Our Missing Cat

As I walk around the house, his things are everywhere.

His snug little fleece lined bed beside the radiator in the kitchen. A Guinness box lined with old tea towels that he loved to lounge in, bathed in sunshine on the dining room table. An old wooden wine box in the walk in wardrobe with a carpet sample in it that he became attached to & where he hid when we had visitors or people doing jobs in the house. Various cat shaped dents on throws, blankets & cushions as he followed the sun through the various rooms.

But teddy. Teddy is wedged in the corner of the bottom step of the stairs where he left him when he’d finished playing with him during the afternoon before he left. Teddy that was bigger than himself almost when he was given to him as a kitten who was missing his mammy & his siblings. Teddy who was a faithful lifetime companion for him when so many other toys were ignored or shredded in hours. Teddy was carried from room to room, swatted along floors, groomed, curled up with, play fought with, meowed to & loved.

When & how do I start moving these things, washing them, putting them away?

Kinda wish I had a teddy of my own to help me deal with it all.

A month passes quickly. Maybe a little too quickly because every hour he’s been gone is another hour more unlikely he’ll be back & now it’s been a month.

I know there’s a lot of big things going on in the world & reading about people trying to save their own lives & that of their families in Ukraine as they leave their homes, some also carrying cat carriers reinforces how much part of our families our precious pets become.

On the plus side, most of the cats, dogs, ferrets, birds etc that have appeared on the local lost & found animals FB page since our fellow packed his little trunk have been reunited with their families so it’s a good aid to use if your pet goes missing. People have been very kind & helpful.

Please don’t think I’m minimising anybody else’s hardship btw. I was in tears anyway reading about the Ukraine peoples’ plight & started sobbing when I read about an older couple hoping to leave with their cat.

He hasn’t come home & no one sees him anywhere any more.

So, yesterday I gathered up his cardboard scratchers & flattened his Guinness boxes ready for recycling.

I laundered all his bedding & the tea towels that were set aside to dry him when he arrived home saturated.

I gathered up all his toys.

I just wasn’t able to pick up Teddy yet, still in the corner at the bottom of the stairs.

Not sure what to do with his things really. OH wants another cat, in time so maybe I’ll keep them for now.

I will never say he was just a cat because to us he was family but my heart aches for him & it underlines, for me, the millions of hearts aching in other families in Ukraine.

Ambushed by spring cleaning.

I think of him every day. Dreamt of him the other night & woke the house shouting out his name in desperation even though I don’t remember the dream.

Anyway, decided it was time to wash windows, sort out drawers, move furniture etc to give everywhere a good clean. Expected his hair gathered with all the dust along skirting boards, behind head boards & the like. That’s was ok. Had forgotten his phase of playing with the rings from the top of the milk so a couple of them took a moment or two. He also liked a bit of uncooked penne pasta to whirl around the kitchen floor so there were a couple of bits in far flung dark corners. These are, I suppose, lasts in that I won’t find them next year. Don’t know how I feel about removing traces of him. Ready / not ready I suppose.

Thank you all for your kind words over the last weeks. It has meant more than you know. If you’ll indulge me once more, and I really cannot believe I’m writing this, our boy has been returned to us! We are overjoyed as we’d thought the worst.

The wonders of microchipping, extraordinarily kind people & his need for affection meant that he was checked for his chip this morning & thirty minutes later he was home.

We don’t know what happened or where he ended up initially but for the last four weeks or so that he’s been missing, a very nice lady has been feeding the very thin scrawny cat that arrived at her door. Knowing that he’s the type of cat that was used to being loved, she selflessly had his chip checked this morning. We are so grateful to her. And so thankful he’s home in one piece. Let’s hope he doesn’t get himself lost again!

If you’re in two minds about microchipping, just do it! He was less than a kilometre from home.

Anyway, he’s lying in his favourite spot on the dining room table in the sun, looking like he’s never been gone!

Thanks again to you all!