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I seem to have misplaced my cat.
It was at dinner time last evening that I realized I had completely neglected to feed my cats breakfast. For some reason it completely evaded me and I wasn’t given a reminder by the always-hungry Lola. So after expecting both cats to come racing for their first meal of the day and then place a call to the Humane Society against me, I was surprised to find that Hobbes was missing in action.
He’s a pretty lazy cat, so I assumed he had moved to a nice cool space to sleep the day away. That, or he was boycotting me and my affection since I have the ability to entirely forget to feed him. But I couldn’t find him anywhere. No nook, no cranny, no crevice. He is nowhere to be found.
I am truly boggled by this. I have the door to my apartment shielding access to the labyrinth-like hall and then there’s another door that blocks the way to the big, bad, outside world. In order to be completely missing, he would have had to get out the door without me noticing (which is difficult since I’m always right at the door when it’s open) and then somehow wander the halls without being noticed until he could slip out the main door as well.
There are a few options that could be at play here. First, perhaps he’s still in the apartment. I’ve checked every single negative space three times over. Drawers, high surfaces, beneath furniture, inside totes, in the pots and pans cabinets – everywhere. I don’t think this is likely unless he was suddenly incredibly sick and did that crawl-int0-a-tiny-crevice-to-die thing. Which would be tragic.
Second – perhaps he was stolen. Snatched in the night. Maybe he sneaked out my apartment door and some neighbor who had always wanted a cat but not had the opportunity to get one saw it as a sign that he was meant for them. Perhaps Hobbes is nestled sweetly on someone else’s bed eating someone else’s cat food, while the neighbor neglects to call the number listed on his collar.
Or third – he could have actually made it outside. This is the least preferable. Though he is a lover of the outdoors, he is such only by observation. When we have taken him outside in celebration of his wildcat roots, he promptly lies down in the sun and is inactive. The sun has a sort of koala-meets-eucalyptus effect on him where he is rendered passive and incapable of action. But I have checked all immediate areas outside my complex and found cats of all shapes and sizes – none of which were him.
So I am minus one cat and truly baffled as to how it happened. I’m trying not to be too sad about it right away – I put up a poster in our apartment so that if the second option was correct, someone might have a change of heart and return him. If I don’t hear anything in a few days I will be so very heartbroken for his poor, incapable, furry self. I would take solace in the fact that it’s springtime and he could be out getting frisky with the sexy neighborhood felines, but alas he is a eunuch. So here’s hoping he returns.
And that this isn’t indicative of a problem I’ll have keeping track of my offspring someday. ♣
The Jackie Blog 