On Friday, 3 December, Chip our second oldest cat and oldest female turned eleven years old. While living downtown in our previous house, my neighbour found a starving, mewling kitten in the alleyway behind her house. She brought her over to me. The little kitty could not yet lap, so I dashed out and bought a baby bottle, filled it with milk and raised her like this. Grant said she was a small as a micro chip, hence her name.
Chip has been lost for a week (before my days of blogging) and I placed an ad with a substantial reward, in the local newspaper. I searched for her day and night. I had many chancers, and umpteen false alarms. I also rode around town during the day with a clear photo of Chip in my car and asked all and sundry if they'd seen my cat. Then, exactly one week since she had gone missing, I stopped next to a man who was working on the sidewalk outside a house not too far from ours. I showed him the photo and asked him if he'd seen the cat. He said, "Yes, on the garage roof " pointing to the building behind us. As I came close to the garage, calling Chip, I heard her cry. I looked up and there she was. I rushed home, collected a box of cat cookies, step-ladder and my gardener. When we returned to where Chip was still waiting, with the gardener holding the ladder, I climbed up to roof height. Shaking the cookie box as encouragement, I coaxed Chip off the roof. Clutching her to me, I descended the ladder and took her to the car, with my gardener following.
Over the years Chip has gone walkabout but never for as long as a week. She'd disappear for a day and we ultimately found that she'd fall asleep on the sidewalk outside our gate or under a shrub at the far end of the garden and forget to come indoors. Lately Chip only ventures as far as the garage and falls asleep on Grant's motorbike seat.
Chip also likes to drink her water from the ponds in the garden. Hence the photo below celebrating Chip's 11th birthday.
Chip, the second oldest cat and oldest female in the Hedges menagerie, is 11 years old this week
Socializing with Clarice and Shadow (at last!)
HAPPY BIRTHDAY CHIP!
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