The kitties are nearly a year old. For several months three of them have been enjoying the freedom of climbing the tree, walking the wall, and heading over to the other side. We had to perform a few tree rescues at first, but they got the hang of it. Not Mokito, however. He just played in the patio and would sit for hours longingly staring at the “path to freedom”.
A couple of weeks ago he did it! He made it to the other side! The wide open spaces of the abandoned meat packing building next door. Large creatures live there! There is so much adventure and so much to learn. But then he tried to come home. And he freaked out on the top of the wall.
The others tried to help. Sak Boox climbed up and down to show him how. Lorenza went up and licked his head, but then set off on her own adventure. (Moka doesn’t go there! So the Sargeant in charge was helpless and upset!) Busmo went up, licked Mokito’s head to calm him down, and slowly walked in front of him. He looked back and Mokito was still frozen in position. Busmo turned around, went back to Mokito, and got behind him. He nudged him gently a few times. He really gave it a good try. No go.
We called the neighbors, who were kind enough to lend us a tall ladder, and Pablo rescued him. He was humiliated of course, but happy to see food and water again. The next day he did the same thing. Pablo said, “No, let him learn to come down. He has to learn.” I agreed. But Pablo left the house and I was just watching him pant, and listening to him cry, and couldn’t handle it. I gave in and borrowed a ladder from Pedal Loco next door. I brought him down.
The third day he went up again. In the evening he was crying out, and we thought, NO, this has to stop. But we gave in and Pablo climbed up and tried to rescue him. He stepped back. I told Pablo to leave him; that I thought maybe he was ready to do it on his own. It was difficult but we walked away and left him there.
Fifteen minutes later we were sitting talking and we heard “MEOW! MEOW! MEOW!...” approaching us. Mokito ran in, jumped over us, and kept on running, sliding into his water dish, meowing all the way. He finally figured it out. He was so proud of himself. He finally joined the big league.
2 comments:
A story well told.
Unfortunately now he is a mad hunter. I am sure he brought the scorpion home, and I think he was stung. He brought a gecko back yesterday. He has had google eyes for three days. If it isn't gone tomorrow, time to bring in a vet.
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