Monday, January 11, 2010

Cat-ricide

We almost committed cat-ricide today. When we left to run some errands, Mr. Fixit turned off the kerosene heater; perhaps I should say, he thought he turned off the heater. We were away for about 2½ hours. As soon as I opened the door from the garage to come into the house, I noticed the fumes were horrible. Little Girl was the only cat inside. She couldn’t get out; she doesn’t have access to the cat door in the kitchen. The other two with access to the cat door were sitting on the deck.

When I walked upstairs it seemed to be a bit smoky. I opened some windows and turned on the fans to clear it out. I have a whopping great headache after being here for about 30 minutes. Mr. Fixit said that the heater didn’t shut down completely, and the fumes resulted from incomplete combustion.

If I have a headache after only a few minutes exposure, I would how Little Girl feels. She must have a headache, too. If we had stayed away for a bit longer, there could have been a fatal result for her. You can be sure that Mr. Fixit will make sure that the heater is completely off in the future.

2 comments:

Unknown said...

We're using a kerosene heater too. I worry about it. We dont usually use it more than a few day each winter but this winter is a whopper.

Kay Dennison said...

Poor kitty!!!!! I'm so sorry!!!!