It has now been 3 weeks since Muffin’s disappearance.
I have put up 90 posters in a 2-mile radius of our house, laminating them all (unrecyclables be damned). A guy had put up paper posters of his lost Lab on some of the mailboxes I postered; after a rainstorm, the only thing left were mine. Shows laminating is definitely the way to go. Poor guy, I hope he found his dog.:-(
I have handed out over 40 flyers to local churches, schools, dogwalkers, joggers, people with strollers, neighbors, and people living on the rural routes.
So far I received not a single phone call from anyone who has seen her. I have received many calls about neighborhood strays, or “Hey, there’s a cat sitting on that driveway! It looks just like yours on the poster!” and I get there and the cat is completely GRAY with white feet; or a bunch of neighborhood kids trying to help and showing up at my door swearing up and down they saw A CAT walking across the street “kind of up the road near one of those houses a little while ago.” I had a promising lead last week with a lady who says she saw a tortoiseshell cat on her porch that she was sure was mine; after many nights staking out the place I caught a glimpse of it and now highly suspect it was her neighbor’s cat from across the street. I lent her a feral cat trap and asked her to place some food in it and set it; so far, nothing.
People have been very nice trying to help (I’m sure the big REWARD on the posters also helps LOL), but the fact of the matter is that maybe Muffin just doesn’t want to be found just yet. Every day I spend hours in the nearby neighborhoods, walking or driving around, calling her. I slept on the floor in front of the deck door in the living room for a week hoping she would come back and meow at the door to be let inside, and I didn’t want to miss it if she came home in the middle of the night. Raccoons gnoshed on the “kitty buffet” of delicacies I set out on my deck, hoping to lure Muffin back. Bugs with nasty pincers set up a bug hotel in Hub’s shirt that we put outside in a box, hoping the familiar scent would bring our cat back home.
Last last Saturday was the day we were all going to fly to Japan to spend a month with the in-laws.
I ended up cancelling my ticket and staying behind alone (buh-bye a couple hundred dollars), while Hub and Lil Tot flew to Tokyo. They are having a wonderful time with the relatives, visiting onsen, going to the toy store, and practically cleaning out the convenience stores of all their favorite Japanese snacks and cookies.
I am meanwhile vacillating between desperately searching for our lost kitty, cleaning up the house, getting caught up on DIY projects (which I haven’t felt much incentive to do unfortunately), moping about, and watching copious amounts of TV. I finally saw the first Twilight movie the other day. A whole lotta panning and tracking shots of a bunch of people staring at each other. Surprisingly disappointing, and the story was hardly fleshed out. Perhaps there’s more depth in the books.
All I can hope is that Muffin is happily frolicking in the fields nearby, and will come home soon once she gets bored. I can’t keep imagining all the things that might have happened to her; it’s too stressful. I console myself by watching Law & Order: SVU…they always find the runaway kid in the end.
xoxo
Carly
feral cat trap from animalnetwork.org; Twilight layout from languageisavirus.com; JAL plane from a Google search
Aw, I'm really sorry about Muffin. My family has had cats disappear and it's terrible. In one case someone found a cat that looked just like the one that was missing, but after they'd had him for a few days they realized that it wasn't him.
Was she microchipped? I assume you've checked with all of the local shelters?
I hope she comes home soon. Don't give up!
I think cats just want to taste a bit of freedom and when they're ready to come home they will. My cat disappeared and was gone for 4 weeks. Then one day last week I found her meowing in my window to get in. They say they usually dont go too far. Make sure you leave something with her scent on it..like a bowl or favorite sleeping bed, outside so she can easily identify home. Good luck and hopefully you'll find Muffin soon!
Oh my!!! Wish Muffin gets back home soon!!
Office Style – 12
So sorry to hear about your lost kitty.
I hope Muffin comes home soon!
I'm so sorry about your kitty Carly. I can't even imagine what you're going through. My worst nightmare would be if my chihuahua Higgins was lost. I'd go crazy.
Don't give up hope though, she'll probably come waltzing in soon. 🙂
I am so sorry to hear about your kitty!
XOXO,
http://outfitidentifier.com/
Dont lose hope, my cat Ajax went missing for 7 months last year! He was chased away by another large cat and never came back! I put up heaps of posters, and hand delivered about 1000 flyers in my neighbourhood, called all the shelters, vets and councils and had no luck! Amazingly on New Years Eve i got a call from the cat shelter saying they had picked up a stray cat, scanned for a microchip and it was my kitty! Miracles can happen x
Thank you all for your kind comments and support! My kitty was microchipped and wearing a collar with a tag with her name and our phone number on it. She's a feisty kitty, and hates strangers with a vengeance, so the chance is zero to none that anyone would want to pick her up and try to adopt her. Hopefully she's just wandering about somewhere, and I've honestly done everything within my power to try and get her back – the only thing I can do now is wait for her to come home, or wait for a phone call from someone who's seen her.
I truly hope she will just show up one day waltzing through the front door.
It's just a little trying in the meantime.
Your words mean so much to me and they are giving me the strength to keep going!
Thank you so much, dear readers – you are the best anyone could ever wish for.<3
xoxox
Carly
dear carly, i'm truly sorry about your (hopefully temporary) lost, but cats aren't ment to live in houses, they are animals and maybe it's the best for her, just living outside?
WHile you've done everything you could do (by chipping and laminating posters with reward) enjoy your time.
I hope you find your cat! I also hope that catching up on some DIY things has helped to keep your mind off of the anticipation.
oh carly, i know this feeling and it really sucks. my cat disappeared and through the signs posted was found a month later. unfortunately he picked up a disease while out and died a few weeks later. leaving me grieving twice. but i do know that there is hope. good luck. e-mailing you shortly.
xxx
t
There's not more depth in the books. Trust me.
I'm really sorry about your cat 🙁 I hope she's safe somewhere and will come home to you soon…
I have a cat that got outside about 6 months ago and just came home tonight! We waited around for weeks and there was no sign of him. One night a few friends came over and saw him in the woods by our house! Sure enough it was him and he had been out on an adventure. We would leave him food outside and he came and ate it but would let us get close to him or would come to us. So, in the last couple weeks he has been hanging out closer to the house and meowing at the doors and windows. We tried to get close but he got scared and ran again. He was finally ready to come home tonight though. He was sitting on the front porch when we heard him meowing again. We went out with some cat food and he ran right up to us and wanted to come inside!!! So happy to have him home! Don't lose faith… Your kitty just must be having way to much fun out there.
@Lou Lou
Thanks so much for your comment, Lou Lou! It means the world to me. The hardest thing is the hope, that she is somewhere and will come home again!
But your kitty sounds like mine – really skittish and needing to be lured back indoors. Maybe she is also out on an adventure, as you say, and the cold temperatures will soon drive her back!
Here's hoping~