Well, it’s been a very exciting time and mummy says I’ve been a naughty girl and that I need to go into the dogs house. I’m not sure where that is as we don’t have a dog but I’ll sit in my comfy cat bed instead.
We were out for walkies and I was busy running around and climbing trees as I normally do. I went up one of my all time favourite trees and climbed up and up, weaving around the branches and then back down again until suddenly I couldn’t go any further forward. “Erm mummy help please” “Oh Jenny, you’ve got your lead caught round the branches” when mummy noticed this she unhooked my lead from my harness to untangle it from the branches and I guess she thought she would clip it back on again but as soon as I was free I turned round and scampered back up the tree. I was free climbing, climbing higher and higher until the branches got so small and bendy that I couldn’t go any higher. “Look at me mummy, look how high I’ve climbed” I shouted from the top of the tree. Mummy didn’t seem as pleased as I was and told me to get down now. Well I was just having too much fun exploring the top of the tree until….
crack….the branch I had my back paws standing on snapped! I was left dangling by my front legs, just hanging there. Mummy was saying to me “Jenny, just let go! Don’t worry I’m here I’ll catch you.” Well, that’s just not how a master tree climber works, I can’t just let go and drop into the unknown, even if mummy is there, well, especially when mummy is there. How embarrassing would that be? Who ever heard of a cat who went up a tree but couldn’t get back down again? So I clung on by my paw tips, heaved with all the strength in my paws and front legs, I dug my claws in like ice picks and I pulled myself up. I reached up with my back legs until they found a branch to grip on and then with one final big pull I was back in the tree this time on top of the branch rather than under it. “Well done Jenny” mummy shouted “I’ve got no idea how you managed that, I really thought you were going to fall”
As I’ve said before as a blind cat when climbing with mummy if I get lost in the tree then I use and rely on mummy’s voice and her tapping on the tree to get the right direction to get back down again. Well, I could hear mummy below me so I tried to get to her, I could hear her move from under me to one side so I followed the sound of her voice, constantly saying my name, moving in different directions, trying to guide me through the branches. “I’m coming mummy” I kept meowing “is it this way, is this the right branch? where are you?” Mummy kept shouting and tapping the tree. We made such a noise that Millie and Angelin came out onto the balcony to watch and daddy came to look out the window.
I worked my way back down from the top of the tree which was quite a steep descent but it’s ok coz I can follow my own scent back down and I have excellent balance. Paw by paw down I went, my whiskers sensing the branches so I can weave around them. Without my lead attached I wasn’t worried about getting caught up again so I could weave around as much as I wanted. Once I got low enough mummy plucked me out of the tree and gave me a big cuddle holding me up to the window for daddy to see “well done Jenny, you’re so clever getting down from up there”. Then she clipped my lead back on and plopped me back onto the grass, thinking I’d be ready for going inside after so much excitement.
No way, I wasn’t ready to go inside yet, I felt invigorated, energised and just amazing. So I ran, round and round, zigging and zagging, darting this way and that, I had the zoomies….big time. I was so excited that I even went back up the tree not once but twice, not all the way up though, just high enough up the trunk to make mummy think I might go higher but then I went back down again. I just needed to run around a bit longer to burn off all my excitement and cool my muscles back down.
Then, all too soon it was time to go back inside I think mummy needed a rest after all the excitement, so in we went. Daddy usually asked how our walkies was but this time he said “what have you been up to Jenny?” Before I could answer and tell him what a great explorer I’d been meowmy said “She’s been a very naughty kitty and she’s not going free climbing anytime soon” I was about to say something about how fun it was and how high I climbed but for once I thought better of saying anything and instead thought it might just be best if I kept a low profile for a bit so off under the bed I went into my secret hiding place.
Jenny’s Story 