Hey! That's my cat!

When we moved to our new house 4 years ago we had 3 cats.  One of those cats hated having a brother and a sister.  She was happy to to be an only cat.  She hissed at the others.  Less than a year after we moved she never came home.  We figured she was killed by a coyote or caught in a trap.

Millie, the missing kitty

Last year we got a Beagle puppy.  With a new puppy you're at the vet quite often.  One day I took her for a booster shot and as we were waiting at the counter a cat on the sofa caught my eye.  The people who had the cat live in our neighbourhood.  I told myself, "that can't be Millie" and went out the door.  When I got to the car I realized I forgot to have Penny's file filled out so I went back in and as I entered over heard the cat's owners telling the story of how they came to get her.

Our Beagle Puppy, Penny

Apparently the cat was "found" not very far from our house, taken in and held against her will (sorry, I'm a bit bitter).  When nobody came to this person's house to claim her they decided they would find a home for her.  So, these people took her in and when they noticed that she wanted to run away when they left her outside they built a cage on their back deck to keep her in.  So, she didn't have a chance to come back home.  From the time she was "taken in" by the first person until the day I found her at the vet she was kept inside (I say held hostage, again, still bitter).

I had contacted our local shelters, posted her picture on Facebook and we told people in our neighbourhood she was missing and they were watching for her.  I have my opinion on whether or not a certain member of the neighbourhood knew where she was but I will keep it to myself......

Keeping in mind that she hates other animals and the office was full of them, including my own Beagle puppy, she was not a happy kitty.  She was hunched up in the smallest ball she could get into, you could see the moisture on the leather sofa where she was setting.  I knew the people so when I approached her and told the people she was my cat she hissed at me, her eyes the size of quarters.  I know she was not happy about the other animals and that she doesn't hate ME.  We compared stories like how she likes to tickle your face with her whiskers and scratching the heck out of the sofa (apparently they had her declawed).

She loved me when she lived with me, it was the other animals she didn't love.  She would sleep next to me and tickle my face with her whiskers in the morning.  But her new owners have said she wasn't happy to see me.  They actually brought it up in Church last Sunday in front of everyone!  I thought that was very rude but just pointed out the other animals in the office were stressing her out and walked away from them.

Our Cat Maggie......Enjoying my shoe????!!!

They never offered her back to me.  I would have left her with them anyway because I know she would not be happy in a house with a dog, she hated the other cats so a dog would drive her over the edge for sure.  I wonder what the proper etiquette is for a catnapped cat.....should the new owner offer it back to the previous owner?  My husband thinks so and so do many other people I have discussed it with.

Penny and Our other Cat Max playing...

Had she not been taken in and never left out again she would have come back home.  I realize many of you are saying "you shouldn't have left her out to begin with" but she was adopted from Shaid Tree, a local animal shelter, she actually would run outside between your legs.  There was NO keeping her in if she wanted to get out!  Well, unless you have a cage waiting for her when she runs through the door....

I am relieved to know she is alive and well and, I assume, happy where she is.  Though I chuckle to myself when I think the hissing may have actually been because she was angry with me for letting her get captured by these people who keep her captive in their home, walk her around on a leash and take her to Church functions.  It's funny, had I gone to Church long ago I would have found her.

A Wise man used to say "everything happens for a reason".  So, I will keep that in mind and say she was meant to find a new home that would keep her safe inside and never leave her outside to roam again......

Penny and Max, playing again!  Max is her favourite cat :)

'til next time!!