Cat and the Water Heater

Saturday was a busy day ending in a strange way. I had an emergency water heater replacement in the late afternoon in the Silver Beach area and by the time I was finished with my Bandito burrito it was close to 7:30 pm. Typical day in the life, right? Nope.

At 7:35 pm, I get a call from a frantic fellow about a cat and a water heater in a apartment complex off of Sunset. I told him the cat will come out when its ready and not before, but that wasn't the problem. The gentleman finally conveyed to me that his cat was stuck and Whatcom Humane Society has been there for hours and if I didn't want to help he'd call someone else.

It was too good to pass up. I was there in 15 minutes.

What happened: the gentleman and his wife were moving into the new apartment and their cat freaked, jumped onto the water heater, saw a space behind the heater and jumped down. Problem was that the space was very narrow and there wasn't a way out except up. The cat was stuck upside down between the water heater and the corner of the water heater closet. For 4 hours.

I shut down the water, power, and cut the overflow pipe and ever-so-gently, edged this 50 gallon water heater away from the walls allowing the cat to escape.

It was a very happy cat. And I was a hero...until they got the bill.

For the record, I have 3 cats, 2 of which came from the shelter. I'll probably donate the "cat money" to the Whatcom Humane Society as I missed my annual donantion in 2008.