Saving Sneakers

We got Sneakers when he was three months old.  He was a cute little black and white kitten.  We decided to call him Snickers, but because of his white paws and sneaky personality, we called him Sneakers.

When we first got him he was terrified.  He would go near anyone.  I tried to warm up to him by giving him tuna fish but he wouldn't be coaxed.  One morning when I woke up and Sneakers was at the foot of my bed staring at me.  When he noticed I was awake, he meowed at me.  That's when we became good friends.

When he was six months old, he started wanting to go outside a lot.  We thought he might be looking for a girlfriend, so we had him fixed.  He was upset at me for doing that and cried for two days.

He was also mad at me when I pulled out from underneath a car.  He was covered with grease.  He needed a shower, but he didn't want one.  Judy held on to him in the bath tub while I washed him with shampoo.  He was one upset cat.  Judy and I still have battle scars.

Sneakers was an unsual cat.  He liked to eat fruit, spaghetti sauce and taco's were his favorite, next to yogurt.  He was a friendly cat.  He made friends with other cats.  When I would walk to the coke machine, Sneakers and about three other cats followed.

One night Sneakers had been out for a long time and it was getting late.  We were beginning to worry.  When I opened the front door, I could hear Sneakers crying.  Sneakers had a cry that was his alone.  I couldn't see him anywhere.  Judy pointed at the roof.  Sneakers was on the roof crying because he couldn't get down.

A teenage boy said that he could climb up there and get our cat.  At that time, he was one year old.  The teenager was able to climb on the roof, but couldn't catch Sneakers.  It was getting late so we decided to go to bed, hoping that Sneakers could find his way home.

The next morning he was still on the roof.  We called the fire department.  They said it was too cangerous to send a man up there to rescue a cat.

I walked around the building trying to figure how he got up there was a big tree that was close enough to the roof that a cat could jump from onto the roof.  The branches on the tree we to thin to hold a cat jumping from the roof.

Animal services were no help.  They said they didn't have the equipment to catch a cat in that situation.

Our apartment didn't accept pets.  Judy got an idea to call the landlord and tell him about there being a cat on the roof  crying and keeping her awake.
They told her there was nothing they could do.

It had been three days and four nights.  Sneakers was still up there.  It was the middle of June and very hot, especially on the roof.  We worried about Sneakers burning his paws or worse his life.

I couldn't stand to hear him cry.  I tried to climb up their on the hand rail, but I couldn't.  One of neighbors noticed what was happening  and suggested we put some food and water on the roof.  I thought it was a good idea so I filled his dishes.  The neighbor stood on the handrail, putting the dishes on the roof.

I had to get him down. I got a chair, a wooden box and two cushions off the couch then piled them on top of each other.so that I could stand on them to rescue Sneakers .  As Sneakers started drinking the water, I told my neighbor to grab him.  He grabbed him and handed him to me.  I let my kitty jump out of my hands on to the stairs.  He ran straight into our apartment, to the bedroom and under the bed.  All the neighbors were cheering.  In a couple of minutes Sneakers came out from under the bed.
He was nudging my leg as if to say, "THANK YOU!"