The Adventures of Firefly
So this blog is named after my adventures with my dog. Somewhere along the way I adopted a kitten (now cat) and a beta (Vinny). While most of my adventures include Hazel Nut, there are a decent amount that also include Firefly in the background. Whenever we travel Fi also comes… either to be dropped off somewhere, or joins us for our crazy adventures.
Well… this weekend Fi decided to have an adventure of her own. And it was a BIG adventure. SO this weekend started off by driving from Oceanside to Santa Barbara in the middle of the night. I had class Thursday evening and work in SB at 6am on Friday. Fi does really well with car rides, but hates her carriers. To be fair… I totally get it. She doesn’t mind the car… if she’s allowed to roam. She’s a major roamer. But given our new nomad on wheels lifestyle she doesn’t get to roam.
Unfortunately, my roamer doesn’t get to roam when we’re on the move. AKA she gets to hang out in the hotel room while Hazel joins me at work. At the completion of my shifts this weekend, I had to drive to my storage containers to empty them in order to move them to my parents house in Vegas. (Decide I save nomad on wheels? Because I meant it).
Well, she did great while we were switching out containers, and moving my crap from one container to the trailer going back to Vegas. She even did fine while I was wine tasting with my friends (Don’t worry, I left the AC on for her). However…. she hit her limit of being in her cat condo. When I was switching out water bowls between her and Hazel Fi escaped her enclosure and decided to run around the gas station. I cornered her behind the propane and ice freezer, but she wouldn’t come to me with my mask on. I almost got her when she freaked out and took off again. Eventually this monster ran for the road. I thought I’d lost her. I was devastated.
So I disconnected my car from the pump, parked on the side of the lot with Fi’s enclosure still open should she come back. . . And went in search of my freaked out cat. I searched and searched, calling for her, meowing to her like we do… I could almost feel like I heard her, BUT I wasn’t sure if my mind was just playing tricks on me. Eventually I got Hazel out of the car (so I could turn it off) and we went in search of her kitty. I would love to say that’s what helped me find Fi… but who knows. Hazel was sooo not focused on her missing kitten. But I also know that she helped me to calm down some. She slowed me down enough that I could listen better. I also know that Fi loves her dog. So my hope was that if she saw her dog, she’d be less freaked out.
Eventually I found her suck in between the pillar and a wall on the Taco Bell patio overlooking the drive-thru that backs up to the gas station in which I lost her at. Fi would meow to me because she was scared, and let me pick her up. She clutched to me like she was yelling at me “WHY’D YOU LET ME GO.” All I cared about was that I found her and that she wasn’t hurt.
I work in emergency medicine… I’ve seen what happens to those outdoor cats. What felt like 30 minutes, was actually like 5-10minutes of chasing after and then losing my cat. But I got her back unharmed. I finally got her water bowl refilled. Latched the door correctly. And my little terrorist was safely back in her cat condo. When we got to our end destination 7 hours later she didn’t even want to come out of the cat condo. But then again she hates my mom’s house… mainly because of her dogs. She hates her dogs.
Regardless I have my cat back, and let’s hope her adventurer spirit is subdued for the time being. . .