Richard's Erstwhile Hedgehog Cam!!

NEWS

Monday, May 7, 2007 - downsizing at twoengineers.com

As most of my visitors already know, I've been forced to fire the second of the two engineers.

In spite of repeated surveys that revealed no dissatisfaction, she abruptly began to exhibit performance problems late in the summer of 2005. Both before and after these issues became evident, she consistently declined numerous standing offers to renegotiate any and all aspects of her working conditions.

Then during the first week of 2006, it was revealed that she was moonlighting with a competitor. A few weeks later, under the pretense of an unauthorized and paid but otherwise undefined sabbatical, she voluntarily cleaned out her desk and turned in her keys. Formal termination proceedings began on Valentine's Day 2006, when it came to my attention that (even after repeated warnings) she was continuing to work for at least one competitor in clear contravention of the job description she formally agreed to when she was hired on October 5, 2002.

After her departure, she filed unemployment claims that were excessive not only in that what she actually deserved was more along the lines of the proverbial "swift kick" than a heap of cash, but also in that they far exceeded the windfall that she was entitled to under any reasonable interpretation of the law. She pursued these extravagant claims for approximately one year - ultimately settling for far less than she originally demanded, but still enough to make it impossible to deny that at least in some cases, crime actually does pay.

Though we communicated almost exclusively though counsel after February, 2006, she continued to accept benefits such as insurance until her last official day: April 23, 2007.

In retrospect, she never did a whole lot around here to begin with (unless you count the submission of questionable expense reports) and thus no replacement to directly fill her role is being sought.

However, I am nonetheless feeling a little understaffed, and thus am currently interviewing candidates for a brand new role that can not be fully defined without the input of the candidate herself. No engineering qualifications of any kind are required. This position has no salary, but offers lavish fringe benefits such as head butts from Bunny Foo Foo, who is so cute that he'll take your breath away. For more information, inquire in person.

Sunday, May 6, 2007

Hoo boy. It's been a while, hasn't it? As you're probably already guessed, over the past two years all of the hedgehogs have passed away (poor little Yona fell to salmonella, if I recall correctly), as has Zap the super-adorable dwarf hamster.

The good news is that I was pretty sure that Kitty the Bearded Dragon was going to need to be put down because she had been suffering from a mystery illness for more than four months. After fruitless ultrasounds, X-rays, blood tests, biopsies and even consultations with specialists in other states, the supposed last-chance hail-mary nothing-to-lose medication didn't help her. I took her in to be euthanized, but the vet talked me into an exploratory surgery with no specific goal other than to see what was there. She'd have been euthanized on the table had nothing operable been found, but something operable was found. The exploration turned into a spaying which appears to have greatly improved her fortunes. Hooray!!

Of course, we're not totally out of the woods yet (she *seems* perkier, but it's too early to tell), and after many months of force feedings, injections, vet visits and now a third surgery, she hates me. She doesn't have a clue how good she has it. ...Either that, or I should have put her down when her tail started having problems a year ago. Hm, the tail trouble is missing from this file, too! It stands to reason, I suppose - it happened in 2006: She had two amputatons on a tail suffering from dry gangrene. This appeared to have healed up by the time she started having her enigmatic "female troubles." Oy!

If you're thinking that I may have made some bad decisions regarding her quality of life, then join the club: I have doubts myself. It's hard to know when to say when. I have repeatedly asked the vet to tell me if she's not going to get better. What else can I do?

AFAIK, Bunny Foo Foo is in tip top shape, in spite of a night spent trapped between my front door and a baby gate right outside the front door. I didn't do it on purpose, of course. He's very very stealthy, which in this case definitely did not work out to his advantage.

Bingo moved out with what's-her-name in January, 2006. I don't know how Bingo is doing, and my guess is that I don't want to know. Before Bingo left, Foo Foo the Bunny of Steel never really budged an inch. As he told us all very clearly on the very first day: "There will be NO BONDING. EVER."

Sunday, April 3, 2005

As expected, Rochelle is gone. She went through precisely the same progression that Rosie did.

We have a new little friend, a boy by the name of Yona. He is very outgoing and quiet (no snuffling), but a bit confused about his diet. We gave him a taste of cat food, and he extracted the gravy and anointed with it. What an adorable little guy!! All that remains now is to get the cam going again...

Bunny bonding continues. Aimee says there was no biting today, but I wouldn't know for sure because I'm still hiding.

