling said their 14-year-old cat, Winnie, played a crucial role in saving their lives March 24 after a gasoline-powered water pump in their basement caused the odorless but deadly gas to build up. About 1 a.m., the domestic shorthair began nudging Cathy’s ear and meowing loudly. “It was a crazy meow, almost like she was screaming,” said Cathy, who hesitated to get up until Winnie’s caterwauling and jumping persisted. When she finally climbed from bed, she realized she was nauseous and dizzy and couldn’t awaken her husband. Because he had undergone minor neck surgery the previous day, she decided to call 911 but was so disoriented she had trouble dialing. Paramedics found the couple’s 14-year-old son, Michael, unconscious on the floor near his bedroom. The Keeslings were taken from the home in oxygen masks, treated for carbon monoxide poisoning and soon recovered. Cathy Keesling said Winnie acted similarly last summer when tornadoes tore through the area, 45 miles east of Indianapolis. “I really believe cats can sense these kind of things,” she said.
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How cute.
lol
Well...I’ve got my extension ladder, rope, small trap, food, gloves. Its a two story townhouse,....so I’m not sure if there is anything I can do. They have been throwing food up there for it.....the fire dept cannot be called (they would charge for help) and we can’t draw attnetion to the situation. It’s a feral cat. the Association there will just want to kill it if they find out...like they have done with at least 10 others.
If there wasn’t a meal in it, it wouldn’t have been The Reverend.
Cats are OK with me. I’m just joking around
One of our cats -- a "discard" that we saved off the street -- was apparently abused really bad by some @#$%$^ "children" before he was thrown away. He is absolutely terrified of kids. Loves adults, but is just scared $#!+less of kids.
He is also scared of other cats -- probably because he was declawed before he was thrown out to fend for himself. Some people, I swear...
So, we have this little guy, scared of his own shadow, who, one day, when our big dog (Rottie) was jumping up and down trying to lick my wife'd face (or give her a concussion from skull-impact -- he wasn't real coordinated), it looked like he was trying to rip her throat out. (She was sitting on the couch, trying to hold the dog off, but he kept jumping up at her face.)
It was a pretty funny moment, except that to our little scaredey cat, it looked like a "dog attack."
So, what did this little nervous wreck of a guy do? Did he go hide under the couch -- or run out of the room?
Nope.
He grit his jaw, showed his fangs, and hissed at the dog.
Every muscle in his little body was tense.
He then inched his way around my wife's back, climbed up on her knee, and tried to stare down the dog!
When that didn't work, he let out a weak little growl.
When that didn't work, he suddenly -- with the most anguished look on his face -- began rat-tat-tat punching the dog on the nose with his right paw! His right declawed paw!
Now, that got the dog's attention.
The dog stopped his "attack", looked at the cat with this look of utter confusion (the dog liked the cats!), tilted his head, with this "why did you hit me?" look, and turned away from the "attack".
The little cat was a nervous wreck after that, it took him a while to calm down.
The point is, no matter how great his fears were -- and they were about as great as I can imagine -- he went -- unarmed with anything but sheer grit -- to the defense of his human "mama".
If that ain't courage, then I don't know what is.
BTW, he'll only eat dry cat food. Looks at canned food like it's not even edible. Won't even give it a sniff. It's not food to him. He only eats dry food, and his bowl has to be off where no one can see him eat. He doesn't eat all that much -- the vet says he's neurotic. He is much more concerned with being pet and held than being fed. He is extremely loyal.
I've always viewed it as dogs being like drinking buddies, and cats being like toddlers. You wouldn't want to depend on a toddler to help you fix your car -- but you wouldn't want to sit your drinking buddy on your lap after a rough day at work. (At least I hope not! :)
Tie the trap via a rope to the end of the pole, then lower it onto the roof, and wait.
Or, bite the bullet, and pay a private service to come and get the poor thing. There are lots of contractors with "cherry pickers" used for stuff like tree-trimming, antenna service, etc. Probably wouldn't cost all that much, and there are far worse things to spend money on.
You can probably collect five bucks from half the people in the neighborhood to help out.
We have a black-and-white feral (or "ex-feral"), who has adopted our toddler (just under 2 yrs old).
He is just obsessed with the kid. When in the playpen, the cat will be there with him. If the baby lays down, the cat lays down next to him, in the same position most of the time. When he sits up, the cats sits up. If he stands up and hangs his arms over the rail, the cat reaches up and hangs his paws and chin on the rail right next to the baby, standing on tiptoe. It's like they're synchronized.
Had a friend over the other day who didn't believe me. So, the baby gets put into his playpen, my wife puts the cat in with him, and the show began! Baby sits, cat sits. Baby lays down, cat lays down. Baby stands up by rail, cat's there next to him, hanging over the rail, like they're twins.
