by Elena Theis
I was sitting on the toilet â minding my own business â when such was interrupted by a loud «thomp» sound right next to me. Usually I like my privacy in the restroom and therefore wasnât expecting any visitors! Turning my head, my gaze passed the litter box in the corner but to my surprise I didnât see the usual cat going wild in there but a tiny brown lizard instead! The poor fellow was stuck. How he got in there in the first place is beyond me, but there he was. Scared. And trapped. He tried to crawl up the rim, but it was too slippery, so he kept sliding back into the sand.
Vivid memories flashed before my mindâs eye⊠memories of the day when one of our blind cats â Gucci â managed to catch a lizard and proudly presented his prey by carrying it all over the house â in his mouth! Being the vegans that we are, of course we wanted to save the poor lizard, but Gucci really wanted to eat it. Whether it was still alive, we didnât know but at least its tail had already fallen victim to the cat attack. So we chased the cat, hoping heâd eventually drop the lizard to «play» with it a little more. After 3 or 4 rounds from the living room through the corridor to the patio and back our plan finally paid off. Gucci opened his mouth, the lizard fell on the ground and I quickly removed Gucci from his victim, who still wasnât moving but in this situation playing dead was probably the safest thing to do. As the attacker was escorted away from the crime scene, I brought the lizard outside to a bushy area, still not knowing if it was breathing. But I had hope. And patience. Even if it was alive, it certainly wouldnât move as long as it thought it was still in danger. So I waited and waited next to a motionless reptile in the grass. Hoping. And just as I had almost given up, the lizard suddenly took off and disappeared into the bushes. Whether he did so to die peacefully in there or if he was actually well, I will never know. But back to the bathroom.
I looked at Lizzy in the litter box. What to do? Poor guy, what can be worse than being stuck in your enemyâs toilet? I knew I needed to catch him before the cats would but how? He was scared and very fast by nature, so he would most likely try to escape, and I was afraid I might hurt him in the process of the «rescue». Also, let’s remember the resident cats who certainly wouldn’t pass up a mid-afternoon snack if the snack should present itself. No, my only chance was to bring the lizard with the litter box outside but in order to do so I had to cover it to prevent possible hallway escapes that might have eventually led into cat mouths. Thanks to the humongous box our recent cat food order came in, and thanks to my big heart for cats who love boxes (which is why the cardboard monster was still «decorating» the living room instead of the garbage) I had the perfect props. Thought and done. I quickly put the covered on the litter box and maneuvered both out the front door into the alley. Of course Lizzy got scared and tried to escape. Fortunately, the rim was still too slippery and high for him â so he buried himself in the sand instead. No biggie. All it took was a pooper scooper to dig in and give him a leg up. Luckily I had recently used the same utensil to clean the litter box, otherwise it would have truly been a shitty day for Lizzy!
© Elena Theis 2023-06-01