Never give up on your puffer!

[JerryGSP]

I came downstairs this morning to find my green spotted had jumped out of the tank during the night. I don’t know what time but the cat had kindly picked him up from behind the sofa (where I would never have found him until he started to smell) and made a nest for him on my fleece jacket.

He was stone-cold, inflated with air, covered in cat hair and very dead looking. I bagged him up and was about to put him the freezer to store until bin-day when I remembered reading on here about someone who had a puffer jump out of a tank and they later found him behind their freezer – many hours after jumping.

With this in mind I thought – what the heck – it’s worth a try and filled a bowl with water from the tank. A puffer floating belly-up in a bowl is not a nice sight but I thought I would at least get the air out of him before putting him in the bag again. A few giant puffer belches later (has to be one of the most revolting noises I have heard in a long time) I noticed – to my complete disbelief – that his lips moved a touch. Spurred on by this I continued to rub his belly and within a minute his fins had started moving. Ten seconds later he had righted himself, burped out the remaining air and was doing laps of the bowl.

Not quite believing what had just happened I filled a bucket with tank water, whacked in a heater and transferred him over (minus some of the cat hair and dust now covering the surface of the water).

I am still in disbelief that he looked so…dead!...and when I left for work this morning was swimming around a bucket. Fingers crossed he pulls through but I’m not getting my hopes up just incase.

Thanks also to the cat – without which I wouldn’t have found the puffer had jumped out of the tank until coming back from work! (and for not treating him like a cat toy!)

It just goes to show – it is never too late to try and save your carpet-surfing puffer!

[mysifier]

Awwww that is such an awesome story I'm so glad ur puff is ok

[edmlfc1]

Awesome! I hope he's ok when you get home.
Your cat deserves some nice treats too.

[Agnate]

Yeah, seriously, props to the cat and puffer! Our kittens would have lovingly nibbled on his ear until his body disappeared.

[Pandora114]

Cats are smart, they won't eat anything that will harm them.

aka, a puffer.

[julianchan]

Thats awesome! Good intuition. Good reading. Good to know just in case it happens to me. Thanks for putting that up! And good luck to the little puffer, hope he gets stronger and stronger.

[By_a_coo]

Wow! I hope your puffer make it! You can cover the aquarium with a mesh to prevent this happening again, just like I did.

[recombinantrider]

Wow! Great story and I'm glad that you're sharing it here! I hope your puffer will be swimming around like nothing's happened when you get home from work!

Wow! I hope your puffer make it! You can cover the aquarium with a mesh to prevent this happening again, just like I did.

What kind of mesh did you use? My puffers never jumped out, so I never bothered covering up the gaps. Now I'm kind of paranoid. Should- cover - tank.

[Sponge bob]

Maybe a brine shrimp net type mesh?

[lilgirlkat]

awwww.. I had a cat that would "catch" our gerbils when they got out. She'd back them into a corner and hold them there until we got home to put them away. She never harmed them. My current kitty KNOWS that my bf's birds aren't food, even though she used to be an outdoor cat.

Can't wait for the update..

you didn't happen to take pics, did you? (the morbid side of me had to ask..)

[By_a_coo]

Wow! Great story and I'm glad that you're sharing it here! I hope your puffer will be swimming around like nothing's happened when you get home from work!

Wow! I hope your puffer make it! You can cover the aquarium with a mesh to prevent this happening again, just like I did.

What kind of mesh did you use? My puffers never jumped out, so I never bothered covering up the gaps. Now I'm kind of paranoid. Should- cover - tank.

Excuse me to use the topic to say that: the mesh that I'm speaking of is that one found in stores like The Home Depot. That mesh is used to make mosquito net. I made a frame (that would fit over the tank) made of some soft wood and pinned the mesh on it. Did it help?

[recombinantrider]

yes, thank you.

JerryGSP....any updates on the little fighter?