New life minus one

As we were spending our first night in the new house, exhausted from spending all day moving, unpacking, and chauffeuring Suzanne to a friend's, our cat Leon was busy exploring.

We were worried most about Roger in the move since he's quite a sensitive soul and has a history of depression, but we werent too worried about Leon since he's just a nice cat with no particular emotional baggage. Both "boys" were more than a little panicked as the apartment got emptier and emptier, Leon hiding on top of piles of boxes and Roger hiding behind curtains.

At the end of the day, we brought Suzanne to the apartment to show her it was empty and to pick up the cats. She giggled all the way to the house thinking it was funny having the cats meowing next to her. Then we let them loose in the house. Roger went straight for the heap of dirt in the garden; Leon checked out the stairs - a new adventure having never known anything except our apartment in his 5 years.

We finally got to bed around midnight; at 1:30 I heard a strange scraping on the zinc roof, a little like chalk on a chalk board. Roger was meowing so I got up in a slight panic and looked for the "boys". I couldn't find Leon but figured 1) he's not that dumb and 2) if he were that dumb, there was nothing I could do so went back to bed. An hour later, I heard the same noise and woke up in a panic, "Jérôme, both cats fell off the roof!"

We jumped out of bed and couldn't find either cat. I checked behind boxes, in the dirt heap and Jerome went outside. He came back carrying Leon in his arms - looking a little stoned, with bloodied heels and a gimpy foot. I went back outside to look for Roger but couldn't find him. Just then, he brushed by me - he'd obviously been sleeping.

On sunday morning, we took Leon to the emergency vet who x-rayed Leon's hips but couldn't find any breaks. So 125€ and one feline life less, we went back to the house and put Leon on a diet because if he's dumb enough to pull that crap again, we better be ready.