The most adorable runaway, and why I can't sleep....
My cat Isis, my adorable little saccharine kitty, managed to find her way outside on Sunday afternoon. I am entirely to blame, when I left for the day, apparently, the door did not close as completely as I assumed. Since then, I have been completely wrecked...and John is worse. Sunday night, John, my father, his stepdaughter, and I spent various parts of the evening tearing up the house....after which, I also put up ads on Craigslist, and put her bed and a can of tuna outside (which was promptly devoured by the large, black maine coon cat we dubbed "Isis' boyfriend") I was up until 5:30am printing out flyers and posting them on every mailbox within a mile of my house. When John made his way home, he was still barely speaking to me and cried himself to sleep. I don't blame him...I spent most of the night a mess as well....and she is "his" cat, afterall.
Monday morning, I once again had to work...thankfully it was slow in the bar, so between pouring Labatt's and decapping PBR's I was on the phone with every veterinary hospital in the area, the SPCA, as well as The Penny Power, The Intellegencer, and The Morning Call newspapers.
(FYI-The Morning Call was the only newspaper to charge for the service of placing a "lost cat" ad (50.00)....AND they lost my credit card number. I feel their douchebaggery should be noted as a warning to others.)
That evening, I came home and searched the woods a bit by myself, then grabbed john off of the couch and walked to the neighbors. Our "community" is rather antithitical, everyone who lives in this area prides themselves on their isolationism. The nearest houses to mine can't even be seen from the street. Yesterday was the first day I even laid eyes on the house my next door, even though we share a mailbox stand. I was astounded by the compassionate response...The flyers were well received, and I was amazed to find that not only was I allowed to look through other people's properties, but that everyone I spoke to had gone out earlier in the day to conduct their own mini-searches. A wonderful woman named Bev who lives across the street even lent me her Have-a-heart trap.
Also, after meeting the neighbors, I severely doubt that any of them would be interested in intentionally "catnapping" a domestic kitty of no discernable petigree, regardless of how cute John and I think she is as her parents. One other excellent adavantage of living on a street full of self-made, rather affluent hermits is that when you seriously need help with something and you have obviously done your best, they will jump at the chance to help. Also, it appears that most people live in the woods to get away from assholes, not to become them. Trees makes people act more human for some reason....and most deer are better conversationalists then many coworkers I have had the misfortune to encounter.
From Craiglist, I recieved several emails with excellent advice and contact numbers of other pet-finding type organizations. At John's neurotic request, I even called a gentleman who owns a search dog company. The gentleman was lovely, and also gave some fantastic ideas for leaving scent trails (use your imagination...you don't want to know) and John's stinky socks lying about outside to help her find her way home.
No. I am not hiring a search dog. For the record...yes, this may seem a little extreme for a lost cat. It is. But let me restate that this is John's CHILD. He never grew up around them and is not used to the cat mentality...he sees Isis as completely helpless much like a three year old human child would be. Isis may be the sweetest little thing in the world, but I am still comforted by the fact that she has claws(even if she isn't that great at using htem)and a thick fur coat. I am terrified that she is missing. However, I am also relieved to see so many "regular" strays in the area-that tells me that she most likely wouldn't be instant coyote chow, either.
Today, I spent the day at the Lahaska SPCA, dropped off a flyer, and spent an hour in the cat room trying to take my mind off of everything. No it doesn't make sense, but it works. When I lived in Willow Grove,I used to haunt the Abington SPCA on my bad days and play with the kitties there, too....somehow, being in a room full of kittens makes everything better. I was also happy to make the aquaintance of a long haired male adolescent coon-cat named Nolan; who sadly apparently didn't get the grooming-thing down yet. Beautiful kitty only a year old, and very melodramatic...("Oh God...get me out of this cage! Im dyin' in here! Merow!") I thought that if I cleaned him up a bit, no one would mind...and perhaps by spending a good hour untangling him (much to his distaste) I could help his chances a bit of finding a new home.
