Fiver escapes, fights with fluffy
I’m not sure how he got out. We were loading in some gear from the van, and had the cellar door open, but the sliding door to the storage area was closed off. I think.
Fivey could have escaped from the second or third floor, but he would have had to climb down from the roof. I’ve been letting him explore upstairs. He knows there’s another world up there, and lately he’s been meowing at the top of the basement stairs to go up. I thought the chance of him escaping out of a gap in the exterior was very small.
However he got out, it happened.
After we finished moving everything inside, I noticed Fivey wasn’t around. I didn’t think anything of it at first but after 20 minutes with no sign of him, I decided to look. I looked in every crevice of the house – the rafters on the second floor, behind the wood on the third, in the bath tub, behind the tools… everywhere. NO FIVEY. I called for Matt. He started looking outside. I went to the front of the house to see if I saw him on the roof. NO SIGN OF FIVER.
My heart started to race, my stomach felt sick, I started to panic. I was searching next door for about 15 minutes when I heard a strong meow. I followed the cry and saw Fivey sitting under the beach plum tree, two feet from Fluffy, a feral our neighbor takes care of. Fluffy looks unassuming, with his long gray puffy hair, masking his muscular physique. He looks round and soft, but he’s a tough cat.
Both cats looked alert, but all and all it seemed like nothing happened. As soon as I spotted Fiver, he bolted and disappeared like a wild tiger on a hunt. I looked high and low. At this point I was crying, walking up and down the block, into neighbors’ backyards screaming his name like a raving lunatic. I was in panic mode.
My neighbor Noreen (who cares for a TNR cat colony on our block) saw me and I burst out “My cat is lost, my cat is lost!!!” with tears streaming down my face. Other neighbors also noticed my hysteria and came over to see what the commotion was about. Sam from around the corner said he would check on Beach 92nd, just in case Fiver got under the fences. Noreen helped me look in her yard. There was a false alarm. A man from the condo across the street was aware of Fiver via Sam and thought he spotted a cat fitting Fivey’s appearance … but the description was off. The cat he saw was mostly black, with a black nose.
An hour past and I was overcome with emotion. Our good friend and neighbor Eric saw me crying in his backyard holding a bag of cat food – he came over to console me. He said his Mom’s cat escaped and came back when she was hungry. “Don’t worry, he’s just having some fun, he loves you. He’ll come back when he’s done with his adventure. He’s probably having the time of his life.” I prayed that Eric was right.
I did another loop around the block and then Matt called. He spotted Fivey in Eric’s backyard, under the shed!!! I ran back but we lost sight of him. There was nothing else to do but wait. I was sitting on a pile of cinder blocks just waiting, and crying, with all sorts of worst case scenarios running through my head. My biggest fear was that he might not come back by night fall. Would he be able to find his way? What about possums? Say if Fivey got hurt?
More time pasted, then out of the corner of my neighbor’s yard, by his shed, Fiver’s white head appeared. I didn’t know what to do. I didn’t want to scare him away. I just called his name, and slowly got up. He was coming towards me but looked a bit spooked. I continued to walk towards him, and like lighting he bolted again! He stopped abruptly by the apple tree. I walked toward him and he ran towards the our cellar, but the door was closed! I followed him, grabbed him with all my strength and took him inside.
When he finally settled down I noticed his nose was bleeding, It was scratched up. Fiver had a fight with Fluffy!! Fivey and Fluffy have a history. Fluffy comes in our yard and stares at Fivey through the window. Although he was hurt, he seemed pretty unaffected by it. He decided it was time for a nap and laid down on the bed.
Fiver resting after his outdoor adventure. Note the scratches on his nose.
I had another melt down a little while after. “Why are you crying?” Matt asked. “Everything worked out.” I said “Say if he’s unhappy and he wants to be free to explore the outside world?? Am I keeping him captive?”
Then I cried some more.
