I am really beginning to think that this stuff can ONLY happen to us.
Seriously we have the weirdest pet stuff ever happen around this home.
Remember our dog Nikki and when she got
dog napped?
Or how about my
suicidal dog Charlie?
Oh, and don't forget about my crazy hamster breeding farm that I was running for a while.
So here is the latest epic story in our household about our crazy pets.
We have this cat Duke. He is seriously the coolest cat ever. We got him last May (on the day of the LOST series finale to be exact. He was ALMOST named Sawyer). Since he has grown up with the beagle and the kids, he is really friendly. He wrestles with the dog and he lets the kiddos tug and pull on him all the time and he never scratches them one bit.
Below is a video of Duke and Charlie playing together. This may be the ONLY pet video with Sarah McLachlan music playing in the background that is NOT advertising for abused animals.
I've always found that we have less cat allergies, and just happier cats all around if we let them go in and out. I know by doing this I take a chance at loosing them, but I've always put a collar on them and hoped for the best. All the neighbors know Duke and love him too because he is such a sweetheart.
Anyhow, Duke always runs out of the house at night and usually comes back in the mornings and sleeps all day here. He has repeated this routine for over a year now. He is NOT neutered, despite all the warnings from Bob Barker about the pet population. I know, I know, I'm a BAD pet parent and I should have had it done FOREVER ago, but at first I was considering getting a female and having kittens with them (something my sister Ginger got stuck in my head to do), and then life happened and I never got around to doing it.
Saturday night he runs out of the house, and that is the last I see of him for a while. Halloween came and went and I still hadn't seen him, but we had been busy. By Tuesday night none of us could place the last time we saw him, so I started to
completely and totally panic worry a little.
By Wednesday morning I'm pretty certain he is gone because he would have certainly been home. My kids are now worried as well. I post a Craigslist ad for him, and then I register him on the OKC animal shelter website.
Thursday morning after tossing and turning worrying about him I make posters and go put them all around our neighborhood. At this point I just pray because I've done all that I can do to try and find him.
Thursday night I get a message on my cell phone from a guy that said he found a break away collar that looks like it belongs to a cat or small dog with Dukes name and my number on it. This is JUST what I was afraid of.
I immediately call him and he proceeds to tell me he was weed-eating his back yard and when he hit the chain link fence the collar just flung up into the air. I asked him where he was located so we could come and look for Duke in that area.
He says "we are just south of you."
Wait a second. The collar didn't have my address on it. I didn't tell this guy where I lived. How did he know he was south of me? Is what I should have been thinking, but in my mind I just dismissed it.
Then he asks "What does your cat look like?"
I proceed to tell him Dukes description (which my husband continually now makes fun of me for because I said "he is brown and black tabby/tiger striped and has a cute face". He can't get over the fact I said "he has a cute face.")
He says "well, I think I may have your cat."
I'm almost in tears so happy now. He then proceeds to tell me that they trap feral cats and that on Sunday they saw him in their garden and then Sunday night he was eating out of their back patio food that they leave out for the cats in the neighborhood. He then tells me that on Monday he trapped Duke (since he was without a collar), and then Tuesday took him down to the humane society and had him neutered and gave him all his shots. He goes on and on about feline leukemia and all the other diseases in this area and how we were lucky that Duke didn't have any diseases. Then after finding the collar today he gave me a call because it could possibly be our cat).
I can see Jamin getting upset that this guy is giving me a lecture on the phone. He seemed nice to me and I really wasn't thinking because I was so excited to find Duke. He told me to come over and check it out to see if it was him.
I got off the phone and Jamin said "he is lying to you." I said "huh?" Jamin said "he didn't JUST find his collar. I guarantee you something is fishy here."
I started thinking about the conversation and all the odd pieces that just didn't add up. How did he know where I lived? Then it dawned on me. He saw my signs. That is the ONLY way that he would know.
We arrive at their house and they are very nice people. His wife is super sweet, he is a bit odd but seems nice. They take us to the room and open the door. There is my sweet Duke lying on their bed. I started to cry.
The guy starts talking again and tells us that Duke has been eating out of their yard since last Wednesday. Wait, I thought you said Sunday? On Saturday the last time I saw Duke he had on his collar. So if he has been seeing Duke for a while, he MUST have saw his collar. He also says "you are lucky that he wasn't diseased after being out for a year and a half." I explained that even though he wasn't neutered he did have all his immunizations.
Wait. I never told him how old Duke was. That was on MY SIGN. This guy WAS lying to me.
Oh well, they were sweet. They gave me my cat back. I'm sure he realized that we cared about him after he saw all the signs. We offered to pay for the shots and him being neutered, but they declined. Said they were just happy that they found his home.
Thankfully I wanted Duke neutered. Thankfully he wasn't a show cat that I was planning to breed or anything....
Oh well. He MAY have been lying to me. Maybe he wanted my cat, all in all Duke is home and we are happy and thankful he is here.
Unfortunately Duke will now be an indoor cat, because I can't risk him heading back over to crazy cat trappers home for some more free food. He is not too happy about this. He keeps giving me the stink eye every time I pass him standing at the door.
Oh, also I think I figured out where my old cat Scout may have disappeared to...
