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Astounding cat entrapment



 
 
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  #1  
Old August 16th 03, 07:21 PM
Yoj
external usenet poster
 
Posts: n/a
Default Astounding cat entrapment

What an amazing story, Knut! I'm so glad Sylvester is home at last. I
agree that, after surviving for so long under those conditions, he
deserves a chance.

--
Joy

"Knut Moe" wrote in message
...
Sylvester disappeared Tuesday July 1st in the afternoon. Of course,

being
the head of our family, we feared something might have happened to

him - as
he had never stayed away from the house for more than a few hours at a

time.
Neighbors were alerted (thanks Ulf and Anna, Berit, Kjetil, and all

the kids
around here for being on the look-out!), posters were distributed,
animalshelters were notified. All to no avail; seemingly Sylvester had

been
swallowed up by the ground.
For the next weeks we searched quite a lot in the greater Furuset

area, and
also nearby our house. Our guess was that Sylvester had been annoyed

by the
fact that we just got our new dog (Alfa), and decided to protest this

by
taking a prolonged leave of absence. We couldn't have been more wrong.

While we were looking for Sylvester, we came across a few other stray

cats,
one especially, who was looking sort of scruffy and in dire need of a

longer
bath. We checked him out, found a eartag and checked out the

missing-list at
www.nettkatten.no. Success! His owners had handed him over to a family
catsitter at Grefsen in Oslo, and he had escaped from there. In

february,
2003!!!! From Grefsen to Furuset the distance is about 10 km, crossing

about
2-3 freeways in the process of getting here. The owners aborted their
holidays, and got here in record time. Needless to say they were quite
surprised to see him again, and their gratitude was overwhelming. We

were,
of course, very happy for them - but missed Sylvester more than ever -
although the fact that there seem to be more than a few long-time

reunions
between cats and owners (or "staff" as we like to call us) gave us a

little
hope.

Apart from this, our summervacation passed, and hopes of finding

Sylvester,
let alone find out what happened to him, faded. We received about 15

calls
and requests to check a straycat out, but they were all somebody elses

cats.
People do really want to help, though.

The real breakthrough came Tuesday August 12th 2003. I had just

finished a
businessmeeting at Kolbotn, and my cellphone rang. An agitated voice

told me
she had found my cat, strangely enough I instinctively believed her.

"It had
to be him - I just dropped him off at the vet, and saw your poster on

the
way back. Give them a call!" I didn't get her name or anything, just

hurled
myself into the car, and drove to the clinic - picking up Siren and
Sebastian on my way there. (Thank God there weren't any police

controlposts
on my way).

The woman who found Sylvester gave me some disturbing information

about a
schoolcontainer, and I was thinking in the direction of trash-dumpster

or
something similiar - giving me some hope that Sylvester something to

eat
whilst being trapped. Again I was to be negatively surprised.

When we got to the vet, my poor cat was a pitiful sight. Weighing in

at 2.3
kg, he had lost around 5 kg. All skin and bones, completely dehydrated

(even
the eyes looked strange). He could not stand, eat or take care of

himself.
For the next 4 days, he was treated at the clinic - after the initial
bloodwork turned out - "Miracolously", according to the senior
veterinarian - very good. Sylvester was given fluids intranvenously,

and
started to improve immediately - much to the staff's surprise.

Although
dehydrated cats are not uncommon, they had not seen a condition like

this
turn out well - they had not seen a condition like this at all. We

visited
Sylvester daily, and called there even more often. From each visit we

saw
improvement; gaining stability, increasing fluidlevels, starting to

eat by
himself, starting to drink by himself - even the bowelmovement was

great
news, of course. We were also quite happy to see him start to clean

himself
up, he was quite smelly at the time.

While Sylvester was recuperating at the clinic, we got to the bottom

of what
had happened at the school. The staff had carried alot of furniture

out, and
into a shippingcontainer (the ones you see on boats and big trucks).

The
container was to be used as a storagearea due to interiorwork in the

school
over the summer. After it was filled up with tables, chairs, shelves,

some
toilets and so on - it was locked up and left for the summer - all the

staff
getting on with their holidays. Just before they locked, Sylvester

must have
snuck in, and found himself a nice spot to relax. 6 weeks later- that

is 42
days and nights - the now skinny cat came tumbling out when they

opened the
container to carry all the furniture inside. The rest is, as they say,
history.