Friday, February 18, 2005

Bunny Bonding is not going quite as smoothly as we could have hoped. In the past two days, Foo Foo has torn a big chunk of fur out of Bingo, and (for the first time ever) drawn blood when he bit Aimee. I don't think I have the proper constitution for this business. :P

One thing I neglected to mention from the final 'date' before the adoption was that Foo Foo attacked my hand after I petted Bingo for just a little too long. This and other incidents have led to a consensus that *I* am a key part of the territory that Foo Foo is trying to defend. Of course I'm flattered, but I definitely wish it didn't cause fights.

So, to keep Foo Foo from fighting over me (and because I'm a wimp who can't stand to see the bunnies fight), Aimee is taking over the bonding for a while. She says last night's session went well without me. ...And everyone still had two intact ears this morning, so I suppose I have no reason to question that. ;D

Friday, February 11, 2005

After a fairly uneventful fourth date, the adoption of Bingo has been finalized! We are officially a two-bunny family!

Wednesday, February 9, 2005

If you have checked the Bunny Cam lately, you will have noticed that Foo Foo has a stuffed companion. This is because we are in the process of trying to find a *real* adoptable companion for him, with the help of the Minnesota House Rabbit Society. Phase one was to haul Foo Foo to the other side of town and introduce him to six eligible bachelorettes. In spite of our crossed fingers, there was no love at first sight. But we did identify a couple that he didn't seem quite so determined to rough up. In phase two, the same six bunnies came to visit Foo Foo. From these two meetings, we identified a front runner, Bingo. Bingo, who reportedly was rescued from a meth lab, is quite docile and submissive. This is just the ticket for a cranky, spoiled brat with no bunny social skills. Bingo came to visit, and Foo Foo was fine as long as Bingo kept still. ...Pretty faint praise, I know. But the MHRS folks say that this sort of thing is not unheard of and is not automatically a deal breaker. The purpose of the stuffed bunny (now known as "Stunt Bingo") is to help get Foo Foo accustomed to sharing his space. Is it working? Who knows? Bingo and Foo Foo will have their second solo date this week. Who knows? Perhaps Bunny Foo Foo and Bingo will have a special Valentine's day!

Wednesday, October 13, 2004

Ultra-Peepi is gone. Literally just this morning, he was running on his wheel. When we got home from work, he showed no obvious signs of distress. But by 8pm, he was obviously unsteady and suffering respiratory distress. He would click as he tried to breathe. The emergency vet said a) the smaller an animal is, the harder it tries to hide its suffering (compounded by the fact that Ultra-Peepi was highly aggressive and therefore difficult to examine) and b) his chances of recovery were slim. But he was definitely suffering, so we let him go.

I ask you: Why does it take a disaster to make me update this page? There has been good news...

Fun Ultra-Peepi stories:

• Ultra-Peepi apparently had not encountered a wheel before he came to stay with us. It took him a while, but he learned to use (and apparently love) it.
• He would routinely climb into his food bowl to eat. He was a fussy eater, and would vigorously fling unwanted items out and away from the bowl.
• A few days ago I took his food bowl out and emptied it, and put it back in his house. As I was reaching for fresh food, he ran over and jumped in the bowl. He spun around like a tiny tornado looking for the food.
• ...On a related note, it could be quite difficult to feed Ultra-Peepi, because when he detected the commotion he'd come over to defend his territory, attacking the food as it fell into the dish and just generally getting in the way.

Bunny Foo Foo has been banished from our bed after peeing on it several times. I would have thought that a bunny would be incapable of understanding and/or caring that we were upset with him, but he *does* seem to understand - just not specifically enough to know what to do, unfortunately. I've bought/made three different kinds of beds for him since The Fall. The first was a pair of medium firm pillows with teflon treated pillowcases. He doesn't use them much. From watching him, I surmise that he feels off balance on them, because they're too soft. Next, I made him a foam rubber tray with a soft batting insert. I don't know why he doesn't care for it. It may smell funny. Most recently, I got him a couple of apparently-disposable cat beds, which are essentially square pieces of batting with edges to keep them from disintegrating. I wrapped them in terrycloth, and he actually seems to like them. He almost rolled over on one of them the way he used to roll over on our bed, but he stopped and looked at me, almost as if he thought he might be in trouble. No, Bunny, you're not in trouble every time you sit on something soft. ...I didn't yell at him when I caught him peeing on my bed, honest I didn't! I just shooed him off!

