November 20, 2008
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Ted’s Big Adventure
Runty little Ted, comfy and warm today with his normal-sized littermate Roosevelt, disappeared the day after I posted about him earlier this month for my three little thankfuls. He had gone out with his brothers to play in the fluffy, falling snow, and didn’t come back.
Doug and I went out, walked around, and called him. We waited, watched for him, and worried. The first night, I woke several times when Doug opened the door and plaintively called out to Ted.
Tiny Ted is a favorite, obviously. Not the only favorite, not for either of us. With twelve cats in the household, we can have as many favorites as we like. Doug’s special buddy, his lap cat, his habitual furry seatbelt, is Granny Mousebreath, the catriarch.
Shallow as I am, my heart has been captured by the most physically beautiful of our cats, Val (AKA Pants, AKA Mr. Personality).
Both of us are especially fond of our two stay-at-homes, Bagel and Fancy, the only ones who prefer not to go outside, even in summer.
But I digress, and I had better quit before I start getting into the favorites of the past. None of these other adorable cats could compensate us for the loss of little Ted. Bagel, Ted’s mother, also expressed some distress when she couldn’t find her smallest boy.The second night that Ted was missing, Doug confessed to me the next morning that he had gone to his room and cried. I could relate, though I had been shedding no tears. Ted was in my thoughts all the time. I was distressed at the thought of that little guy being an owl’s midnight snack. After the second day gone, I had little hope that he was still alive.
Then on the third day, a neighbor, a woman whose house is at the end of this street, knocked at the door with Ted in her hand, asking if that was my kitten. Koji was barking insistently, doing his job of scaring the intruder, and she was cooperating with him fully. I had to assure her that I had a firm grip on Koji’s collar before she would approach close enough to hand me the cat. She stayed only long enough to tell me she had heard the “kitten” crying near her house and had followed the sound and found him. I told her he wasn’t as young as he looked, and shouted my sincere thanks as she retreated down the driveway.
He was obviously traumatized by the experience, but seems now to have put it behind him. A few times, Ted has approached the door as if he wanted to go out with the other cats, but Doug has scooped him up and kept him in. I don’t suppose we can keep him confined forever. Next summer, when the window is open and the cats all come and go as they please, he might have another adventure or three.
Comments (11)
I do love a good lost-and-found story. And all of the cats are lovely! I like how you describe them all do differently and distinctly.
thank goodness Ted made it home & i now know of someone with as many cats as me ! have a wonderful evening blessings beck
i am glad little ted is okay. but curious as cats are, it will likely happen again.
Always wonderful when a pet returns. I had one show back up on my doorstep a full month after his disappearence. Clearly been fighting and clearly starving but otherwise fine.
That memory is one of my top ten best. When Figaro came home.
So glad the wee one came home safely….sounds like ya have a good neighbor there who would take the time to help the little one.
Peace………AbbeyC
What a neat story! Val is a stunner.
I’m guessing Ted’s experiences as
a. the runt
b. his adventures
will imprint significant psychological marks on him. Life is such an ephermeal, fleeting state. It, like everything else, is what those molerats in the orange robes call “empty”.
I’m pretty impartial when it comes to animals. I like them all.
I even care about ants, cockroaches and spiders as much as I do about cats – that sounds bad, but I actually care about ants, spiders and cockroaches lawts. And you too! <3
maybe get Doug an instrument from a thrift store, or a cheap harmonica. I find that it’s really comforting to sit or lie down on the floor and let the g-tar speak through me, you follow?
Ted may not venture so far next time!
I had a jet black cat, Jamie, who would go on “walks” with us, but being a cat, he would wait until we were about 20-30 yards ahead, then he would thunder past us, getting an equal distance in front of us. When we’d finally reach him on the path, he’d be grooming himself, pausing to feign surprise, as if he was saying, “Fancy seeing you out here!” He’d continue grooming, waiting wait until we were about that far ahead again, and repeat the process. It was about a mile from our apartment complex, the last one on the street, to the beach. In the middle was a gulley wooded by eucalyptus trees. One time, Jamie didn’t follow us past the woods, so I figured he found something better to do. When we passed back through the woods, I didn’t see him, and thought he went home. But there was no Jamie at home. I kept checking and calling him–very unlike him to stay away so long. After several hours, feeling distraught, I went out and retraced our steps. When I got to the woods, I heard the most pitiful howling–it didn’t sound like a cat at all! “Jamie!” I called. The howling immediately changed to a hopeful cry. I stood still and facing the ocean kept calling his name, trying not to laugh as I heard his cries change from the complete panic sound I heard at first, to a happy “mrow!” as he got nearer to me. Suddenly a black streak came out of the woods, straight towards me—no, past me, about 20 yards. As I got near him, his pride wouldn’t let him greet me. He licked his paw and feigned surprise when I reached him. I stopped to pet him and he finally let on how glad he was to see me. He didn’t straggle at all on the way back home.
Aw, so glad you got him back! Happy endings are great
Here’s to Tiny Ted!
My mother’s cat “Baby” went missing for two weeks last month. My mother and stepfather searched for him relentlessly. He finally came back home, scared and covered in grease and motor oil. I can only imagine the adventures he had.
Hope you’re doing well!
-Sheri
@Apocatastasis - I love spiders. Cockroaches… I guess I was imprinted with fear and loathing for them as a child, by my mother as much as by personal experience. Ants are my enemies, because they “herd” aphids and aphids have, in the past, wiped out several of my crops. It’s a survival thing. Ants are a threat to my survival. It’s a very basic, us-or-them, thing.
Doug has no interest in playing a musical instrument. He has an electronic keyboard and some simple wind instruments I encouraged him to play as a kid. He played keyboard in high school band, but he’s really a drummer at heart, and drums on whatever’s at hand when the urge strikes. He has several ways that he works out his feelings, such as walking and chopping wood. Was it that he cried over the cat that impelled you to suggest that? We talk a lot, both of us, and yell and scream when we feel like it, and dance when that’s how we feel. Not instrumentalists, really, in this family.
@SuSu - Chopping wood ftw. Yes, it was the cat. I dance too, I was doing that tonight at this chick’s party. I’m bringin’ sexy back! Unfortunately I had to choose one party over another (both parties were hosted by close friends), so I missed some people who said they wanted to see me.
edit: and omfg i found out a female friend of mine, K, will be dead by July. I won’t be sad because I don’t react to death with grief like a normal person, I don’t even fear it myself. She’s so uncomfortable with even talking about it and confronting it. sigh. poor girl. i think maybe it’ll be a growing experience for her, having to come face to face with those fears. she’d better get her ass down here so we can have some reckless fun first! and the maoris are taking over this town from the abos because they’re tired of their shit.. tonight was supposed to be the big night they bring their baseball bats and shit then duke it out. I know the sons of some of those Maori’s (one is friends with my younger brother), and the abos have no idea what they’re up against… do you get anything similar in alaska? btw, still got my address for those books? i need to unlseash my inner bookworm