Pet trapped in dresser proves to be a lucky cat
Pet trapped in dresser proves to be a lucky cat
By Nelson Daranciang
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Maryanne Fife and her family never thought they would
see their 3-year-old cat Cane again.
When the movers were at the Fifes' Iroquois Point home
Dec. 15, Cane was nowhere to be found. The Fifes
thought Cane might have run out of the house. He is an
indoor cat, but the movers had left all the doors of the
Albatross Avenue home open.
Cane likes to hide in Maryanne's dresser and had figured
out how to open its drawers. But the movers had already
taped all the drawers shut. When Maryanne asked one of
the movers if the cat was in there, he said no.
"We took his word for it," she said.
Maryanne's 8-year-old daughter, Kerianne, walked
around it a few times, banging on the sides, with no
sound from Cane.
The Fifes stayed in the Iroquois Point home five more
days and waited on the lanai every night for Cane to
return. The day before they moved into a hotel, Maryanne
and her 18-year-old daughter drove around the
neighborhood looking for Cane.
The family left Hawaii on Dec. 26 without him.
The Fifes settled in Crofton, Ky., and their household
items arrived Jan. 27. Just in case Cane had been
packed with the furniture, Larry Fife sent his wife and
daughter away from the house before the movers arrived.
When the movers unloaded the dresser, there was a foul
odor. Larry thought his worst fear was about to be
realized. But when he opened the dresser, Cane was in
one of the drawers staring back at him, meowing.
Cane weighed 13.5 pounds in Hawaii. When he arrived
in Crofton after 44 days inside the dresser, he weighed
less than 3 pounds.
When Maryanne and her daughter returned home, Cane
was inside drinking water. He was dehydrated and thirsty
but could not eat anything.
The Fifes took Cane to an animal clinic, where a vet gave
him fluids intravenously. Cane stayed hooked up to the IV
overnight and went home the following afternoon.
Despite going a month and a half with no food or water,
Cane suffered no permanent damage to his internal
organs.
"He has no kidney or liver damage. That's the miracle,"
Maryanne said.
He is slowly regaining his weight, which is now up to
11.5 pounds. And he does not appear to have suffered
any emotional injury.
"He's back to his old ways. He's even more sweeter,"
Maryanne said.
