Santiam Get's Stuck

Santiam is a large cat... 14 lbs at least.

I know we have an unusual cat. I had lots of cats growing up. This cat isn't like any of those and isn't like any cat our friends have either. Whatever a normal cat's behavior is... our cat's behavior is not normal. But in certain situations I expect him to act like a normal cat would.

This morning after I let him in to eat... he crawled up under the dash on the driver's side. In a motor home there are all kinds of wires under that big flat dashboard area. In our motor home there is access to the under the dash area on the PASSENGER side and since he's crawled up under there more than a few times as a young cat...and one or twice as a 14 lb cat... I've blocked that access off. He's never tried to get up under the dash from the driver's side. Until this morning.

I didn't even hear him doing it until he let out a loud meoow. (He was in trouble and he definitely knew it. I could see his head and his front paws...but the rest of him was under the dash. He was tangled in wires. Actually, just one big heavy wire was the problem. It was around his hips and was very tight. Tight enough that I couldn't get my finger between it and him.

Now in order for me to get down to his level, I was face down across the driver's seat with my head below the steering wheel. And I didn't bother to put the arm rest up before I got there. I was wedged in there as tight as could be and I was trying to get down further. It was a "no go".

I was really surprised how calm he was. This is the part where he was not being like a normal cat. A normal cat would have been flipping out. All I could do was push him back further under the dash and hope to loosen the wire enough to get pressure off a little. This wire was a very heavy black wire. Like an electronics cable. It wasn't a little thin connecting wire.
I could not push him back with one hand AND get the wire worked off his hips with the other. He wouldn't stay back if I didn't push him back. But he didn't mind me pushing him back and he wasn't flipping out and he wasn't making any meows.

Where was Lou? Lou had just gotten in the shower as I was hearing that first "meoow". Lou takes long showers. As long as a person can with only 10 gallons of hot water. Still, that's a good 10 to 15 minutes. and no, he wasn't going to hear me unless I yelled loud enough and that was going to freak the cat out. Trust me. He's not that not normal.

And then I heard Lou get out of the shower. He just got in. The water was not going down the drain so he cut it short. PRAISE THE LORD for clogged drains.

So I'm calling Lou to come help me. " I'm under the steering wheel." I say. and he says, "I can see that." (I think I can scratch that spot off the "hide here" list for playing hide and go seek.)

I tell him that the cat is tangled in the wires under the dash and it's so tight that it's cutting the circulation off. The cat is still very calm.

I tell Lou to go outside and open the driver's door. (Thank GOD that this motor home has a driver's door. Most of them don't.)

Lou get's to the outside of the door and I did expect the cat to react when that door opened. He took it pretty darn good once he saw that it was Lou. Between the two of us... me pushing and Lou using two hands to get the wire off the cat, it went really well. Santiam stayed really calm the whole time. I was just able to push on his chest with one hand. That's as far as I could reach.

It didn't take Lou very long and the cat was freed. I did get a chance to check the cat quickly before he got out the door. He wasn't obviously hurt but I worried that something was too tight for too long. He came back around six hours later and finished his breakfast so I can tell you that he's fine.

It wasn't until around 6pm that we were talking about the whole thing. Lou was saying that when he was working the wire loose it just seemed like the cat was working along with him. Lou got the wire loosened for Santiam to lift one leg out. Then Lou had to untwist and loosen the wire for the cat to lift the other leg out. Like the cat knew the plan.

That was the part that was the most not normal. Cat's don't work with anyone.

The drain was really clogged. The valve was open outside. It wasn't clogged the last time we used it. Just good timing, I guess.

As far as blocking the dash access under the steering wheel... this was the first time the cat had tried to get up there on that side. I think he's smart enough not to try that again.

God is Good.