Progress of a Sort

Patchadoodle Incarcerated

I have Patches locked in the car garage. He is up in the ceiling, meowing at me, but he will not come to me yet.

I had to block off the window at one end, but otherwise, I'm pretty sure the garage is secure.

Stupid me first locked him in there with the car inside. Dumb, as if I needed to go anywhere, I was stuck not daring to open the door. However, I managed to get the overhead door open, and to get the car out while keeping him inside so all is almost well--as long as I don't need the truck for anything.

I have a ladder in there and every couple hours I go out, climb up and talk to him. I have food set out for him on the floor so if he's hungry, that's good. And the floor is dirt so he's not going to make too much of a mess in there--at least not one I can't clean up. I have all kinds of things stuffed in the window to make it impassable. It's an old window on brackets that seem to be either broken or rusted so I can't actually close it. But I think the blockage will hold.

Now, it's a waiting game and a time to just try to make friends again. He meows to me every time I go in there, so he is relating, but he's still too scared or reverted to the wild to trust me enough to let me touch him. I'm pretty sure that one petting will be all I need to get him back into my good graces.

Meantime, the two terrors seem to have adapted pretty well to the sunroom. Misty, of course, wants to come out into the rest of the house, but with her attitude towards the other cats, that's a definite no go. Peppercorn has managed to discover the luxury of sleeping on the couch and is letting me handle him more and more. It's not an ideal habitat for cats as they do need more room to exercise and entertain themselves, but for now, it will have to do. Once Patches is back inside, I will let the two of them outside again.

Perhaps, instead of chasing Patches, they can use their terrorist skills to keep the rats at bay in the barn. At least their presence MIGHT intimidate a rat or two. *sigh*

Note here: all cats are not good ratters. It takes a certain bravado and wisdom to take on a rat and it's not related to size. My good ratter was a little female who would take down a rat more than half her size in a flash.

Perhaps the "terrorist tag team" can do as well together.