Fluffy's Unusual Adventures Continued

As we discussed in a previous post, Fluffy had some unusual adventures, which usually involved trying to get away from loud noises generated by the condo’s maintenance crew.  Fluffy hated when the maintenance crew would mow and manicure the lawn.  We always tried to ensure that she was in the house on the days the lawn was typically mowed or when we could hear the mowers getting close.  One day, after we thought the crew was done, we let her out just after her dinner to stretch her legs and get a final stroll in for the day.  Unfortunately, soon after she went outside, we could hear the maintenance crew again.  Sam went to the back deck to see if he could spot her and call her in before they got too close.  He did make eye contact with her in the back, but she ran off instead of running to the front door to be let inside.  We went out a few times to call her in, but she was nowhere to be found.  Around seven in the evening we decided that we needed to walk around the neighborhood until we could find her and bring her home.  The crew had been gone for a while so we did not think it would take too long to find her and bring her home.  We called out her name as we walked around the condo complex, but we could not see her.  Eventually I did hear a faint meow after I called her name, but I could not see her or pinpoint where the sound was coming from.  Every time I called her name, it sounded as if the meow was coming from a different spot.  It sounded at first very close, and the next time it would sound like it was across the street from where I was.  Sam was concerned that she wandered into the condo units that had been damaged by a fire and that she was potentially stuck somewhere.  We finally figured out that she was under the street in a storm drain.  We have no idea how she got down there other than speculating that she dove under one of the grates in an attempt to hide from the loud noise and did not realize where the drain led to.

We thought about what to do next and quickly concluded that one of us would need to go into the storm drain to get her.  Sam was able to lift the very heavy grate covering the storm drain and lower himself down.  He could barely see her, but she was there.  It did not seem that she wanted to come to him or to be rescued but we knew we had to keep talking to her and to figure out a way to get her to safety.  I ran home and got her some treats that Sam used to try and lure her to him.  She came over to him, but not close enough for him to grab her and lift her up to me.  We kept trying to think of ideas and a couple of our neighbors stopped to inquire about what was going on and to offer suggestions.  We tried following one piece of advice which was to erect a sort of ramp that maybe she would eventually use to climb out.  That did not work.  Next, I went back home to fill a bowl with tuna, her favorite food, to see if maybe that would be enough to lure her to Sam.  It took a bit, but eventually the tuna worked, and she came close enough for Sam to grab her and hand her up to me.  Once I had her, I set her down but she ran a bit and I had to entice her again with the tuna and this time once I had her in my arms I was not letting go until we got home.  As I was struggling to get her home, we passed a woman walking her dog and I am sure that Fluffy wiggling in my arms was quite a site.  I eventually got her home, and she ran up the stairs.  I gave her some more treats to occupy her as I wiped her down with her Burt’s Bees cleaning cloths.  We went through several wipes, but we finally got her clean.  Poor Sam also had to clean up after spending nearly an hour in the storm drain, but Fluffy and I appreciated his efforts.  After that day we were very careful to only let Fluffy out when we were sure that the lawn crew had gone for the day.  Fluffy always kept us on our toes and there never was a dull moment.  Although that evening was difficult, we would do it all again to keep our girl safe and happy at home with us, her family.