CAT-ASTROPHE!
Alison Beardmore, 43, from Hixon, was blown away...
Sitting at the kitchen table, I stroked my cat, Nina.
Just then, my husband Carl, 40, came in carrying the weekly groceries.
‘Let me get dinner on and then I’ll help you unpack,’ I said, as Carl plonked the carrier bags down.
Placing Nina on the floor, she gave me a grumpy look. ‘Cuddles later,’ I smiled. Then, as I placed a pizza in the oven, I gave her ears a ruffle.
Carl was behind me, rummaging through the shopping.
‘There’s something wrong with this,’ he frowned, picking up a deodorant aerosol can.
Liquid leaked from the nozzle to the kitchen floor as he handed it to me. Just then – Bang! A blazing fireball swept across the kitchen floor! Stunned, I jumped back. Strong fumes were flashing up my nose. ‘Quick!’ I yelled to Carl. In a few seconds, we put out the flames.
Then I looked around the room to survey the damage.
‘Where’s Nina?’ I realised, panicking.
She’d just been at my feet… But now she was nowhere to be seen. Running out of the kitchen, I called her name. Then I spotted her, sitting on the hallway stairs, and my heart sank. Big patches of her fur had melted and were now black. Moving closer, I saw that her whiskers had been burnt clean away. Reaching out my hand, she backed away from me, frightened. ‘She won’t let me touch her,’ I said to Carl. Then I realised Carl’s eyebrows had been singed
away, too!
Staring down at my legs, I realised my calves were bright pink from the flames.
But I was more worried about Nina.
She’d bolted upstairs, and I found her cowering near my bed, but this time, she let me touch her.
I quickly grabbed my phone, took pictures of her and sent them to the vet.
Check her skin, the vet texted back.
I gently parted the black fur and peered at her skin.
Thankfully, the burns hadn’t reached that far, but she looked in a sorry state.
A later check at the vet revealed that her eyesight hadn’t been damaged.
Thankfully, mine and Carl’s burns were minor.
I’ve contacted the supermarket about the aerosol can.
I think the liquid that leaked was set on fire by the heat from the oven.
But it was Nina who took the brunt of it.
After that, my poor furball is definitely down one of her nine lives.