Mission: Rescue Cali
About a month ago we were sitting outside on the deck eating dinner when we first heard the plaintive cries of little Cali. She was a small Calico Cat and she had wandered into our next door neighbor’s yard. She immediately wandered up to our neighbors and rubbed against them. They were smitten, but it was not meant to be. They fed her and tried to bring her inside and she gladly would have gone, but it turns out that our neighbor is allergic. When he picked her up, he sadly broke into hives and had to leave her outside.
She stayed in their yard for a few days but it was obvious that she was not an outdoor cat. Everyday she was looking a little more disheveled and frayed around the edges. She was more and more nervous being outside.
Our neighbors kept feeding her and eventually after a couple of days, she wandered onto our deck.
We think she was trying to get away from Dandelion, the resident street tabby. When he was named, we didn’t know he was a boy, hence Dandelion! He was following her around the yard and she spotted us on the deck and came up to get away from the bigger cat (who followed her to the top of the steps).
We fed her and gave her some water immediately and she adopted us. She rubbed her little head against out legs and meowed for pets and scratches. When it was time to go inside, she tried to follow.
We discussed bringing her in, but we were cautious since we have Maestro inside. We didn’t want to bring another cat into the house and disturb his peace. Plus, since she’d been on the street, we didn’t know if she had fleas or any other potential health issues that could impact our boy. We had to be safe for him (which kind of broke our hearts because she was just so pitiful).
We brought her out the spare carrier and lined it with an old towel and decided to contact Animal Life Savers (where we adopted Maestro) in the morning to see if they could help.
She cried all night by our window. It was a rough night for sleep.
In the morning, on my way to work, I contacted the group and they didn’t have any foster families available but they still wanted to help. We went back and forth talking during the day and then the next day too. We were trying to figure out if they could get her to the vet and if we could keep her for a bit, but between Maestro and our lease (only one cat allowed) we couldn’t bring her inside.
In the meantime, we had some workers come to fix our deck. It needed a deep cleaning, sanding and some paint, so for two days they were in and out.
And Cali disappeared.
We were hoping she had found her way to a good home. Time passed and we kept looking for her but she didn’t come back.
We were not correct. We had no idea where she had gotten to.
Then, one morning, almost exactly two weeks later, I left the house at 10am (normally I leave at before 7am and am silent) and called out to Baros “Bye honey! See you later.” That’s when I heard the meowing coming from the basement.
I opened the door and double checked to make sure it wasn’t just Maestro crying.
It wasn’t.
At that moment, Baros went into action mode. He came out and confirmed that it was Cali’s crying. He grabbed his tool box and we broke into the basement since we didn’t have a key (later on, he called our landlord to let her know what was going on).
Cali was at the bottom of the stairs meowing for us.
She was skin and bones and so happy to see us! She’d been trapped in the basement for 2 weeks. When the guys cleaning the deck were working, they must have had the door to the basement open and Cali wandered in then curled up somewhere where they wouldn’t find her.
Every time we’d seen her previously, she had tried to come inside, so that day was probably no different, except there was no one to make sure she stayed outside!
We never even thought to suspect that she’d be in the basement! It’s incredible that we heard her when we did. Two weeks without food and water is a lot! I think she must have been eating bugs and licking up water from dripping pipes but she was so skinny that it was frightening. I’m so grateful that we found her still relatively healthy and alert.
Baros led Cali outside and sat with her all day, making sure that she ate and drank and stayed on the deck. She spent the day alternating between food and sitting on Baros’ feet. She did not want to be alone.
On my journey into the city, I started texting Animal Life Savers and Joan immediately jumped into action.
Fortunately, she was able to find a foster home and get Cali a vet’s appointment. We talked to our landlord and brought Cali into the basement for one more night to keep her safe. We set her up with food, water and a temporary litter box. She would only eat when we were with her so we spent some time down there before bed (not too much because Maestro would cry for us).
The next morning, we hustled into the basement and got Cali into the extra carrier. She was a good little girl and got in without a fuss. We sat with her on the front porch until Joan was able to get to us.
Joan picked up Cali around 8:30 and brought her straight to the vet. Cali was neutered and given fluids for her dehydration and brought over to her foster family. She was given the time and quiet to heal completely.
Luckily, a week later she was adopted.
We are so happy that she’s found her forever home and that we could help get her off of the street. It’s our first time playing rescuers and we’re just happy that everything ended well!
Gotta love Maestro. He’s making sure that Cali is leaving…
Love his photo-bomb!
Animal Life Savers to save the day!
Cali recovering in her foster home after getting liquids and surgery!
If anyone is looking for an adorable kitty or puppy, take a look at Animal Life Savers. They really did so much to help us save Cali. And they were really wonderful helping us match with Maestro!
Remember Adopt, Don’t Shop!
<a href="https://www.bloglovin.com/blog/20590645/?claim=83rajhq7e5c">Follow my blog with Bloglovin</a>