I also made a wheel for the ever-stompy Blinky the tortoise. It's a little over a foot wide and a little over a foot in diameter. It's a test, so it's made of cardboard with a wood axle. At first, I locked him in so he'd get used to walking on it whether or not he wanted to. Then I made the door bigger so he could get in and out by himself. So far, it's only 'out,' as far as I can tell. When he gets exceptionally restless, I'll lock him in for an hour or so. I figure the chances of getting him to enter and walk voluntarily are about 5%, but I'm not sure what else to try in terms of tortoise enrichment... He does seem to get a charge out of coming up to the wheel and ramming it from the outside. "Take... That... Stupid... Wheel..."

Production of the Great Bunny Foo Foo Movie is going to begin any minute. More info as it becomes available.

Okay, I'll make a greater effort not to make this page into just an obituary column. Promise.

Friday, May 21, 2004

Well, somehow I neglected to post here that during our Christmas trip, we went to a breeder and got a new hedgehog. While we were still vacationing, the new hedgehog escaped and went for a little stroll (much to the consternation of all) and thus named herself "Mia." ...Get it?

Mia is the new star of the cam.

And, last night, we adopted a little white dwarf hamster who has lost both eyes to an infection. Understandably, the whole ordeal has left him a bit cranky, so we named him Ultra-Peepi after the rampaging hamster of the same name in the Invader Zim episode "Hamstergeddon." We plan to buy some gloves and cuddle him and see how it goes, but odds are he will end up being yet another look-but-don't-touch pet.

And there's more good news: We've been experimenting with ways to make Blinky more content, and have finally stumbled on something that seems to work: Hay bedding. ...And he likes mangoes, too.

Sunday, November 16, 2003

Rochelle is the new star of the Cam. Welcome her!

Friday, November 14, 2003

The vet says that John had intestinal ulcers, and that's probably what killed him.

The girls went to the vet today for a checkup, and both seem okay - but that's what we thought about John. :(

After the checkup, I had to keep them in my office all day long. Initially, I kept them in the pet carrier I had transported both in - but even if I would put them at opposite ends of the carrier, eventually there would be a noise which would startle one or both, causing them to snort and jump. This would start a chain reaction of snorting and jumping which would eventually end up with them right next to each other, apparently trying to stab each other with their spines. After separating them three or four times, I went to the mail room and made a cardboard box with a partition down the middle to keep them from doing this. It didn't work very well, as you can see here. The movies are huge (sorry), but hilarious. If you're only going to download one or two, I suggest starting at the end.

In case you're interested: After I realized that as long as they were close to each other they were *never* going to calm down, I separated them by several feet and they slept for most of the rest of the day.

Monday, November 11, 2003

Suddenly and entirely unexpectedly, John passed away over the weekend. He was perfectly fine during his play session on Thursday, and was found curled up under his wheel on Monday. Until we find out what happened, we're reluctant to put a new hedgehog in that cage, and moving the cam is a pretty big operation, so the cam will be down for a while.

Monday, March 10, 2003

The Cam now provides daytime action once again, since we are now taping nighttime action and replaying it during the day. Hooray!!!

Tuesday, January 28, 2003

All three hedgehogs, Kitty the bearded dragon, and Blinky the tortoise have all moved in to new homes. Nobody except John had nearly enough room before.

The Hedgehog Cam venue has moved to a slightly quieter part of the house, all three houses now have gentle exhaust fans pulling fresh air in, and their wheels are held to the walls with magnets, which makes them move around a lot less.

They all seem happy with their new homes -- except for Blinky, who always has been an ingrate. :/


As you may have noted from the front page of our site, Oolong the Internet bunny has passed away. It's very depressing, made even worse by the fact that it forces me to face the mortality of our beloved Bunny Foo Foo. I tell you, when Foo Foo's time comes, Aimee's going to have a regular Ophelia on her hands around here. And to think that I didn't even want to get a bunny in the first place!

By the way, I've just hit upon another thing I like about Bunny Foo Foo: He's got a huge personality, but no facial expressions. He'll do an extra-cute wigglyjump and then stop and look at us with his inscrutable little face to see if he's getting a reaction. Other times, he sits as still as a statue, poker-faced, appearing to study us and contemplate his next move. He reminds me of Feathers McGraw, the evil penguin in the Wallace and Gromit cartoon The Wrong Trousers. ...Except that (to my knowledge) Foo Foo doesn't steal jewels, he just wants carrots. (Actually Foo Foo prefers wheat bread over carrots, but that's not much of a pun, is it? You know: carat/carrot? Get it? Ha ha?)

