In January, when Duffy was six months old, I had him neutered. On his first scheduled appointment, I set my alarm for 6AM to have him at the clinic by 7:30. He saw the carrier and bolted. I didn’t see him again until supper time and that was only because he wanted to eat! I rescheduled. This time I set the carrier upright and dumped him in. I worried about him all day. When I picked him up, I was disturbed to find him wearing a cone. I thought I would take it off when I opened the carrier. The patient who wasn’t supposed to climb or go upstairs, raced through the carrier door, up the stairs, to his secret, secret hiding place.

I had to work the next morning. Duffy caught his cone on his food and water bowl. He banged into furniture. He wouldn’t let me get close enough to help him. He was miserable. I left for work. When I came home, I couldn’t find him. I looked everywhere. I finally walked into the pantry and saw him in the litter box. He had somehow shoved his cone in, but it wouldn’t come back out! I reached down and worked loose the two latches on the collar. The litter box was stifling inside. I could only assume he had been there for hours. When I thought he was free, I coaxed him forward. He shot out of the box as though it were a cannon! The cone had transformed into a cape, flapping freely on both sides, and Duffy went flying upstairs, nearly airborne!

That night I fell into an uneasy sleep. At 2AM, I was wakened by Clara, Duffy’s sister scratching by the fireplace and then a pitiful chittering sound I recognized – a flying squirrel! I turned on the light. The squirrel jumped into the brass kindling bucket. Clara started madly throwing dry pinecones in the air, trying to find him! This was not my first flying squirrel. I turned off the light and rolled over to try to go back to sleep.

At 4AM, I heard a thump. Duffy was crying. I turned the light on, again. He was stuck under the ottoman. I got up, lifted the ottoman on one end, and released the cat. He bounded off, cone flapping, as though I were the person he hated most in the world. At 8AM, I called for reinforcements. I asked my younger daughter, Elizabeth, to come help me catch Duffy and release him from his horrible instrument of torture!

Oddly enough, he dove under the ottoman when Elizabeth came into the room to save him. He yanked the cone off himself!! Cats 1 Humans 0. She installed herself on the hearth in front of the fire in the kitchen. I sat down at the island. All of a sudden, she said, “Mum, there’s a squirrel sitting beside me.”

I started to laugh because in all the excitement with Duffy’s cone, I had completely forgotten the squirrel! I explained that he had come down the chimney in the night, Clara had chased him, and I was glad he was okay.

Elizabeth said, “I’m glad he is okay, too, but what if he crawls up my pant leg.”

I assured her that he wouldn’t. Just then, Clara and Duffy came dashing around the corner and chased him – right into an Amazon box! Elizabeth quickly shut the lid and carted him outside! He scurried gratefully up a tree!

This is not the first flying squirrel Elizabeth has rescued at my house! She’s getting really good at it!

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