Sylvester came home from the clinic Friday, and has been with us for

24
hours as I'm writing this. He is eating, drinking and being very -

VERY -
sociable. He has even been horsing a little around with Alfa and

Sebastian,
but mostly he's resting in our bed (there are no taboos after being
subjected to a trauma like that). The bed is, tragically, located less

than
50 meters from where the container was situated.

People at the clinic and elsewhere asked us if we had thought about
euthenasia, but I think that would be terribly wrong. Having lived

through
an ordeal like that, we will give him plenty of time to get well -

even if
he does not recover fully, we will keep him as long as God's willing -

we
just have to provide some extra care.

We have no idea is this story is one of a kind, or if there are others
stories alike. If there are, please send us an email - we would like

to get
in touch with other catstaff who know of any long-term effects and

share
experiences. I guess we all know that cats are extremely durable,

right now
I'm just curious as to what extent.






  #2  
Old August 16th 03, 10:07 PM
John Biltz
external usenet poster
 
Posts: n/a
Default

On Sat, 16 Aug 2003 7:56:50 -0700, Knut Moe wrote
(in message ):

That is pretty amazing. I agree after surviving that for so long it
would be wrong not to give him a chance. I heard of a cat in a container
like that on a container ship who survived. They figured he survived by
licking condensation off the inside of the container. I would imagine
there would be a lot more of that on a ship at sea than Sylvester had.


Sylvester disappeared Tuesday July 1st in the afternoon. Of course, being
the head of our family, we feared something might have happened to him - as
he had never stayed away from the house for more than a few hours at a time.
Neighbors were alerted (thanks Ulf and Anna, Berit, Kjetil, and all the kids
around here for being on the look-out!), posters were distributed,
animalshelters were notified. All to no avail; seemingly Sylvester had been
swallowed up by the ground.
For the next weeks we searched quite a lot in the greater Furuset area, and
also nearby our house. Our guess was that Sylvester had been annoyed by the
fact that we just got our new dog (Alfa), and decided to protest this by
taking a prolonged leave of absence. We couldn't have been more wrong.

While we were looking for Sylvester, we came across a few other stray cats,
one especially, who was looking sort of scruffy and in dire need of a longer
bath. We checked him out, found a eartag and checked out the missing-list at
www.nettkatten.no. Success! His owners had handed him over to a family
catsitter at Grefsen in Oslo, and he had escaped from there. In february,
2003!!!! From Grefsen to Furuset the distance is about 10 km, crossing about
2-3 freeways in the process of getting here. The owners aborted their
holidays, and got here in record time. Needless to say they were quite
surprised to see him again, and their gratitude was overwhelming. We were,
of course, very happy for them - but missed Sylvester more than ever -
although the fact that there seem to be more than a few long-time reunions
between cats and owners (or "staff" as we like to call us) gave us a little
hope.

Apart from this, our summervacation passed, and hopes of finding Sylvester,
let alone find out what happened to him, faded. We received about 15 calls
and requests to check a straycat out, but they were all somebody elses cats.
People do really want to help, though.

The real breakthrough came Tuesday August 12th 2003. I had just finished a
businessmeeting at Kolbotn, and my cellphone rang. An agitated voice told me
she had found my cat, strangely enough I instinctively believed her. "It had
to be him - I just dropped him off at the vet, and saw your poster on the
way back. Give them a call!" I didn't get her name or anything, just hurled
myself into the car, and drove to the clinic - picking up Siren and
Sebastian on my way there. (Thank God there weren't any police controlposts
on my way).

The woman who found Sylvester gave me some disturbing information about a
schoolcontainer, and I was thinking in the direction of trash-dumpster or
something similiar - giving me some hope that Sylvester something to eat
whilst being trapped. Again I was to be negatively surprised.

