The Crouching Ginger escapes!!

Ginger was making a racket in the cage this morning and it was because he had urinated and defecated after the "crouching ginger, hidden dragon" walk.

Good boy, Ginger, so I cleaned up his litter box and gave him fresh newspapers.

But he continued making a racket and (1) I felt sorry for him being confined for so many days, (2) I was worried the racket might disturb the neighbours. Nowadays, we are indeed quite terrified of people complaining about anything when it comes to animals and we would try to avoid that happening at all costs, if possible.

So I had a "brilliant" idea (or so I thought).

I'll extend the leash with a cloth rope (not a raffia string, but a cloth rope which is not slippery) so that Ginger could come out and wander around the patio.

Ginger was happy with his newfound "freedom".

 See?

 And to play it safe, I even brought my work out to the patio to do, just to keep a real keen eye on him.

 And mind you, both ends of the cloth rope were tied with King Scouts' knots, not any ordinary knots that could come off easily. I had my husband tie them, because I'm hopeless with knots.

 Rosie even came by to visit.

But....

Yes, right before my eyes, all of a sudden, without so much of a warning, Ginger tugged on the harness and as quick as lightning (not exaggerating), he SLID out of the harness.

And he was gone!!

I could only shout "Ginger!" and the last I saw him, he had stopped at the gate. I knew it would be futile to go after him, so I let him go.

Consolation 1: He's not injured anymore and he's pretty much well already though there is one last antibiotic jab tomorrow.

Consolation 2: He might come back for food later? (Pray...)

Consolation 3: Ask Francis to catch him tomorrow when he gets his breakfast at the pavilion. (Already texted Francis to enlist his help.)

Consolation 4: See below, the 2nd principle of The Four Principles of Indian Spirituality, principles which I live my life by:

The Second Principle states:
“Whatever happened is the only thing that could have happened”
Nothing, absolutely nothing of that which we experienced could have been any other way. Not even in the least important detail. There is no “If only I had done that differently…, then it would have been different…”. No. What happened is the only thing that could have taken place and must have taken place for us to learn our lesson in order to move forward. Every single situation in life, which we encounter, is absolutely perfect, even when it defies our understanding and our ego.

Note: the above is NOT to be used as an excuse for all our mistakes. Rather, it is to accept that some things are beyond our control when we have already done the best we can, within our limited capacity.

One needs these consolations to keep one's sanity and not break out in worry (which I'm told, is a waste of energy). Then, with a positive frame of mind, one begins to think of what to do next.

I saw Ginger leap onto the neighbour's roof. That's his "safehouse", I know.

 Meanwhile, the Quack lurks nearby....he appears to be stalking his prey.

Pray...

 Rosie came to look at the empty cage.

 I went out several times to look for Ginger but could not find him anywhere.

Just the other day, my friend's cat escaped while they were on holiday (out of town, in an unfamiliar place). She camped out in the night, looking for her cat, waiting for her cat but he did not come back....until 30 hours later. The cat came back all by himself, and he was on totally unfamiliar ground too.

Cats...they do what they want to do, and we humans cannot control it. And I've learnt that if a cat doesn't want you to find him/her, you will never be able to find him/her.

Pray, stay positive and hope Francis can catch him tomorrow. If not, the 2nd principle applies.

After four hours...

There was mewing at the patio door.

It was Ginger!!!

Hmm....he was hungry, I suppose, or he just decided to come "home", maybe?

Never mind what the reason is, slowly, I approached him and...

 He let me catch him and I placed him back in the cage.

Phew!!!

 Rewarded him with food, of course.

And I secured the cage door with my cloth string, just in case. I remember when we did the market cat rescue in Subang Jaya, one mother-cat escaped by sliding out from this gap and left her two sons (both smaller than she) inside the cage!

Cats...they are a highly evolved being. Their intelligence and capacity are beyond our comprehension.

 Ginger is not happy being caged again, of course.

He's bored, I know. So I gave him some newspapers to shred. That's about the only thing he likes to do.

Sorry, Ginger, another 24 hours, please. Then you're free to go.

If Ginger could so easily slide off from the harness, that means he's just been "polite" all this while.

Meanwhile, Maslinda dropped in and Quack was in the house compound. We tried to lure him with food, but the smart fellow fled into the drain.

They are highly evolved beings...we don't stand a chance.