Hey, Lahaska is an hour a way...I didn't want to waste the trip. And I can't recall the last time I did something nice just for the sake of doing it with no potential for personal gain.
I came home, and found the trap had caught something! I noticed a black tail-Fantastic! I lifted the cover, and found it to be a small all black kitten about 2-3 months old. Shit. Brought John ourside, released the kitten who took off like a shot into the woods and tried to console myself that at least I gave someone needy a good meal tonight.
After all this, I took Eris to the vet appointment I made in Pipersville earlier in the morning. Got her microchipped, got her shots, came home, and John spotted Isis warming up on the hood of my car. At which point he dropped Eris' cat carrier and CHARGED towards Isis, consequently scaring the shit out of her enough to make her bolt back into the woods.
Fuck.
I leave for NewEngland at the end of the week, which I have been looking forward to for months (well, years-technically...but that's an entirely different story). I don't know what the fuck I'm going to do if I can't catch her by then. John is a mess, I am a mess, and Eris doesn't seem much happier than either of us.
I think I have done all I can for right now...and trapsing through the woods further will only confuse the scent trails John and I left earlier. I just wish John would be a little more understanding towards me in all of this. I understand that he sees Isis as "His cat" and it's my fault that she got out....however, cats escaping happens all the time, everyone I know who has one has lost it at least once for a few days. I am also upset, scared, and sleepless....but we live in the woods, I have few neighbors, and I am quite far off from rt 563 (which is not even all that busy for a "major" road) Also, we saw her TODAY, so we know she's okay right now and knows how to come back home when she's hungry or cold enough. All my neighbors have flyers, and I know she didn't go all that far.
I would like to assume that since I saw her on my car, that this means she should be on my doorstep or in my trap in the very near future.
Right this moment, I have left the screen door open, a can of tuna fish in the trap, a trail of tuna fish leading into the trap, and Eris is standing at the door crying for her playmate to come home. It doesn't seem to work when I call her, and I am hoping that Eris has better luck.
I have also taken our cat carrier, covered it with her small fleecy blankie, and put alarger, softer fleecy blanket we had on the recliner inside as a place for her to curl up in if she's too smart for the trap( as well as one stinky shirt from John and myself to smell "homelike"). So...food, warm shelter, and love....I hope that's enough to bring her home.
And I should be in bed...or cleaning the litterbox, or putting away the meat we bought on Sunday.
Damnit.
Monday morning, I once again had to work...thankfully it was slow in the bar, so between pouring Labatt's and decapping PBR's I was on the phone with every veterinary hospital in the area, the SPCA, as well as The Penny Power, The Intellegencer, and The Morning Call newspapers.
(FYI-The Morning Call was the only newspaper to charge for the service of placing a "lost cat" ad (50.00)....AND they lost my credit card number. I feel their douchebaggery should be noted as a warning to others.)
That evening, I came home and searched the woods a bit by myself, then grabbed john off of the couch and walked to the neighbors. Our "community" is rather antithitical, everyone who lives in this area prides themselves on their isolationism. The nearest houses to mine can't even be seen from the street. Yesterday was the first day I even laid eyes on the house my next door, even though we share a mailbox stand. I was astounded by the compassionate response...The flyers were well received, and I was amazed to find that not only was I allowed to look through other people's properties, but that everyone I spoke to had gone out earlier in the day to conduct their own mini-searches. A wonderful woman named Bev who lives across the street even lent me her Have-a-heart trap.
Also, after meeting the neighbors, I severely doubt that any of them would be interested in intentionally "catnapping" a domestic kitty of no discernable petigree, regardless of how cute John and I think she is as her parents. One other excellent adavantage of living on a street full of self-made, rather affluent hermits is that when you seriously need help with something and you have obviously done your best, they will jump at the chance to help. Also, it appears that most people live in the woods to get away from assholes, not to become them. Trees makes people act more human for some reason....and most deer are better conversationalists then many coworkers I have had the misfortune to encounter.
