My stupid father left the ladder to the attic down again so now Smokey has climbed up there and will probably be there all day until all the scary construction noise stops. We know he can climb down, and there’s a vent. He likes it up there because there are birds. I would climb up and get him but I’m scared of heights and I think I’m too fat for the ladder. I tried climbing up it before, but nope. I miss him.
@thorny locust, awwe, poor kitties. I know what it’s like to have your cat mad at you. Patches growled every time she saw me for months after we brought Smokey home. And it wasn’t until we moved here that she would even tolerate being in the same room as me. She would sometimes let me pet her outside, but that was it. Here, I can sometimes pet her inside. But I’ll never be her favorite person.
Awwe cats are so funny. You have 4? :eek: Do any of them meow all night and keep you awake? Do they all eat out of the same bowl and use the same litter box? Smokey and Patches share everything, but I’d think it would get crowded with two more.
We had a lot of cats when I was growing up, but mom made them all stay outside back then, so I liked them, but didn’t really learn to appreciate them until she got older and a little nicer and we could keep them inside. At one point we had Daisy, Melanie, Smokey the first, Rebecca and Garfield.
Then we had another cat we got as a kitten. Mom let me have it in my room, but it kept peeing in my closet and it was very noisy, so mom gave it away or something. I don’t remember.
Then we had Oreo, a long haired older cat who was an indoors always companion to an older woman who passed on. Oreo was the first cat we had who was allowed inside. She was sweet and slept all the time.
And then there was Jazzy who was abandoned as a kitten in the mountains. Some friends of the folks found her and gave her to us. Jazzy would suck on your shirt when you held her, or she would suck on my blanket when she was going to sleep on my bed. She was really sweet. She threw up a lot. Mom never took her to the vet, so I don’t know why she did that. We moved her out of state, but by car. One time the nasty neighbors cat beat her up and mom didn’t want to take her to the vet, but I convinced her to. And then later I moved out and at some point mom had her put to sleep. She did that to other cats, too. ;(
After Jazzy we didn’t have pets for a long time until Hawaii where there are so many ferals running around. Mom started feeding one, and then when she had two kittens, one of them went up into the food tent by herself and that’s when mom grabbed her. We had Patches for a year, and then Smokey was brought to our door by the neighbors who found him crying in their yard. They had a lot of dogs. Mom is definitely nicer now. They get to be indoor/outdoor cats, and she took Patches to the vet when she was sick without prompting, and wouldn’t hear of leaving them behind or killing them when we moved across the ocean.
If I was in control my kitties would always be inside and always be safe and right there with me. But I’m not. Hence the anxious squirrel stuff.
I posted too soon. Smokey is still missing. We haven’t seen him all day. We’ve looked everywhere inside and out. I guess technically the thread title is still true, but it definitely didn’t end happily. ;(
We moved our kitties from Vic to northern WA via Perth last year, and thankfully they stayed in cargo from the time we dropped them off in Melb to the time we picked them up at our destination. We were on the same flights, but animals aren’t allowed in cabins over here, except service animals of course.
Then leaving WA, they got a flight to Perth, then a flight to Brisbane, and another flight to FNQ before being shunted into a boarding facility for a month.
Must admit, they were a wee bit pissed off when we finally picked them up, but otherwise they were totally fine.
I’m really glad your kitties were all fine. They were really lucky to survive all those flights and then get home and stay there safely.
One of our cats is fine.
The other disappeared this morning. Of course, it was the nice one that liked me. He was such a sweet boy. I used to tell him he was the bestest kitty in the world. I’m glad I galaged to snap a final photo of him before he left. I wish I would have played with him more and not gotten so annoyed when he jumped on my computer.
He’ll likely come back dude, don’t panic just yet.
Eons ago we went on hols and had a neighbour feeding our cat, who promptly went missing. Weeks went by and we’d given him up for dead…until one afternoon walking the dog, who should come out of some bushes in the next street but Sooty! Alive and well albeit a bit hungry.
