Fenella's Return
Last night, after posting that Fenella was still missing, I was sitting on the couch trying to read the mail when I thought I heard her cry out. Bearing in mind, that I'd be thinking I could hear her since she went missing I dismissed it. However, when I heard another cry, this time louder and definitely from Fenella I raced out to the balcony.
As soon as I started to call out for her, she started to cry again. I couldn't see her though. I knew she was close so that meant two possibilities, down the drain pipe or under the roof. In my panicked kitten mother state, I decided it would be a good idea to climb down onto the roof (which Tomas has done the previous night and that morning to look for her). Getting down onto the roof was pretty easy, but as soon as I was down I realised that getting back up was going to be very difficult. I spoke to Fenella for a while (still no idea where she was - but I did know that she was moving around) and somehow managed to scramble back onto the balcony.
Whilst all this was happening I was trying to call Tomas who wasn't answering so after trying one more time once I was back on the balcony, I called Mum. I have to admit, I was a bit hysterical at this point in time. Thankfully Mum advised me to go and try the neighbours to see if they could help.
The guy next door was most helpful, and came over straightway and climbed down onto the roof. It took about 15 minutes but we finally found her. She was under the balcony in a crawl space between our floor and the one below. There was a little tiny hole about the size of a 50 cent piece through which we could see her. Obviously this was not where she had gotten into the gap.
Once we found her I climbed down and let her know I was there but she was quite distressed and started trying to squeeze herself through the tiny gap. We were able to lift up the bit of sheet that we could see her under but not far enough to get her our thanks to a bolt that was sticking down. After another 10 minutes we'd gotten the bolt loose, but Fenella still couldn't get through the gap.
Mum arrived about now which was good. I was hoping that Tom would get home soon though as his architecture knowledge might come in handy to figure out how to get her out of the hole. We had one last go at getting her out and she managed to squeeze her head and front legs through the hole so I grabbed her and yanked her out. I don't think I've ever been so relieved.
Mum took Fenella inside whilst we climbed off the roof. Fenella ran about the house reacquainting herself with everything and then proceeded to lay down some scent. She had a little drink and some food and then did probably the biggest wee ever when she saw the litter box.
So that's the story of how we got her back. Needless to say, she is not getting out onto the balcony again until we have blocked up all of the gaps that she can escape from. She's not at all traumatised by her experience. She's been very happy to be back...she played with all of her toys last night and slept quite happily in our bed. We played all morning and now she's asleep on one of the dining chairs. The only change I've noticed in her is she's been purring more, but I think anyone would be happy to be back after being stuck under a roof for a day.
