Conference misery::feline_v1

    Are you on good enuf terms with these folks so that they won't mind
    you breaking and entering???
    
    Edd

    The lady of the house is about 90% a cat person.  The little girl
    also loves cats.  The others don't understand about animals.  I
    am inclined to think she would want me to do this.  However, I am
    still hoping to get in touch with the landlord today.
    

    I would call a vet's office and ask how long a guinea pig can go
    without water and food. Based on his answer you can make a decision.
    
    Wonder what in the world happened to the person who was supposed
    to feed the animals? Obvisously they thought their animals were
    going to be taken care of by the preparations left on the table.
    
    Poor things. Good thing they have a neighbor like you. Like Edd
    says, "Are you on good enough terms with them to break into their
    house?"  A guinea pig is usually a childs pet, think how heart
    broken it will be when it returns if something has happened to its
    pet?  The more you think about it, it's awful.....
    
    Thanks for being so caring.
    
    Barbara

    Karen, do you think if you explained the situation to the local
    police they would advocate the b&e?  I would hate to see you
    get in trouble for doing something just because your intentions
    were good.
    
    Some policemen are very compassionate; you'd be surprised.
    
    Hope things work out; I feel so bad for the poor guinea pig.
    

    Yes, check with the police, as well as the local animal protection
    people. Or call the ASPCA first and let them deal with the police.
    As far as I know, they are allowed  - or at least not discouraged
    from - breaking windows to save an animal's life. (However, if your
    neighbors don't agree with your assessment of the situation, you
    may wind up paying for the window...)
    
    -b

    Try calling your local "Humaine Society" in town.  They might have
    some ideas to help you.  You certainly don't want to get caught
    for breaking and entering??!! - Although I wouldn't be far from
    doing that either!!!
    
    Good luck !!!
    

    Whew -- I went home at lunchtime to check on things, and ran into
    the daughter-in-law checking the house.  She'd just gotten back
    from vacation herself and will be checking it every two days.  Yes,
    there was supposed to be a cat sitter, who never showed up.  So,
    the guinea pig, whose food and water dispensers were completely empty,
    will be getting them filled every other day by her (they last for 2-3
    days), and I'll be keeping an eye out for the cats getting enough to eat.
    She says the cats have access to food in the house, but they were both
    completely ravenous when I fed them this morning.  So , the babies
    are safe.  The daughter-in-law isn't much of an animal person, but
    the lady of the house is, so I'm going to talk to her when she gets
    back about my feeding the animals when she's away.  I'm pretty sure
    the reason she didn't ask is that she didn't want to impose.  (Woukld
    have been a lot easier on my nervous system this time if she _had_
    asked....)
     

    THANK YOU, Thank You, thank you, for replying back on your note
    so soon.  Give up your lunchtime, your a PRINCESS.
    
    You can tell the daughter-in-law is not an animal person. Only checking
    on the animals every other day. Definately not animal orientated.
    
    Thanks for caring so much.
    
    Barbara

    
    
    	Are these Toulome and Khalife???  
    
    	Just wondering....  since many of us have pictures of your
    neighbors cats.
    
    karen

    They are Khalife and his Mum Sasha.  Toulumne and Jasper live on
    the other side.  Khalife and his Mum have identical voices, by the
    way, so I can't tell without seeing them which one is which.  And
    there is Siamese in there somewhere...MMEEEOOOOOOWWWWW.  Things
    seem to be settling down now, they both ate the dinner I offered
    last night, but only a bit this morning, so they are apparently
    able to get into their house for food.  I'm still keeping a close
    eye on how newspapers accumulate, however, in case the guinea pig
    gets forgotten again.  Neither Khalife nor Sasha tolerates being
    left alone very well, they both need lots of cuddles.
    

    By the way, Sasha looks like Verne and Shirl.
    

    I'm soooooo glad this worked out!!!!!
    
    A friend of mine hired a neighborhood girl to take care of her 
    animals for a week.  The kid lost the key on the first day and 
    was too embarrassed to tell her mother about it.  By the time my 
    friend got home, 2 kittens and her bird were dead, and her dog 
    and adult cat were in very bad shape.
    
    As horrible as this was, I can't totally blame the little girl.
    She was much too young to have such a responsibility.  The lesson
    - if you hire a child for this purpose, make sure their parents
    are aware of the arrangements, and keep track of what's going on.
    
    Relieved this one worked out,
    Karen, Tenzing and Tristan.

    This has not worked out exactly as one would have hoped.  So far
    the animals are okay, however.  I didn't post an update because
    it was giving me a migrane.  here's what happened:  the %^^&*& daughter
    didn't come back.  I could tell because the newspapers still piled
    up.  And we are having 100 degree temps out here, so you can imagine
    how badly animals need water.  I kept on feeding the cats.  On Saturday
    morning I peeked thru the backdoor again and saw that the guinea
    pig was out of water.  On Saturday evening I called the landlord
    and his son-in-law came over and we went in and fed Guinea.  he
    was so thirsty and hungry.  I called the emergency number Nancy
    had left in her note to the pet sitter, and reached her mother-in-law
    who gave the landlord permission to leave the key with me so I could feed
    Guinea until nancy came back.  I also left my number with the
    mother-in-law, who called the daughter.  The next day the daughter
    demanded the key back.  That was Sunday.  She does seem to have
    fed them yesterday morning, as the newspaper got picked up.  No
    one has been back since then.  Nancy said in her note that she is
    due back tomorrow night.  I am still feeding the cats, of course.
    Every animal should have a good home, and people who cause them
    unhappiness should be dropped off the end of the earth into an abyss.
    

    Guess my relieve was premature.  So glad you're there for them.
    
    Karen, Tristan and Tenzing.

    Things are going better.  the cat sitter showed up last evening,
    and someone (I think the daughter's husband) was at the house this
    morning.  The real people are due back tonight, thank goodness.
    Meanwhile, Sweetie and Holly are pleased that they are back to getting
    their due amount of attention, instead of havng their mother walking
    the house, peering out the windows, and frothing at the mouth, not
    to mention engaging in excessive cuddling of Khalife and Sasha.
    I am going to talk to Nancy when she gets back about taking care
    of the animals when they are away.
    
    

    Amazed you didn't personally slaughter a) the catsitter, b) the
    daughter.  Hope Nancy realises how lucky she is to have you for
    a neighbour.
    
    Congratulations for being the only really caring human being in
    the whole situation.
    
    Regards
    kate (Reading)

    Even though this happened a long time ago, I just recently joined
    this notesfile, and I also just want to thank you for saving the
    lives of those animals, particularly the guinea pig. Thank heaven
    for people like you.
    
    I think, after the key got taken away, and the second time the guinea
    pig ran out of water, I might have called the Humane Society, just
    to give the people a little grief, and perhaps to let them at least
    have a "legally" broken window!!!