Oi! Kitty!
My cat is 17-years-old and noticeably old. In the past few years, he's been eating and moving around less. He also went through a period where he had trouble jumping or climbing up and down from things, and walked around with a limp from what we suspect to be arthritis. It's been really sad to see him get like that, and I know he hates it too because every time he falls while trying to jump or needs help jumping onto things, he gets a little bit of an attitude, which I know is him just venting his frustration. I love my kitty! And I hate seeing him like that.
More recently though, because he has lost a lot of weight due to decreased appetite, he's turned almost frisky, not unlike how he used to be when he was younger. Last time I was home, I caught him randomly racing through the house, and I hadn't seen him do that in so long it was really funny and exciting to see! So, even though I know he's a really old cat and probably won't be with us for many more years (and my parents keep reminding us of this fact so that we'll face reality) I have a hard time accepting that he is in his twilight years when he keeps acting like a kitten.
So, imagine all the horrid thoughts that started racing through my head the minute my mom said those words to me, "be prepared." I thought my cat had taken a sudden turn for the worst and they were going to have to put him down. Eep. Then she explained that my cat had gotten outside and was lost. Which wasn't any better than being sick and having to be put down, but at least with being lost there was a chance of him being found.
Apparently, one of the things that has come of my cat's renewed friskiness, is his increased desire to go outside. My mom says the minute they open the door he tries to go outside, and oftentimes they don't even know that he's either followed them outside or slipped past them. My mom said my cat did this several days ago and she searched for him until 11 o'clock, but never found him; the only reason he came home was because it rained and he had nowhere else to go. And she said he'd done it again today and had spent the past several hours screaming for him around the neighborhood. She said she was hot and tired and was giving up, and that hopefully it would rain so that he'd come running home again. So, since she and my dad were giving up, she wanted me to be prepared that he'd never be found. Eep.
Anyhow, a minute after we hung, my mom called me again. "We found him," she said. After she hung up the phone with me the first time, my cat came slinking up the stairs from the basement. *headdesk* He'd been hiding down there all along, so my dad didn't see him when he searched the basement. Bad kitty!
But I'm so glad he's not lost. I really wasn't prepared to lose him!