When we got to the vet, my poor cat was a pitiful sight. Weighing in at 2.3
kg, he had lost around 5 kg. All skin and bones, completely dehydrated (even
the eyes looked strange). He could not stand, eat or take care of himself.
For the next 4 days, he was treated at the clinic - after the initial
bloodwork turned out - "Miracolously", according to the senior
veterinarian - very good. Sylvester was given fluids intranvenously, and
started to improve immediately - much to the staff's surprise. Although
dehydrated cats are not uncommon, they had not seen a condition like this
turn out well - they had not seen a condition like this at all. We visited
Sylvester daily, and called there even more often. From each visit we saw
improvement; gaining stability, increasing fluidlevels, starting to eat by
himself, starting to drink by himself - even the bowelmovement was great
news, of course. We were also quite happy to see him start to clean himself
up, he was quite smelly at the time.

While Sylvester was recuperating at the clinic, we got to the bottom of what
had happened at the school. The staff had carried alot of furniture out, and
into a shippingcontainer (the ones you see on boats and big trucks). The
container was to be used as a storagearea due to interiorwork in the school
over the summer. After it was filled up with tables, chairs, shelves, some
toilets and so on - it was locked up and left for the summer - all the staff
getting on with their holidays. Just before they locked, Sylvester must have
snuck in, and found himself a nice spot to relax. 6 weeks later- that is 42
days and nights - the now skinny cat came tumbling out when they opened the
container to carry all the furniture inside. The rest is, as they say,
history.

Sylvester came home from the clinic Friday, and has been with us for 24
hours as I'm writing this. He is eating, drinking and being very - VERY -
sociable. He has even been horsing a little around with Alfa and Sebastian,
but mostly he's resting in our bed (there are no taboos after being
subjected to a trauma like that). The bed is, tragically, located less than
50 meters from where the container was situated.

People at the clinic and elsewhere asked us if we had thought about
euthenasia, but I think that would be terribly wrong. Having lived through
an ordeal like that, we will give him plenty of time to get well - even if
he does not recover fully, we will keep him as long as God's willing - we
just have to provide some extra care.

We have no idea is this story is one of a kind, or if there are others
stories alike. If there are, please send us an email - we would like to get
in touch with other catstaff who know of any long-term effects and share
experiences. I guess we all know that cats are extremely durable, right now
I'm just curious as to what extent.





  #3  
Old August 17th 03, 12:31 AM
Steve Touchstone
external usenet poster
 
Posts: n/a
Default

Sorry for piggy-backing, but missed the OP somehow.

So glad that Sylvester was found, and that during the search you were
able to help reunite the other kitty with his family.

As you said, cats can be amazingly durable, and I couldn't give up on
him either after all he'd been through. I guess it's understandable,
though, for the suggestion to be brought up - as he was literally skin
and bones.

The closest story I have that relates to this occurred a few years
ago. There was a cat who adopted our apartment complex, and was fed by
half the people here. He slept inside just about whenever he wanted,
sort of rotating around through the complex and slept here about once
or twice a week. To make a long story a little shorted, when one of
the tenant moved out of state he was locked up in the moving van.
Several days later, when the furniture caught up with the former
tenant, he was found to be in pretty good shape. Thankfully, the
former tenat called back to the manager to let us know he'd been
found.

On Sat, 16 Aug 2003 21:07:07 GMT, John Biltz
wrote:

On Sat, 16 Aug 2003 7:56:50 -0700, Knut Moe wrote
(in message ):

That is pretty amazing. I agree after surviving that for so long it
would be wrong not to give him a chance. I heard of a cat in a container
like that on a container ship who survived. They figured he survived by
licking condensation off the inside of the container. I would imagine
there would be a lot more of that on a ship at sea than Sylvester had.


Sylvester disappeared Tuesday July 1st in the afternoon. Of course, being
the head of our family, we feared something might have happened to him - as
he had never stayed away from the house for more than a few hours at a time.
Neighbors were alerted (thanks Ulf and Anna, Berit, Kjetil, and all the kids
around here for being on the look-out!), posters were distributed,
animalshelters were notified. All to no avail; seemingly Sylvester had been
swallowed up by the ground.
For the next weeks we searched quite a lot in the greater Furuset area, and
also nearby our house. Our guess was that Sylvester had been annoyed by the
fact that we just got our new dog (Alfa), and decided to protest this by
taking a prolonged leave of absence. We couldn't have been more wrong.

