Cat drama

[mousme]

So last night I was sitting in the garden, writing a letter and enjoying the balmy evening, when suddenly the neighbour's boxer lost its shit and went barreling across the yard, barking and snarling and practically frothing at the mouth. I got to my feet and looked over the fence in time to see a flash of black and white go ducking under the car that the neighbours keep parked in their garden (the local equivalent of living in a trailer park). Not a skunk, so I assumed it was the little black and white cat that's been coming around howling for a boyfriend lately.

The neighbour hauled her dog away with stern admonishments about not attacking cats. That's when moonandtree came out onto his balcony and told me that it was Pan-Pan who'd been in the neighbour's yard and was the object of the dog's ire. I immediately headed over, but the elderly gentleman who lives two doors down told me that Pan-Pan had taken off through the open fence into the alley out back, and he hadn't seen where.

Great. The neighbour told me she was pretty sure her dog hadn't hurt Pan-Pan, but of course the cat was nowhere to be seen, having had the scare of his lifetime, and so I couldn't check him to be sure. I spent the next two and a half hours looking for him.

The only good part about yesterday evening was just how nice the people in my neighbourhood are. Tyrone, the grandson of the local cat lady (Pat, who lives two doors down on the other side) joined me in my search and was just adorable. He's in his mid-teens now, and is growing into a fine young man, both polite, articulate, and helpful: his grandmother is probably the best influence he could have.

The elderly gentleman from two doors down also came out to help, but his form of help was to tell me in gruesome detail that the dog had grabbed Pan-Pan by the spine and shaken him like a stuffed toy before Pan-Pan got away, which did absolutely nothing to make me feel better, let me tell you. In fact, it had the opposite effect: I was more determined to find him, since I had no way of knowing if he was too injured to make his way home again. I tried very very hard not to imagine too many "dead in a ditch" scenarios as we searched. The fact that we lost a beloved cat friend only a couple of days ago to lymphoma did not help my state of mind: two cats in almost as many days was a bit much.

All the people we encountered were sympathetic, and some of them even put aside their beer to help look around their area and under cars and porches. Some of them said they had seen him go by ("He's a big black cat with a white stomach who kind of looks like Hitler, right?"), but some of the testimony was a bit unreliable due to the witnesses' being three sheets to the wind ("He was right here, I swear!"). It was very touching, though.

One guy even promised that, as soon as he'd finished his beer, he'd get on his bicycle and circle around to see if he could spot him. I made him promise to be very careful, as I don't want to live with the guilt of having him injure himself while cycling half-drunk around the neighbourhood after dark. :P

At about 22:30 I told Tyrone that we ought to give it up, since it was too dark to see anything. It's a school night, and I didn't want him out so late when his grandmother didn't know where he was. I came home to make sure Pan-Pan hadn't sneaked back into the garden, but he hadn't. Since I was alone by then, I allowed myself to burst into tears, then tried very hard to pull myself together so I could go out looking again.

I opened the back door, only to have Pan-Pan shoot inside like a bolt of greased lightning. I made a complete sobbing fool of myself, and hugged him and cried over him and made a big fuss, which he took with relative equanimity, although he seemed pleased to be safely back home. I checked him over thoroughly, and he's fine. Not a scratch on him.

So all's well that ends well. I am considering keeping all the cats chained in the basement, but I think perhaps I shall try to remain sane and sanguine about the whole thing.

Comments

[ai731.livejournal.com]

Glad to hear he's home safe and sound. Be sure to let Pat and Tyrone know that he's home safe, otherwise Pat will have the whole neighborhood still looking for him!

[mousme.livejournal.com]

Yes, that's on my list of things to do today. :)

Gah. Cats.

[curtana.livejournal.com]

Glad to hear Pan-Pan returned from his adventure unscathed!

On another note, Arthur received your card yesterday - thank you very much! :)

[mousme.livejournal.com]

Oh, good!

Canada Post has been... erratic... about delivery times. I'm glad he received it! :)

(St00pid cat. Making me worry.)

[sultrysong.livejournal.com]

I got mine, too! THANK YOU!

[taxlady.livejournal.com]

Thank goodness he's home, safe and sound. I think he may just have learnt a lesson about the yard with the dog ;)

[irishyogini.livejournal.com]

Ohmigah. I've had a very similar experience. I let my (then) aging and mostly blind Westie out to do her stuff and I went back inside for a minute to put my shoes on. When I went out to supervise the process, she was gone. G-O-N-E. I panicked. I looked all around and couldn't find her, and at the time I lived off of a very, very busy street and I kept having the "dead in the ditch" visions. I ran all over the back yards of our neighbors and was sobbing hysterically. I stepped out to the street absolutely positive that my baby girl would be smashed on the pavement, but I looked up the street and a (very, very hawt) runner suddenly stooped to pet a stray dog. My dog. I crossed the street at top speed, almost ending up a greasy spot myself, and barreled up and swooped her up into my arms. The guy said something about taking better care of my dog. I was too anguished to respond, but it did kind of piss me off.

Anyway, it was like my girl didn't realize anything was wrong. I was sobbing over her and hugging her and kissing her and she was all, "can I pee now, please?" :)

Glad Pan-pan is in good condition and home safe. (((hugs)))

[owldaughter.livejournal.com]

Ah, Pan-Pan. Let's hope this lesson sticks. I bet he pretends to be Velcro for a while.

I am highly amused by the fact that you have created a tag called "Pan-Pan is lost". Let's hope you don't have to use it again.

[mousme.livejournal.com]

Heh. I created the tag so I'd be able to find this post again in the future. Doubtless I shall need to refer to it at some point, knowing myself. ;)

I hope I never need to use the tag again.

[toughlovemuse.livejournal.com]

I think "Pan-Pan is lost" can apply in lots of situations that don't involve him being actually missing.

I'm glad he was found safe and sound, but I'd recommend against chaining him in the basement - the yowling and scrabbling would interrupt your sleep.

[luvenditti.livejournal.com]

craziness, glad it all turned out for the best.

[chasingthenuns.livejournal.com]

Glad he's safe! Have you ever read The Wind Up Bird Chronicles?

[tcaptain.livejournal.com]

OMG I'm so glad Pan-pan is ok!

All's well that ends well..but I'm so sorry you had to go through that!