I got Magic as a four month old cat in 2001. Here’s a picture of her with my daughter last year. When my father died in 2003, I left Antigua to go to his funeral and was away for 3 weeks. During that time I had asked my friend to come to my house to feed Magic and water the plants etc. At the time I was living in a one bedroom ground floor apartment and used to leave a window open for the cat. All the other windows were covered with screens. While I was away, I kept receiving emails from my friend saying that she hadn’t seen the cat in days and her food wasn’t getting eaten. I was a little concerned but I had other things on my mind. When I got back, I found out that she had rather stupidly closed the only window that Magic could get in by, so the cat had disappeared. I was pretty upset and left the window open hoping she would come back, but no such luck and I went looking for her, calling her etc, but there is a lot of bush around and also plenty of big dogs, so I didn’t hold out too much hope. About 3 weeks after I had come back, I decided she wasn’t coming back and closed the window…literally 10 minutes after I closed the window, I heard meowing…sitting there on the windowsill, was Magic the cat…skinny as anything but healthy and happy and very glad to be home. I guess she had been living on rats and mice in the bush.
A few months thereafter, I got together with my fiance and my daughter was conceived and we moved to a new, bigger apartment and Magic came with us. We lived pretty happily in the new apartment until the lease came up and the landlord wanted more money so we had to move again. This was at the beginning of December. Unfortunately, when it came time to move, Magic could not be found. I looked for her and called for her, but there was no sign of her. I kept going back to the apartment for about a month looking for her, but no luck. I left my number with my ex-neighbour, but had pretty much given up hope. Until last night! I got a call from my neighbour saying that Magic had appeared and was in her apartment. I went to get her immediately. She is, again, very very skinny, but perfectly healthy and happy to see her human! I cannot believe she managed to survive for 4 months in the bush on rats and mice alone, but I’m so happy to have her back!
I just wanted to say that I, too have a cat named Magic, and that, like yours, he is jet black from nose to tail. I guess black cats are made for than name.
Yes, Magic does seem to fit black cats…must have something to do with all the old witch stories :).
Update: Unfortunately Magic dashed out of the house this morning when my father in law opened the front door to go out, and she seems to have disappeared again. I am hoping she will come back again, but it’s doubtful as she doesn’t know the area at all. I have been out calling for her but who knows. At least I know that she can survive in the bush if she has to. I will keep you updated.
When I moved out of my parent’s place, I took my 17 yr old cat with me. He had been used to being an indoor/outdoor cat at my folks place, which had a big yard.
I moved into a 3rd floor apartment with a balcony. Knowing that my cat was used to jumping off my parent’s deck, and then climbing back, I kept my cat in a harness on a rope any time he was on the deck. The rope was short enough that he couldn’t reach the edge of the deck. I’d only let him out while I was home.
One day I turned around, and didn’t see him on the deck. It was tiny, so this wasn’t good. Turns out he must have strained to get to the edge of the deck, and somehow gotten over the edge. He had fallen out of the harness, and down to the ground. I couldn’t find him anywhere. I called for him. I wandered around the buildings. I went to the complex office and left info there. This went on for about a week. People would let the office know that they had seen a cat that looked like mine, but I could never find him. Finally, after work one day, I again headed to the spot that people had said they saw him. I took with a box of cat food. Sitting on the steps, I shook the box and called his name. To my surprise, I saw him squeeze out of the laundryroom drier vent next to me. He was skinny, tired and rumpled, but he smelled springtime fresh and was static free,
Next update: She’s back! I came home from work last night and she was on the porch. She must have been exploring the bush. At least I know now that if she does get out, she will come back. Whew!