Though in some ways the journey was arduous, you must be vastly relieved. I remember how panicky you felt about the whole ordeal. Your fears–no doubt caused by the anxiety–turned out to be unwarranted, which is wonderful
I hope good ol’ Smokey returns. Hopefully he’s hiding in the attic somewhere. I’m not a fan of letting cats outside unless one is on a farm in the country. Too many hazards out there. Boise is a surprisingly cool place, but there are bad people out there who are not kind to cats. You said you had no choice in the kitties being outdoor cats… Are your parents insisting? Why?
He finally came home at midnight. I was scared that it was a dream since I wanted to see him again, so much. But I’m feeling things and in dreams I don’t feel, so pretty sure this is real. We did lots of cuddling. I am definitely concerned that he might run off again, especially once this house is torn up so much we’re living in the tiny travel trailer. So I’m making sure to appreciate every moment and to take lots of pictures.
We are sort of on a farm-ish. We have quite a bit of land, quiet street, the remnants of farmland around. Neighbors have horses. And there’s a heron we keep hearing screeching at night. My mom believes that cats need to be outside as much as they want to be. She believes keeping them inside all the time is cruel. And I can’t shake that belief. She would rather Smokey die early, as a happy outside cat, than live a long time as an indoor kitty.
He may have been in the house the whole time. Cats can find the most astonishing places to hide, including places that you’d swear were too small to hold a cat.
He started out up in the attic, probably. But dad found him outside last night. He ate something he shouldn’t have out there as he threw up on the landlords bed. And he does seem a bit out-of-sorts, not eating much, but drinking water.
And Smokey is gone again. Dad says he saw him heading for the neighbors. Either they have better food, or there are nicer kitties for him to play with, or something. This shack is shit so I don’t blame him for not wanting to live here. Last night we got to cuddle and I sort of saw it as a way of saying goodbye, just in case. And I got more final pictures of him. And maybe he’ll come back and visit sometimes. I dunno. Maybe he’ll show up at midnight every night. But if he’s staying all day somewhere else it certainly feels like he’s moved out. But you never really know with cats. Anyhow, I miss him.
If he’s moved in with the neighbors, maybe they’ll give you visiting privileges. Talking to them might be a way to get to know the neighbors, in any case – and if they thought he was lost and shut him inside their house, they can at least find out who he is.
As you can’t control whether or when your folks will let him out, probably the best you can do is to, whenever he shows up, provide lots of patting and also food and treats; that’ll give him reasons to keep showing up.
In any case, an encouraging thought: he found his way back home once. So he didn’t panic in the new place, and he found his way around. I expect that, wherever he is, he thinks he knows what he’s doing; and he might be right.
He did pay us another visit last night. He was gone all day, then I spotted him over here around 9 pm, so I lured him into my travel trailer that I’m staying in now. He sniffed around and meowed a lot. Then it got really windy and the door slammed shut. It freaked him out majorly, and he went and hid under my sofa bed for a few hours. I was finally able to get him to come out around midnight. Then we cuddled for a couple of hours until I had to pee (I don’t have plumbing over here) and so since I opened the door I let him out. The folks say that he stuck around until breakfast and played with Patches for a bit before scampering off again. It’s 6 pm here now, and I haven’t seen him yet, today. We’ll see if he comes back to visit again tonight. Wherever he goes must be feeding him well though because he had no interest in the food or water I’ve got over here.
He did come home at 9 again, but he really doesn’t like my trailer, so I had to let him out and he went into the house. No cuddles tonight. I now have two cats who don’t like me. haha In Hawaii Smokey was my kitty. He always slept in my room and followed me around everywhere. He did sleep on my bed for the first few nights we were here back before we ripped out all the carpet and stuck all the furniture in the garage. Ah well. Just one more reason I wish we could have stayed where we were.
They were really lucky to survive all those flights and then get home and stay there safely.