While we were looking for Sylvester, we came across a few other stray cats,
one especially, who was looking sort of scruffy and in dire need of a longer
bath. We checked him out, found a eartag and checked out the missing-list at
www.nettkatten.no. Success! His owners had handed him over to a family
catsitter at Grefsen in Oslo, and he had escaped from there. In february,
2003!!!! From Grefsen to Furuset the distance is about 10 km, crossing about
2-3 freeways in the process of getting here. The owners aborted their
holidays, and got here in record time. Needless to say they were quite
surprised to see him again, and their gratitude was overwhelming. We were,
of course, very happy for them - but missed Sylvester more than ever -
although the fact that there seem to be more than a few long-time reunions
between cats and owners (or "staff" as we like to call us) gave us a little
hope.

Apart from this, our summervacation passed, and hopes of finding Sylvester,
let alone find out what happened to him, faded. We received about 15 calls
and requests to check a straycat out, but they were all somebody elses cats.
People do really want to help, though.

The real breakthrough came Tuesday August 12th 2003. I had just finished a
businessmeeting at Kolbotn, and my cellphone rang. An agitated voice told me
she had found my cat, strangely enough I instinctively believed her. "It had
to be him - I just dropped him off at the vet, and saw your poster on the
way back. Give them a call!" I didn't get her name or anything, just hurled
myself into the car, and drove to the clinic - picking up Siren and
Sebastian on my way there. (Thank God there weren't any police controlposts
on my way).

The woman who found Sylvester gave me some disturbing information about a
schoolcontainer, and I was thinking in the direction of trash-dumpster or
something similiar - giving me some hope that Sylvester something to eat
whilst being trapped. Again I was to be negatively surprised.

When we got to the vet, my poor cat was a pitiful sight. Weighing in at 2.3
kg, he had lost around 5 kg. All skin and bones, completely dehydrated (even
the eyes looked strange). He could not stand, eat or take care of himself.
For the next 4 days, he was treated at the clinic - after the initial
bloodwork turned out - "Miracolously", according to the senior
veterinarian - very good. Sylvester was given fluids intranvenously, and
started to improve immediately - much to the staff's surprise. Although
dehydrated cats are not uncommon, they had not seen a condition like this
turn out well - they had not seen a condition like this at all. We visited
Sylvester daily, and called there even more often. From each visit we saw
improvement; gaining stability, increasing fluidlevels, starting to eat by
himself, starting to drink by himself - even the bowelmovement was great
news, of course. We were also quite happy to see him start to clean himself
up, he was quite smelly at the time.

While Sylvester was recuperating at the clinic, we got to the bottom of what
had happened at the school. The staff had carried alot of furniture out, and
into a shippingcontainer (the ones you see on boats and big trucks). The
container was to be used as a storagearea due to interiorwork in the school
over the summer. After it was filled up with tables, chairs, shelves, some
toilets and so on - it was locked up and left for the summer - all the staff
getting on with their holidays. Just before they locked, Sylvester must have
snuck in, and found himself a nice spot to relax. 6 weeks later- that is 42
days and nights - the now skinny cat came tumbling out when they opened the
container to carry all the furniture inside. The rest is, as they say,
history.

Sylvester came home from the clinic Friday, and has been with us for 24
hours as I'm writing this. He is eating, drinking and being very - VERY -
sociable. He has even been horsing a little around with Alfa and Sebastian,
but mostly he's resting in our bed (there are no taboos after being
subjected to a trauma like that). The bed is, tragically, located less than
50 meters from where the container was situated.

People at the clinic and elsewhere asked us if we had thought about
euthenasia, but I think that would be terribly wrong. Having lived through
an ordeal like that, we will give him plenty of time to get well - even if
he does not recover fully, we will keep him as long as God's willing - we
just have to provide some extra care.

We have no idea is this story is one of a kind, or if there are others
stories alike. If there are, please send us an email - we would like to get
in touch with other catstaff who know of any long-term effects and share
experiences. I guess we all know that cats are extremely durable, right now
I'm just curious as to what extent.





 




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