Tuesday, August 27, 2002

On the 16th (yes, I'm slow) Aimee went off and left me alone for the weekend. This is never a good thing - I get into trouble when there's nobody around to take care of me. Limiting a fairly long story to the hedgehog-related bits, I immediately slipped into a 3rd-shift schedule. At around 2am on the 18th, I was watching Code Blue and thinking about going to bed when I started hearing some sounds of distress. Since the show I was watching was filmed in a real hospital ER, I thought it must be a patient. But as the scene changed, the sound didn't change with it. It just kept getting louder and more urgent. It had escalated to full-blown screaming by the time I hit "mute." I headed over to the hedgehog enclosures and found Rochelle laying underneath her wheel with her leg twisted around so that her foot was still on the inside. She was thrashing around and screaming. It was dark so I couldn't find any gloves. I reached in and took my best guess at how I needed to tilt the wheel to reduce the twisting on her leg. By the time I got the lights and the gloves on, the screaming had subsided - she had worked herself loose and retreated to the opposite corner of the enclosure. She was twitching and snorting. I put her in a cardboard box and took her to the 24 hour vet. Due to the fact that she refused to uncurl, neither a manual exam nor an X-ray provided any information. The vet was afraid to give her any gas until she had a chance to recover from her fright. I brought her home and put her in a kiddie pool and watched her for an hour, and she seemed to be walking just fine.

We have discarded the plastic mesh covered wire wheel Rochelle was using and replaced it with a solid metal wheel.

...I hate to think what might have happened had I gone to bed at a reasonable hour. Yikes!

Sunday, June 30, 2002

Gilda's gallery is on line.

Friday, June 28, 2002

Rosie has been demoted. John has taken her place on the cam. Rosie seems okay - just lazy. We're going to keep an eye on her...

And now that Rosie has been returned to her old house, guess what she's doing. That's right: she's on her wheel. >:(

Thursday, June 27, 2002

Rosie is about to be demoted...

A few of you wrote in to ask us about our "Hedgehog Cam" turned "Stationary Whiffle Ball Cam" as Gilda's illness slowed her down. Those same people may have noticed that the situation has not changed much since Rosie the Matriarch took over. This is because Rosie sleeps as much as Gilda ever did. And on those rare occasions where she does get on the wheel, she's not so much "running" as "plodding." She doesn't run much, but she sure does eat. She is currently approximately the size of a Geo Metro. Her low-calorie diet does not appear to be helping. If anyone has any ideas on getting a Hedgehog to excercise a bit, please let us know.

John will probably be taking Rosie's place on the Cam.

By the way, my use of the word "Matriarch" is not entirely spurious. Rosie is the mother of all hedgehogs in the house at the moment (there's a joke or a video game in there somewhere), and she does rule the clan: The kids are normally at least a little social, but when Rosie is around, her constant snorting and jumping keeps everyone rolled in little spikey balls. I wonder if there are antidepressants for hedgehogs.

Bunny Foo Foo is taking his medicine, as we are mixing it with pumpkin. Spoiled brat.

Wednesday, June 19, 2002

Gilda is gone. She had been slowing down for some time now, running on her wheel less and less, until she finally was doing little other than eating, sleeping, and scratching at her tumor and ears. Gilda's habit was to explore when out of her cage, but during her final vet visit she made it quite clear that she just wanted to curl up in her towel and sleep. We hope that she was more exhausted than in pain. There's really no way to know. The only thing we were sure of was that she wasn't having a good time any more, unless you count the possibility of hedgehog dreams. So, we let her go.

Rosie is the new star of the Hedgehog Cam.

Bunny Foo Foo seems to be on the mend. Stay tuned!

Monday, June 10, 2002

Well, Bunny Foo Foo is still pooping a bit oddly, so he's bought himself a trip to the Vet. Gilda is hanging in there.

Monday, June 3, 2002

Foo Foo is behaving himself a bit better, but he seems a tiny bit under the weather. He's not quite as enthusiastic about food as he usually is. The vet gave us some anti-hairball goo to try.

Monday, May 13, 2002

Bunny liberty is not going as well as I had hoped. So far, I have caught him eating a rubber band and tugging at (and possibly eating) the new rug. Sigh. What is it with the rubber bands, anyway???

