Cat-tastrophe!

The Skamper Ramp arrived and it was a very warm weekend so we decided to test it to see if it would save our cats if they ever fell into the spa. Our cats are only allowed outside in our backyard and they cannot get out of our yard because we have barriers that keep them inside. It may seem mean to put a cat in the spa but after a squirrel drowned in our spa, we decided we needed to do this experiment for our own peace of mind. Hunter was our first victim. Hunter is our boy kitty who is currently on a diet so he's not as agile as he should be. He's a laid back cat and the dominant pet in the household. Even the dogs fear him.

Hunter in the Spa from Darylynn Mills on Vimeo.

As you can see from the video, Hunter did not need the Skamper Ramp to get out.  I was surprised when Jeff came with Hayley next because I hadn't even thought of testing her.  She is outside the least of all the cats but she is the one I've most worried about around the spa because she has seizures.  I've always worried that she could be laying on the spa bricks in the sun, have a seizure and fall in.  I took two videos of her.  In the first one (which I won't show) Jeff placed her in the spa and she sunk like a bowling ball.  She surfaced and then just didn't seem to know how to swim at all.  She finally got the hang of swimming but Jeff had to help her out.  We decided to try her again because the first trial was such a failure that we would've been left not knowing if she could get out on her own.  She did better, but like Hunter, did not use the Skamper Ramp.

Finally, it was Kalani's turn.  He's the one cat that we have that seems to enjoy the water.  He often climbs into the kitchen sink and sits there.  He did the best of all and scampered out (sans Skamper Ramp) in a flash.

As you can see from the videos, I can't really tell you if the Skamper Ramp works to save a pet who falls into a spa or pool.  I was happy to know that our cats wouldn't drown if they fell in the spa.  I told Jeff we could return the Skamper Ramp to our local PetCo even though we had bought in online through Amazon.com.  He said he'd just as soon keep it because it might help the random wild animal that might fall into our spa.  I laughed and said we'd probably never know how many squirrels, rats or frogs we saved but we can imagine we're saving them all the time. 

Cooper is doing great after his neutering.  He's back to his old self and it's going to be hard to contain him to light activity until his stitches come out in a week.  His teeth look beautiful, too, and I'm trying to remember to brush them daily.