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The cat came back – the very next spin cycle

Saturday, September 29, 2012 • Sophie Rishworth

NOT many people can tell you about that awful moment when they opened the washing machine lid and realised they had washed the cat.

Adele Law can.

“I lifted the lid and it was the most awful sight I have ever seen.”

The family’s six-month-old kitten had been through a full 55-minute wash cycle that included a rinse and two spin cycles.

She screamed to her son Tate, 7, “I just washed the cat!”

Miraculously, the kitten survived . . . although Tate does think she has used all her nine lives.

It was early on a school morning. Ms Law threw in half a load of washing, added the laundry soap, then had a shower.

A while later, she came back and added more clothes to the wash, closed the lid and pushed “start”.

While she was showering, Possum the kitten had crawled in and curled up in the top-loader.

The family went out and came back after the load had finished. That was when Ms Law heard a “terrible” high-pitched whine.

“It was the most horrendous sound you have ever heard. I looked at the washing machine and said, ‘You’ve got to be joking’.”

Inside was Possum, who Tate said looked like “a flattened starfish” against the side of the machine, with wet fur and looking like a “half- dead skinny rat”.

The whole family has been through the wringer.

Dad Barney Willson got the call from his partner “screaming and bawling her eyes out”.

“I thought someone had died,” he said.

He managed to get out of her what had happened.

In shock, and faced with the “grossest” sight she had ever seen, Ms Law had temporarily closed the lid on what she thought must have been a trauma the cat could not survive.

“If that cat could talk, it would be calling you all sort of names,” said Mr Willson, teasing.

Ms Law grabbed two towels and lifted a floppy Possum out of the machine and rushed the shaking kitten to the vet.

The vet’s receptionist was serving another customer and Ms Law had to interrupt and say, “Look I’m sorry but I have a cat that has just been through the full wash cycle”.

No one could believe the fluffy grey kitten had survived. If it had not been for the care and attention from Eastland Veterinary Services, she might not have made it, said Ms Law.

Possum was kept on a drip overnight and on an electric blanket to get her warm again.

They think what saved Possum was the cold wash and that the washing machine was a model with no agitator in the middle.

Veterinarian Will Halliday said it was certainly the first time they had seen anything like that.

“She was quite dizzy, as you can imagine, after going through a spin cycle and incredibly lucky it was not a hot wash. She was a very soggy moggy.”

Possum was hypothermic and so cold that her temperature did not even register on the thermometer.

Back home in front of the family’s fire yesterday, Possum did not have a care in the world.

The only noticeable change is that she has been “heaps friendlier” since the incident but will not go near the washing machine.

Tate took Possum to visit his class, Room 20, at Mangapapa School.

Ms Law said Tate’s teacher Sue McVey and his classmates had all been so caring. The survival story became a topic for the kids to write about from Possum’s point of view and the astonishing story reached the Herald’s ears.

Ms Law has had all sorts of reactions to the story and now keeps the lid on the washing machine closed at all times.

ONE CLEAN CAT: Tate Willson, 7, and his cat Possum had arguably the best show-and-tell story to tell Room 20 at Mangapapa School this week. Tate’s six-month-old kitten survived a full 55-minute wash cycle, including a rinse and two spins, and has lived to tell the tale. Looking like a “flattened starfish” after the ordeal, and arriving at the vets in a hypothermic state, Possum has made a miraculous recovery that no one can believe. The grey kitten bears no lasting physical effects. But she has not gone near the washing machine since . . . except for yesterdays’ photo, which might account for her startled expression. Picture by Dave Thomas

Comments

linda bullen

11:11 a.m. Tuesday, Oct 09, 2012

You poor things, I bet that was such a shock! My cat curled up in the tumble dryer and I threw in a load of clothes, but luckily she was an adult cat and I heard the banging as she went round and opened the door! She never went near the tumble dryer again!!

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