A New York cat used up at least one of her nine lives when she took a dive from her owner’s 14th-floor apartment.
Shortly before 11 p.m. last Monday, Angela Lang was preparing to give 9-year-old Copper and her feline roommate Daisy their nightly treat. But Lang knew something was wrong when Copper didn’t come running.
“Daisy came for a snack and Copper didn’t,” Lang said. “That’s when I realized that she was missing. It took me about two hours to find out that she fell.”
Copper had apparently made her way out a 3-inch-wide opening in the window of Lang’s apartment, located on the upper West Side of Manhattan. “I didn’t think she could fit through the window,” she said. “[Copper] has never done anything like this, but she is the explorer of the two cats.”
Copper landed on the roof of a two-story parking garage next door, where she was trapped for nine hours. There was no access and Lang couldn’t contact anyone who could help her reach the injured feline.
At last, Lang was able to get in touch with building service manager Juan Dominguez. He saw Copper from the window of his 4th-floor apartment and used a ladder to climb down from his place to the garage roof.
“[Copper] was scared, cowering next to the wall,” he said. “Then we started to move fast to help her.” He carried the cat back to safety in a laundry basket, and Lang rushed her to the vet.
When the hospital staff assessed Copper, “They actually suggested we put her down. But I said, ‘Let’s give it 24 hours.'”
Lang is glad she insisted on allowing Copper some time for vets to determine the true extent of her injuries. It turned out the cat only had a broken leg and some “road rash” to show for her adventure.
Copper is now recovering at home with a cast on her back right leg and a medicinal patch to control the pain.
“It’s a miracle,” said Dominguez. “I would have never thought the cat would survive that.”
Lang, who moved to New York last month and had never lived in a high-rise building before, was equally delighted. “The vet didn’t think that she would be able to survive but she did,” she said. “She’s a real fighter.”
[Source: New York Post]
