The day of the Cat at Aylesbury

Moored Aylesbury, Aylesbury Arm GU Canal

It’s always the same when looking after someone else's animals… I have only done that once before while the owner went on holiday.  He had nobody to look after his dog, and his dog just hated kennels.  So your’s truly offered to look after him.

He got out!  He got hit by a car! And he died!

… and it was another two days before my friend returned from his holiday.  It was a long time ago now, but I had reason to remember that today.

Having been given the responsibility of looking after Chas and Ann’s mutt Molly and moggy Tara, everything was fine until yesterday evening.  I went to their boat Moore 2 Life to feed Tara, and came out to empty the litter tray pushing the doors across as I did so she wouldn’t escape… only to return and find that I had left the keys INSIDE the boat!

Their boat is very secure, and we couldn’t manage to get in at all.  If only Ann had left one of the windows open on the non-towpath side just a smidge, I could have got the boat hook through and hook the keys from the kitchen top.  I have heard stories about cats that have been locked in garden sheds for days on end without food and water and survived.  Tara had food and water, and some extra dried food as well as some tinned stuff I had just given her.

Chas and Ann were due back within 24 hours, I decided that she would be OK hopefully.  All I had to do was to visit very often telling her what a good cat she was, and how horrible I was that I wasn’t even coming in to tell her that, and to tell her that she wasn’t being fed.

In the mean time I had to find out from Chas and Ann if they had the spare set of keys with them without alarming them of the situation… you know what it’s like, something happens, you worry and hurry home.  Well it wasn’t life or death situation yet!

“Err hello Ann, erm do you have your spare set of keys with you because we might go out this afternoon if you have”  I was praying she would say yes…. Vic and crowbar breaking into their boat might not have gone down too well with the other boaters here!  Where is the nearest locksmith?  Do the AA come to call outs to narrowboats?

“Yes I have them here Sue”  Phewwwwwwwww

All was fine this morning, there she was on her little cushion by Annie’s chair, and again an hour later, but then horror!  I couldn’t see her.  She wasn’t on her cushion nor on the blanket on the bed, not on any of the chairs, not in the loo, just nowhere to be seen..  I called and even promised her double feed later in the day… nope she was having nothing of it!

Now I started to panic…. It was at this point I remembered what happened to my friend’s dog all those years ago, I felt sure she was dead.  Either that or she had escaped.  “She can’t have escaped Sue, we can’t even get in there!” from helpful Vic.

Went back every 10 minutes looking, nope, nowhere, just flippin' nowhere!

I sent Vic to look, maybe she just hated me too much now.  Can’t really blame her to be honest.  He saw her! .  As he looked in the back window, she just poked her head out of  her little basket thingy that Ann tells me she never uses… It was no more than a poke either… just a quick look to see who was at the window and she disappeared back in again.. so phewwwwww again!!

Well Ann and Chas arrived back safely, and I blurted out all that had happened, thinking that they would be disappointed in my stupidness… but it was all smiles….

Oh and Tara?

She got tons and tons of fuss and a huge bowl of kitty food, she was quite happy!!