Near-Pandemonium And An Attempted Escape (Minnie & Smurfy)

Minnie and Smurfy have been in the condo-cage for 5 days now. Apart from the few times I carried Minnie out for a few seconds (before she would struggle), they had been caged. I wish I could let them out, but Minnie would escape and Smurfy would be near-impossible to catch back.

Do you see Ginger in the photo?  He’s keeping tabs on them. Just being kiasu, that is all.

Smurfy has a new box, a bling-bling and a bell-ball to play with.

He was playing with the bell-ball all night.

They were wheeled out to get some morning sun this morning.

Then I thought of letting them out. The other day, I tried, but Ginger gave chase and Minnie attempted to scale the wall to escape.

So I did, before noon.

Both made a beeline for “The Gap” which I’ve already sealed up. Minnie looked up and down to try to find a gap, but there was none.

Then, Minnie came to Vincent’s table.

Then I saw it. Oh no….

Minnie could climb up Stargate2 and stretch herself over to the right, cling on to StarGrille and heave herself out.

Oh no….the moment I thought of it, Minnie jumped up and latched onto Stargate2 and started climbing. I only managed to hold on to one of her legs, but it was very slippery because her fur is very short. Luckily husband came in time to scruff her and took her back to the cage. That was a very close shave!

Smurfy went completely berserk and rammed his whole body onto Stargate2 in a panicked state.

With Minnie safely “behind bars” in the cage, we tried to catch Smurfy and he would not allow himself to be caught. He was swiping at us like a lion in fury. For a kitten, he is incredibly strong. Though his nails have been trimmed (by the vet), his blow can inflict a blunt force trauma.

We tried to entice him with food, but no, he will not be bribed. No way. He was going to fight to the death. Yes, his fort is from under Vincent’s table. Finally, we chased him out from there and he dashed back to the cage to try to get in. Unfortunately, it was locked, so he scaled the cage. I managed to catch him as he got to the top.

The poor little thing was traumatised.

So I put him back into the cage. That’s enough excitement for they day…for all of us. It was a mistake letting them out to stretch their legs a little. They are still feral. Five days in the cage simply wasn’t long enough to tame them….not yet.

Minnie is a free spirit who wants to escape but she is not totally foreign to the human touch. Smurfy is 100% feral. My guess is perhaps Minnie got cast out from her home when she became pregnant (again) and Smurfy was born on the street. Hence, his totally feral nature. Minnie had three kittens, if I remember correctly. There was definitely a Calico. But I guess only Smurfy survived.

When I first saw Minnie clutching kittens up and down the road, the Chief of Security mentioned that she had a home “down the road”.

Now, back to the escape route. You see these knobs? That’s what Daffodil used to climb up Stargate2. She did not even need to scale the gate. She just used these knobs. BUT…Daffodil did not see Minnie’s route. Otherwise, she would have escaped.

Is Minnie smarter than Daffodil? She is definitely longer. Maybe Daffodil (who is shorter in length) knew she would not have been able to stretch from Stargate2 to StarGrille, but Minnie can. Minnie is a lanky girl.

I had earlier blocked this gap with a towel. I was afraid Smurfy would be able to crawl out of it.

I must say I did a pretty good job sealing this gap up with netting. Minnie surveyed it and decided she found no loophole.

The aftermath of the pandemonium.

I immediately sent voicemails to our grille-man, Ah Keong, to see if by any chance, he could do some work, but Ah Keong said it is not allowed during the MCO.

So I had a voicemail discussion with him and told him I needed to cat-proof StarGrille this time.

I think the only way is to extend StarGrille with polycarb, as in Bunny’s Place:

This was a second trial because the first (with soft netting) failed. Indy managed to get out. Yes, Indy managed to climb the soft netting and get out. That was many years ago.

I read that once a platform is inclined at 45 degrees, cats cannot climb out, but it sure looks like Minnie could.

Well, Indy could too.

We have a big piece of hard plastic (for the floor), so we drilled holes in it and made this temporary barricade. But I’m sure it isn’t Minnie-proof as she can still use the knobs.  After the MCO, we would have to engage Ah Keong to do the polycarbs.

Until then, I’m afraid, Minnie and Smurfy would have to stay in the cage. Yes, this is really Movement Control Order for them too.

Sorry, M n S! I want to let you both out to stretch a bit, but Minnie, if you escape, I won’t be able to see you through your liver treatment. And Minnie has to be spayed if she is not pregnant. Bushy White and Gingertom are around.

Smurfy needs to have his full vaccination for protection from the elements too.

Lunch time for Minnie Grey and Smurfy Grey.

Ginger has decided to be very kiasu. Whatever the Greys eat, he wants to. So here he is, eating Coco&Joe’s. He normally doesn’t. The Kitchen Cats only eat Cubgrub. But due to his kiasuism, he is willing to eat Coco&Joe’s now. Well, good for him! More variety. The Coco&Joe’s I buy has chicken, turkey, rabbit and cooked sardines. There’s definitely protein rotation there.

Exhausted after those few minutes of pandemonium.

They are actually quite comfortable in the condo.

Mr Kiasu is on standby.

Dinner time and here is Ginger having an after-dinner snack (I-want-whatever-the-Greys-are-having).

It would be nice if Tabs were willing to eat Coco&Joe’s too, just for variety, but she is a strict Cubgrubber and Primal-er. This afternoon, she stole a whole Primal nugget from the packet and had a feast.

I’m not here like Ginger. He is just kiasu. I’m here to be friends with Minnie and Smurfy.

Minnie and Smurfy, meet Tabs.

Source: https://myanimalcare.org/2020/04/24/near-pandemonium-and-an-..

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