Disaster in Hedges Kittyland!

Dear Bozo and mum's blog readers. This is Ambrose and although mum is here, she's too stressed to post so I'm helping out again. 

Last night disaster struck in the Hedges Kitty household here in Mwadui. We were all enjoying life on the patio (as normal) last night and mum said how much I looked like Dad Ginger. She called me Mini Me. 

We three kitties chilling on the patio on Friday night

My dad Ginger and I are like two peas in a pod relaxing again last night

Dad Ginger and I enjoyed the warm concrete but Shadow was restless

Then suddenly we heard mum say: "Shadow's gone over the fence!" And she ran out of the gate after him. She says she wanted to chase him back over the fence. But Shadow (full of high spirits) had other ideas and dashed around the corner to the front of the house.  

Eek. 

That's just where the big dogs are! And that's just when the big dogs saw Shadow and chased him up a large tree . The tree trunk was too thick for him to hold onto and he fell to the ground. The one dog, Toffee grabbed him!

By now mum was calling loudly for our askari Michael,  who is also our gardener and our kitty-good friend. Michael came and  grabbed Toffee by the scruff of her neck and she dropped Shadow to the ground. Instead of Shadow running towards safety in our shamba at the back of the house, he ran up a very thin high tree next to the security fence. Once he got to the top, the tree bent over the street outside our big garden.

 Shadow ran up a very high tree and got stuck up there

 

Two Guest House askaris, Mataluma and Armani,  also came running to help our mum and Michael. Mataluma put the dogs in the chicken house (the chickens were still pecking on the lawn as it was still early) Armani brought a saw and while Michael stood on a ladder, he sawed away at the tree. 

Ooeeh.  

By now Dad Ginger and I were back inside and I could see Shadow swinging wildly and clinging on for dear life, at the top of the tree. 

Poor Shadow stuck at the top of a very high tree 

Just before Michael sawed the tree right through,  Armani held onto the middle  of it with a "Y" - shaped stick. Mum said later this helped to soften the fall from such a height. She and Armani were in the street with jackets held open (taken from Michael and Mataluma) and tried to grab Shadow as he hit the ground. Shadow had such a shock when he fell,  that he immediately ran up the big garden fence from the outside. Then Michael opened the big gate, and Mataluma opened the front door to our house and Shadow sped inside. 

Phew!

 Shadow safely indoors after his ordeal with the garden dogs and being stuck up a very high tree

Panting loudly, mum ran indoors  and grabbed some money from her wallet to reward the three men who had helped her rescue Shadow. She said she hoped that to receive a Tsh10,000 / US$6 note each on a Saturday night, showed her appreciation for their invaluable assistance. The three men were so pleased that Shadow was safe, they kept pumping mum's hand, thanking and congratulating her! 

When he first came in, Shadow was very hot and panting as well. Mum soothed him and checked the spot where Toffee had got hold of him. His fur was wet from her teeth, but otherwise no broken skin. And although Shadow drank a little water, he has been hiding all evening. Mum searched the house for him and eventually when she saw where I was pointing, she realized he was lying under the sofa. 

 Yoohoo mum, here's Shadow! 

I know this was a very distressing post, because Shadow could have been badly hurt, or still stuck up in that tree, but I wanted to tell you about it and that all's well that ends well.

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