Following the echo of her meowing in the dark with only a pen flashlight, we walked around the open field-like back yards, looking for the exit and found it about 100 yards from the drain. It's a pipe about 6" in diameter. Heather lay down and called the cat for about 10 minutes to no avail. A neighbor came out and we tried to open the grate, but it's welded shut. Nettl called 911 and spoke to one of her former co-workers when they both worked at The Cat Clinic, and she sent an officer out to check the situation. The officer called the city who was, basically, no help at all...
We think she went in far enough that she couldn't turn around (probably chasing a field mouse), and then just went forward because there was nowhere else to go. Now she won't follow the pipe back out. It's nearly two hours later and the officer is still out there with the girls, refusing to leave unless he gets another call. Still, there has been no change; the cat won't go back into the pipe. We have a 60% chance of rain tonight and I'm feeling kind of sick to my stomach.
UPDATE 8:30a.m:
After spending a wet and lonely night in the storm drain, the cat is at last out. I was up all night worrying and weeping and when I finally went to bed at 4:30, Nettl took her shift, feeding the cat by extending a spoon through the grate as if she were feeding a prisoner. She called Dr. Cowell, who in turn called a local drain company. An easy pry of a crow bar and the cat was sprung from her cell. That guy with the city last night was just full o' crapola, telling the police officer that the grate was welded and gridded with rebar that stretched under the street. The fuckerhead just didn't want to help. It did rain last night and this morning, and the drain guys said that it was a good thing she didn't try to exit via the pipe because it's full of standing water.
Well, Nettl just called and told me that as she was driving the cat to the clinic for a bath and a look-over, she hit something in the road and had a blow-out. Fortunately, there's a tire place next door to the Cat Clinic...
I didn't tell you last month that the cat poisoned herself by eating baby frogs. I mean, she was laying out in the back yard popping them like Raisinettes. She nearly died from that! So far this summer we've sunk about $700 into her.
This cat needs to find a job...
(P.S. I've left a second hint on the Famous Places No. 2 entry)
