a HORRIBLE experience

Cats and kittens, you will not believe what happened yesterday, I almost lost Kip and Ben!  

At 3:00 I had an appointment at our vet for Kip.  He has been having some ongoing trouble with diarrhea and I was taking him in for a recheck.  I took Ben also because he's been looking a little thin lately and I wanted to have him weighed.  It was the coldest day of the year so far, so I packed them into the big carrier (which has held three cats in the past) and covered it with a blanket to keep the wind off them while walking to and from the car.   

the carrier in question

 The vet visit went fine, Ben’s weight is okay and Kip has a probiotic and some new food which will hopefully help him “firm up”.  Our vet is on a busy main street, but I usually park on a residential side street then walk around the corner to the clinic. On the way back to the car the carrier broke!!!!  It just fell open!!! I was left holding the handle as the bottom fell onto the ground!!!  I placed the top half of the carrier back on the bottom, thankfully Ben stayed in the broken carrier sort of cowering at the back but Kip trotted off down somebody’s driveway.  I was very lucky that a man had just pulled up to his house and saw what happened.  He said "go after the black one" and he stayed on the sidewalk and tried to reassemble my carrier with Ben in it.  I managed to dive onto Kip at the bottom of the driveway and was walking back to the car with him when a truck roared up the street and he freaked, wriggling out of my arms, running away again.  At this point the kind stranger helped me put the still broken but slightly put back together carrier containing Ben in the car then I ran down the same very long driveway a second time to find Kip.  

I saw him go into a back garden and I followed him in. I called him and I heard him meow but I couldn't see where he went.  This house had a large deck in the yard, the bottom of which was covered with lattice, I thought he had crawled under the lattice and wondered how I would ever get him out.  I was peering through the lattice calling his name and I heard him meow back to me again but I couldn’t tell from what direction.  Just when I was thinking I would have to slither on my belly through a small opening in the lattice in order to search under the deck I finally figured out where his meows were coming from.  I found him hunkered down under the open framework stairs that led down to a basement door beside the deck.  He was hiding among a pile of leaves, I spoke to him and told him everything would be okay then I pulled him out from under the stairs.  He was shaking in my arms.  Still wriggling, I managed to get him into the Mini on the floor of the front passenger seat and we all went home.  Back in our driveway still inside the car I had to try to repair the carrier, get Kip into the carrier then get both Ben and Kip into the house.  I was able to put it back together and we got inside safely.  I really shudder to think what could have happened if Kip hadn't answered my calls (the really odd thing is that usually Kip is a silent meower; he opens his mouth but nothing comes out).  Not only was it frigid cold yesterday, but by the time I got home it was about 4:30, almost dark, if I hadn’t found Kip when I did it would have been impossible to see him at night.

Ben and Kip both safe at home

Robert came home early because I had called him in a panic while I was looking for Kip; he arrived shortly after I did.  When I saw him I bawled my eyes out...I guess relief is very strong emotion.  I think I was running on full adrenalin and when he got to the house I knew I could crash.  It was a truly awful experience, I thank god, the universe, my lucky stars and whatever other power I can think of that they are both okay!!!

PS – Robert fixed the carrier and attached locking ties to all the hinges and joins so it can NEVER fall open again.


PPS - after dinner Robert and I went back to the house to give our good samaritan a bottle of wine and a little thank you note.