Winston's Ordeal

Winston has been with us now since mid-October.

He has done well adjusting to a life in close quarters, accepting most of the conditions forced upon him.

He still has issues with moving day and we now travel in a carrier.

His timid nature will probably never be overcome,

and that made the following experience a real trial.

.

One morning before packing up to leave, I decided to vacuum. Winston always hides from the vacuum monster and I thought he was in the closet. I ran the carpet attachment under the head of the bed where he was -- and what a cat-astrophic, panic-stricken occurrence!

Winston shot out from under the bed, headed as far as possible from the vacuum. He was going to the back of the trailer in a blur of grey, his fur standing on end from nose to tail.

I finished cleaning the bedroom and began stowing everything away for departure. Finally I got Winston's carrier ready and braced myself for the task of getting him situated.

Strangely, Winston doesn't enjoy being forced in a cage for an unknown (to him)

length of time. It makes for a frustrating game of hide-and-seek. This time I looked in all his favorite places with no luck. I looked behind the furniture and in all the little nooks but no Winston. I knew he hadn't escaped, but I absolutely could not find him. Finally, with a sinking feeling, I realized where he was.

.

The television lowers behind the fireplace, and we always drop it when traveling.

Earl has gotten behind the TV several times. I think he does it just to drive us crazy. The cabinet is deep enough to elude capture if Earl flattens himself out of our reach, and he lays down there with a smirk on his face until we ignore him. When Earl gets bored he hops up on the counter and we go on. Earl is a svelte cat, and limber almost like a Slinky.

Winston is not.

.As you can see, Winston is....uhmmm....big boned. He was so starved for
so much of his life that he eats as much as he can whenever he can.

He has some new nicknames now; Fat Daddy, and lately The Grey Area.

Winston refused to jump out of the cabinet and I couldn't reach him.

He had to ride in the cabinet that day.

I didn't lower the TV all the way and hoped he wouldn't be too scared.

We took off on a three hour trip praying he'd stay put until we arrived at the lake.

As soon as we got there we climbed in the trailer and watched the slides move out.

I thought with all the moving Winston might pop out screaming

and dive back under the bed, but no. He was so traumatized he was frozen in place. His eyes were huge, and he was going nowhere!

We figured we'd leave him alone and he'd come out when he felt safe.
We left for a couple of hours, came back and no change. We left again, no change.
Late that evening I was watching TV when he tried to jump out and failed. That's when I realized he was stuck.

This shows how small an opening we had to work with.
I thought we'd have to pull the fireplace out of the woodwork, or remove the TV.
I actually tried to get the fireplace out myself, but discovered it was glued in. John was asleep and I knew I couldn't get the TV out alone. Winston was meowing and I was miserable!
He moved to a place where I could get my hand on him, but there's no loose skin on his neck to pick him up by. He weighed too much for me to lift him! By this time he'd been stuck for about 18 hours. I'd seen him try to jump out and fail three times. Finally it hit me. The counter was too slick for him to get a grip. I folded a throw from the sofa, set it next to the edge and waited.
In about 10 minutes he tried again. I jumped up and grabbed him.
FREEDOM!!!


My arm was as bruised as his feelings.


The TV cabinet has been modified.