the elusive wild tigger beast

friday after my b.i.l. (bro-in-law) got off work, he and i were hanging out and all of a sudden he sees something out the window.  it was the neighbor's little over a year old kitten that had been missing for over a month!  so we text my sister, she says catch it, and out my b.i.l. and i go to see about luring it back.  we figured it would come for cat treats... but i guess he's been outside for too long.  he just kept crying and slightly advancing but still wary and anytime we moved he would make like he was gonna bolt.  so josh starts tossing treats to it so it smells them, eats them and knows they are food.  i went in and got some canned cat food and we do the same.  we spent like 40 minutes... he came near, then got scared and ran down into the ravine.  we threw some more canned cat food to try to lure him up  but he sat down and looked like it was nap time from the little he had eaten. 

we give up and start to go inside, and he comes back up the hill crying.  this time josh comes out with the bag of cat food and we sit on the patio and toss it near us trying to get him to approach us without us scaring him.  he for some reason comes near me so i slowly reach down, pet him and he wants to be pet so he relaxes and i grab him.  we had my sister's "kittywalk tunnel" up earlier for theo, so we put the cat in there.  he kind of is freaking out, but what cat after being wild for a month wouldn't?  understandable. 

the poor cat was starving and started gulping down the food we had in the tunnel, so josh goes to get a bowl of water for the lil guy (well, he's a big guy, but he's so young and skinny and cute).  i'm on the phone with my sister relaying the story and i noticed the cat is backing towards the door of the tunnel... which josh forgot to lock!  i yell josh! and josh looks and meanwhile the cat is out and down the hill again into the ravine (the ravine is a fenced off area that the city supposedly only has access too... foxes live there ,etc).  so my sister is just not believing us and tells us to recatch the cat.  (her neighbor just remarried, told my sister she finally found the right guy, and they found out he has stage 4 throat cancer, he has 7 year old twins that live with them, she was over at her mom & dad's house that day to make them dinner since her mom just got out of the hospital after having pneumonia... she is just having a real stressful time right now).  so my sister was like get that cat.

so this time i try to lure the cat back up the hill, but he really on guard with me and josh now.  josh hops the ravine fence to see if he can spook the cat back up the hill.  he comes back up but into the neighbor's yard.  i try to walk around but they put up a fence and it's locked... but i can see in.  the cat is still crying and walks over to the dog door he used to use to go in the house and we're telling him "go in... go in" but then the neighbor's llasa apso comes out barking and scares the cat and the cat bolts past josh and he's gone.... this time for good, we fear.

so we go inside, and my sister comes home... all "where is the cat?"  so we tell her and right then we see him back on the patio trying to find the food we had thrown outside.  so my sister tip toes outside, get down on her hands and knees and crawls over to him and gets him!  she wanted to bring him in but josh was like "he's dirty and probably has fleas" so we put him back in the tunnel.  she calls her neighbor, who she said sounded just so stressed and exhausted and we said we'd put the cat in her garage for her when they got home later that night (she said there was a litterbox and food still in there for him). 

so we got out the carrier that my sister's cats go to the vet in and tried to get him to go into it... but he wasn't going and so my sister picked him up and tried to put him in but he starts freaking out.  she's trying to hold on to him but he's scratching her up... i get the blanket and try to use it to somehow wrap him in it but he ends up scratching me, and finally he gets his nails into her neck and she falls to her knees crying trying not to let him go but she has to and he disappears deep into the ravine.  i just got 2 deep cuts on the wrist and 1 long scratch on the arm, but she got 4 deep punctures and scratches on the neck and an assortment of punctures and scratches on her shoulders (like shrapnel hit her).  wth kitty! let us in! let us love you! :)

so we call the neighbor and tell her.  tigger got away (we didn't tell her we had him 1 time already). 

the next day we keep looking outside for him... we left food out there for him.  no sign.  then my sister got a text that evening... the neighbor's son's girlfriend was over and caught him... he was eating happily in the garage.  whew!