.

I cannot hear the word "Cat" and the word "Balcony" in the same
sentence without remembering a story I would like to share with you.

Imagine the scene, Hugh had just got up, thrown on his dressing gown
and wandered into his living room. He hears Bingo meeping but can't
see him. Then he realises what has happened. The flat has a balcony
and there is a sort of porch overhanging the door to the living room
and Bingo has somehow managed to get up there and is stuck.

Hugh tries to coax Bingo down but Bingo who is only a kitten won't
jump.

Solution. As the balcony is very narrow, Hugh grabs the railing and
manages to walk his back legs up the wall so that he acts as a bridge
for Bingo to climb down.

Problem. Hugh is now suspended on a 10th floor balcony, the fact that
his dressing gown is okay and his bits are waving in the wind is
entirely secondary to the fact that Bingo is not moving and his hands
are starting to hurt....

Finally, in response to the increasingly desperate pleas, Bingo starts
to walk down Hugh's legs and onto his back....

And sits down to have a wash.....

Luckily at this point his flatmate came out and Hugh with considerable
self control said "Get the f***ing cat off me!"

He must have looked one Hell of a sight!!!!

Lesley

Slave to the Fabulous Furballs (Thankfully the home they own has no
balconies)

I was cheered, after a friend's apartment fire, that she came home to
find the Fairfax County, Virginia paramedics gathered around her cat, a
pediatric oxygen mask on his face, and several of the crew stroking him
and wiping off the soot. He made a fairly good recovery -- and they
brought him out unconscious. He had been under a burning bed, the source
of the fire, and they found him when they yanked out the mattress -- the
now soaked mattress, with damp cat underneath.

I was driving down 95 south the other day and I noticed painted on the
side of a big rig these words, when I read them it made me cry to know
that this driver would go to this extent for his pet.  The sign read "
In case of accident please check cab for my partner, Rusty (he's a
orange and white cat)".
I worry sometimes that we will have a fire or an emergency and I wont
be able to get my babies.