The sad part is that the baby acts like he doesn't even know the cat's there. The cat will nuzzle him, rub against him, forehead-bump him, and the baby just walks around him. Every now and then he'll give him a gentle pat, but that's it. Hopefully some day he'll realize how lucky he is to have his "guardian kitty."
P.S. I’ve loved all my dogs as well.
PS:
Make sure you are giving it plenty of WET (canned) food (and not the “chunks” type which is ALL suspect, IMO).
Cats need a LOT of water. They are “designed” to get nearly all their water intake via prey they capture. If they are eating dry food, they MUST have a LOT of water available. If they do NOT have water available, they MUST have wet food, to supply the water they need to survive.
Please don’t let that poor thing die up there. I’m sure you can find someone to step forward as “the owner”, to claim the poor thing, so that it won’t be killed when it’s retrieved.
Any roofer in the phone book.
What precious stories! Your baby truly does have a guardian kitty. And a good one to boot.
My guess is your little one will notice the cat in time. That’s what happened at our house. People kept warning me that one of the cats might hurt my daughter. Not even close. Our then male Siamese put up with it when she dressed him in her T-shirts and rolled him around the house in her dolly carriage. It was adorable. I have yet to see anyone look at those photos (including card carrying cat haters) and do less than smile. That cat lived until my daughter was 15-years-old. It was a terribly sad day when he had to go to kitty heaven but he certainly had been a best pal to us all.
The other nice thing was that my daughter learned to be kind to animals at a very young age. She caught on rather quickly when I’d correct her and show her what the word “gentle” meant. Well, I mean, Edgar was one of her best buddies. Kitty might cry if you hurt him, etc. Funny how I can remember that after all these years but those aren’t things parents forget.
Enjoy! Here’s hoping you take lots of pictures of your baby and her guardian kitty. You’ll treasure them in the future. That’s a promise!
When he was a bit younger (maybe a bit over a year old?), he did slap one of the cats -- once. Not real hard, but a definite slap. The cat looked at him, like, "Whoa!" -- and immediately slapped him right back! Not real hard -- open paw, munitions remained "holstered" -- but, a definite slap.
The baby stopped everything, and had this look of realization, it was obvious that he quickly figured out that there was no percentage in taking that business any further. That was the last time he was ever aggressive to a cat. (There was one time he tried to pick up his "guardian" and hoist him over the edge of the playpen. The cat wasn't having any of it. He just went limp, and slipped through the baby's arms. Funniest thing I ever saw. "Passive resistance", cat-style. Should have named him "Ghandi" instead of "Hobbes" :)
I just read your post...that’s exactly what I did. I made a pole, took my kitten trap, climbed the highest stair, and lowered it on the roof . The cat went in 7 times without stepping on the plate! It was unbelievable. After 3 hours 9:00pm the homeowners basically told me adios..goodnight..to leave. I went back this morning and the cat is not around..but I was told it never comes out in the daytime.....I bought some wood and am going to make a plank. IT’s about 30 feet high I figure...I have 45 feet of plank. If the cat is still alive and up there (it was VERY thin).. I just hope the plank works. I also showed a couple homeowners last year how to wrap up sloppy wet food with added water and pour it in a plastic bag and whip the bag up there so that it will open when it hits. It works great.(this has happened last year but that roof was alot lower and I was able to get a ladder up there and trap them and leave lots of water).... Just hope this cat is not too far gone. There are no hiding spots that we see yet this cat only appears at night and cries ALL NIGHT long. I’m waiting for a phone call from my friend to let me know when they spot it. I’ll put up the plank somehow. I’ll let you know how it goes.
Hmm...
The way our trap is built, it should be possible to tie a piece of fishing line to the trip-arm, so that you can manually yank the "trigger" when the cat enters the trap. I don't know what kind you're using, but it'd probably be possible, if you examine the mechanism.
Yes...I tried that too(with string), but then my pole broke and I was unprepared to go any further since it was late already. So yesterday, I had to buy a taller ladder, and used the bigger dependable trap I had and the cat almost went in. I left everything out there with trap tied open and food and water inside, and will try again tonight. This is a 15 mile one way drive for me. So, i’m going back after work tonight and will hope to God it goes in this time. Meanwhile, from teh roof area, I see 4 week old kittens poppping out from under a hedge over there. I have to get them now too....unbelievable.
One thing about traps — and if you’re doing cat rescue you probably already know this, but there are a lot of other people reading this thread who need to know it — do NOT leave a trap unattended, or you are apt to retrieve a dead cat. Once trapped, they MUST be retrieved right away! They cannot tolerate being trapped for any appreciable period of time (i.e., more than an hour or two at most is all I’d go).
If anyone is setting a trap, it’s important to stick around, rather than set it out with the plan of coming back the next day, or even later on that same day. Cats are very rugged critters, but this is one thing they just don’t handle very well.
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