From Craiglist, I recieved several emails with excellent advice and contact numbers of other pet-finding type organizations. At John's neurotic request, I even called a gentleman who owns a search dog company. The gentleman was lovely, and also gave some fantastic ideas for leaving scent trails (use your imagination...you don't want to know) and John's stinky socks lying about outside to help her find her way home.
No. I am not hiring a search dog. For the record...yes, this may seem a little extreme for a lost cat. It is. But let me restate that this is John's CHILD. He never grew up around them and is not used to the cat mentality...he sees Isis as completely helpless much like a three year old human child would be. Isis may be the sweetest little thing in the world, but I am still comforted by the fact that she has claws(even if she isn't that great at using htem)and a thick fur coat. I am terrified that she is missing. However, I am also relieved to see so many "regular" strays in the area-that tells me that she most likely wouldn't be instant coyote chow, either.
Today, I spent the day at the Lahaska SPCA, dropped off a flyer, and spent an hour in the cat room trying to take my mind off of everything. No it doesn't make sense, but it works. When I lived in Willow Grove,I used to haunt the Abington SPCA on my bad days and play with the kitties there, too....somehow, being in a room full of kittens makes everything better. I was also happy to make the aquaintance of a long haired male adolescent coon-cat named Nolan; who sadly apparently didn't get the grooming-thing down yet. Beautiful kitty only a year old, and very melodramatic...("Oh God...get me out of this cage! Im dyin' in here! Merow!") I thought that if I cleaned him up a bit, no one would mind...and perhaps by spending a good hour untangling him (much to his distaste) I could help his chances a bit of finding a new home.
Hey, Lahaska is an hour a way...I didn't want to waste the trip. And I can't recall the last time I did something nice just for the sake of doing it with no potential for personal gain.
I came home, and found the trap had caught something! I noticed a black tail-Fantastic! I lifted the cover, and found it to be a small all black kitten about 2-3 months old. Shit. Brought John ourside, released the kitten who took off like a shot into the woods and tried to console myself that at least I gave someone needy a good meal tonight.
After all this, I took Eris to the vet appointment I made in Pipersville earlier in the morning. Got her microchipped, got her shots, came home, and John spotted Isis warming up on the hood of my car. At which point he dropped Eris' cat carrier and CHARGED towards Isis, consequently scaring the shit out of her enough to make her bolt back into the woods.
Fuck.
I leave for NewEngland at the end of the week, which I have been looking forward to for months (well, years-technically...but that's an entirely different story). I don't know what the fuck I'm going to do if I can't catch her by then. John is a mess, I am a mess, and Eris doesn't seem much happier than either of us.
I think I have done all I can for right now...and trapsing through the woods further will only confuse the scent trails John and I left earlier. I just wish John would be a little more understanding towards me in all of this. I understand that he sees Isis as "His cat" and it's my fault that she got out....however, cats escaping happens all the time, everyone I know who has one has lost it at least once for a few days. I am also upset, scared, and sleepless....but we live in the woods, I have few neighbors, and I am quite far off from rt 563 (which is not even all that busy for a "major" road) Also, we saw her TODAY, so we know she's okay right now and knows how to come back home when she's hungry or cold enough. All my neighbors have flyers, and I know she didn't go all that far.
I would like to assume that since I saw her on my car, that this means she should be on my doorstep or in my trap in the very near future.
Right this moment, I have left the screen door open, a can of tuna fish in the trap, a trail of tuna fish leading into the trap, and Eris is standing at the door crying for her playmate to come home. It doesn't seem to work when I call her, and I am hoping that Eris has better luck.
I have also taken our cat carrier, covered it with her small fleecy blankie, and put alarger, softer fleecy blanket we had on the recliner inside as a place for her to curl up in if she's too smart for the trap( as well as one stinky shirt from John and myself to smell "homelike"). So...food, warm shelter, and love....I hope that's enough to bring her home.
And I should be in bed...or cleaning the litterbox, or putting away the meat we bought on Sunday.
Damnit.