Sunday, May 12, 2002

The bunny is now on 24 hour liberty. We think we have things arranged so that he won't set the burglar alarm off. We'll see how it goes.

Tuesday, May 07, 2002

Gilda is doing fine! Wheee!! Watch her on the Cam every night!

We put some crappy indoor/outdoor carpeting down in our kitchen so that bunny Foo Foo would have more traction, and the impossible happened: He got cuter, and somehow he didn't explode. Of course, he doesn't hip check the kitchen gate any more, (he used to occasionally launch himself out of the Cave of Caerbannog and slide across the kitchen floor into the gate that keeps him out of the rest of the house - nearly knocked it down once or twice) but he now repeatedly popcorns and warps around the kitchen just because he can.

Look in the dictionary under "adorable." Foo Foo's picture will be right there.

Friday, May 03, 2002

Gilda is home!!!!! The first time Gilda was operated on, the tumor came close to some nerves, so the doctor was unable to take as much tissue as she wanted to. Unfortunately, when the tumor returned, those nerves were running right through the tumor, so the doctor had no choice other than to remove them. We were all afraid that she would be unable to use one of her front legs, which, of course, would have been the end for her. As you may have guessed, all four of Gilda's legs are just fine!! :D

Of course, this cancer will eventually catch up with Gilda. The question is not "if?" it's "when?" We're guessing she has the summer ahead of her, by which point, things will probably be pretty scary again. She has checkups scheduled in two weeks and six months.

We have to keep her wheel away from her for five days. She's already pissed. When we put her back in her house, she ran around in circles for a few minutes, (searching for the wheel, in our opinion) and then (not finding it) started trying to climb out of the enclosure...

Thursday, May 02, 2002 (8:15 am)

Gilda's cancer once again appears to be operable. Surgery this afternoon.

Wednesday, May 01, 2002 (8:30 pm)

Things are looking up a bit. The doctor says that there is hope. We await test results.

Wednesday, May 01, 2002 (12:30 am)

At least one astute viewer recently pointed out that not much has been seen of Gilda on the cam lately. There are two reasons for this: First, the VCR for the cam died, and therefore the cam has been 100% live for several weeks now.

The other reason is that Gilda's tumor has returned, so she's not her usual self these days. We're taking her to the vet today. We do not expect the news to be good. :(

Monday, April 22, 2002

Bunny Jargon File

• Attica! As in "Bunny says 'Attica!'" This refers to Foo Foo making noise tugging in on the door of his cage (which opens out) when he wants out.
• He Who Must Be Obeyed   Bunny Foo Foo
• Mr. Adorable   Bunny Foo Foo
• The Cave of Caerbannog   The pantry where Foo Foo lives

Tuesday, March 05, 2002

Do you have a pet other than a cat or a dog? If so, you have a new enemy: The Humane Society of the United States. The April, 2002 issue of Reptiles magazine reports that On September 6, 2001, the HSUS launched a campaign calling on the Federal Government to totally ban the import, export, and sale of live reptiles to the public.

Yes, I know: Hedgehogs aren't reptiles. But if the HSUS is successful in restricting ownership of one class of exotic pet, you can be sure that they will move on to others, and YOUR pet could be next. Please do all that you can to stop this nonsense before it gains any more momentum!

For more information on alleged HSUS activities that might adversely affect you or someone you love, look here. We absolutely LOVE animals, but we still believe that it is possible to go too far in protecting them.

Monday, February 11, 2002

On Sunday we took Rosie and the babies to the vet for the first time. None enjoyed the trip even a little. I've never heard such snorting and clicking in all my life. The vet confirms that Rosie is too fat, and she also diagnosed mites.

Now that the genders of the babies have been confirmed, so have their names: John and Rochelle, after our sainted friends who were taking care of Rosie when she gave birth.

We also found out that in the next couple of weeks, John will hit puberty. This is why there is no Baby Hedgehog cam at the moment: We've separated the family into three adjacent 10 gallon tanks (which are out of cable range from the cam computer), where they will live until a) we finish building their permanent cages and b) their mite treatment is complete, whichever comes last. The temporary separate enclosures (while small) allow us not only to give Rosie's wheel back to her, but also keep the babies on slightly richer food while switching Rosie to a standard adult diet. Poor Rosie. ;)

Hopefully the baby hedgehogs will be back in front of a cam eventually. In the meantime, we hope you enjoy checking up on Bunny Foo Foo! (Yes, I know; I'll see if I can focus the camera a little better.)

