Crazy Cat Stories

Simon is home!!!


Wow, we've had some kind of crazy luck with cats in the past year. For awhile there, I was sure we'd be blacklisted from any local area animal shelters. We had two cats in one year that went missing. Its rough sometimes with indoor/outdoor animals. First, Simon went missing in October of 2008. He was a cat who loved to explore and would be gone all day sometimes. I was heartbroken when he didn't turn up and felt like a horrible pet owner. I spent much time searching for him. I really thought he was out there, I just couldn't track him. We have a large ravine behind our house that leads up to neighborhoods uphill quite aways. I always knew he headed that way...its totally a cat magnet area.


So fast forward to April of 2009 and Wyatt goes missing. Ughh, seriously now I really thought I deserved some sort of ticket or punishment for losing two cats. By this time, life was so crazy with I, hugely pregnant, and wild toddler to handle, that I really didn't look long for Wyatt. Knowing Wyatt, I thought that if he disappeared he tangled with the wrong animal. Wyatt loved his food, he loved his home, and he came back several times a day to check on both. So when he didn't come home, I was sure he probably tangled with a coyote. And 4 months later he showed up literally across the way in the apartments. He was on the hunt for a mouse, and Michael went was out on a walk with the girls and happened to see him. Random and super lucky. He's home and now loving life as an indoor cat.



All this time, I still always kept an eye out for Simon. By now its been over a year since he's disappeared. And on Thursday afternoon I was taking Makena for a car ride to try and get her a nap. I usually head up to the neighborhood behind us, as its just a gorgeous area and I love to check out the homes. And out of the corner of my eye, I saw a small yellow sign that read "Found Male Black Cat" with details underneath sounding a lot like Simon! I felt totally crazy. Like, cat-lady crazy.....but I had to call. So I called and left a message literally saying..."this probably sounds nuts, but I lost a cat like your description over a year ago....."


And they called me back, didn't think I was nuts and invited me to come check him out. Believe it or not, all black cats look the exact same. Especially if they don't have any identifying marks..but after comparing a pic and talking about personality, I was 99% sure this was Simon. And the family was ecstatic.. Turns out he'd be hanging out in this neighborhood since last summer. They saw my signs but initially thought this cat was female, so didn't bother to call. A trip to the vet, corrected them on the gender of the cat. So that was when they posted a sign and I randomly drove by and saw it. Its definitely not a neighborhood on my normal route...so something was meant to be.





Simon is in the garage trying to get use to it all. We'll have a few days of getting use to the house, noises, kids screaming...and then we'll try and re-acquaint Wyatt and Simon. I doubt they'll remember each other - so I'm prepared for mostly a lot of hissing.

But my sweet black kitty is home. I missed him so. I feel like one crazy lucky cat lady. And I've definitely had a huge debit to my karma bank. :) I'll be sending those wonderful people some sort of nice thank you for taking care of my cat and posting that precious little sign!