P.S. As you may have noticed, our Internet service has been pretty spotty lately. We hope we're getting pretty close to getting the problem solved. But on the other hand, QWorst (a.k.a. QWest) has now entered the fray, so we probably shouldn't hold our breath. If they discover a problem with their equipment or cabling, they'll probably just declare us ineligible for service rather than fix it. Grrr...

Sunday, December 23, 2001

* * * BABY HEDGEHOGS!!!! * * *

click here for pictures

Aimee is one of those people who, metaphorically speaking, likes to get right back on the horse after being thrown off. So when Puffer passed away, she went right out and started looking for a new hedgehog friend. She found Rosie. In many ways, Rosie is the polar opposite of Puffer - very dark in color, and the biggest, fattest hedgehog either one of us has ever seen. The first time Richard saw her (at the pet shop), she had climbed into the community food bowl and had her face buried in the chow... (2/11/02: After I wrote that last sentence, I discovered that Aimee's first experience with Rosie was identical to mine! It's officially a trend!)

Rosie came home to live in a tank of her own in the kitchen until we could introduce her to Gilda. We got a bit busy with Christmas, and left for our vacation with Rosie still on her own.

This turned out to be a VERY good thing, because on December 23, we got a call from our sainted caretakers, Rochelle and John: Rosie had given birth! Two more babies came before the day was through. (...Okay, maybe she's NOT just a glutton.)

One of the babies (the first, we think) passed away on the 24th, but the other two are doing fine, wiggling around and squeaking out their demands for food. Rosie is a fierce mother!

The cam situation is pretty grim, because a) cam-master Richard was left destitute by Christmas and is up to his you-know-what in alligators at work, and b) Rosie and the babies mustn't be disturbed, or the remaining two babies could be endangered. So, we have a lame old daylight only cam on them for the time being. The best time to see them is from roughly 11am to 3pm CDT (weather permitting), with the best times around 1-2pm, according to our experience. We'll fix it as soon as we can!

Thursday, December 6, 2001

Puffer is gone.

December 7, 2000

While Foo Foo was at the vet having his foot looked at (it's fine), we decided to have him neutered, since it was about time. (Boy, talk about your Bait and Switch!!) I wanted to be sure to have it done before he gets old enough that he knows that he's missing anything. Can't have him marking all over the place, humping people, and biting them in frustration, can we? Nobody would like that.

He came home Wednesday night with post-op instructions for at least two days of limited activity, lest he hurt himself. We blocked off access to the tower to prevent him from doing any climbing. On Thursday evening, we left him in the pantry while we went out for half an hour. When we returned, he was on the window sill *outside* the tower watching us pulling up.

The only way we can think of for him to have reached that point was to jump up onto the top of his cage, and then from there at least 20 inches straight up from a standing start to the next shelf.

So, apparently (if we choose not to lock him up 24 hours a day) if we don't permit him to jump 10 inches inside his tower, he'll jump 20 to get up to the window anyway. We removed the barrier and let him back into the tower, and he went right up to his normal shelf.

Wanna hear something funny? I once thought that I was the master of this house. Darned crazy climbing bunny!

December 3, 2000

Our little Papillon has started climbing again!   >:(

While we were out of town for Thanksgiving, he escaped from his cage and the gate supposedly keeping him in the pantry. Our sainted housesitters Rochelle and John found Foo Foo chillin' in the living room twice. If he picked a new latrine spot during his excursions, we haven't found it yet. (The "he" in the previous sentence is Foo Foo, not John. We're fairly sure that John has not picked a new latrine spot in our house at any time. ...Though when I read the preceding in John's presence, he mumbled something about the closet.)

As far as we can determine, he squeezed between the bars of the tower, and climbed up on the black metal shelves along the wall between the pantry and the kitchen (visible at the far right of this picture). Once on top of the shelves, he was able to jump through the window into the kitchen, and from the kitchen counter plummeted three feet straight down onto the floor. We think he has hurt one of his feet a little bit -- he goes into the vet on Tuesday.

Anyway, we wrapped the tower in fine chicken wire to prevent him from wriggling through (and added a new top shelf at 74 inches while we were at it), closed the window between the pantry and the kitchen, and blocked the climbing paths on the shelves with more chicken wire. We'll see how it goes...

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