Anyway, yesterday Steve and I woke up and realized that one of our animal babies had vanished! Otis was nowhere to be found. We turned our house upside down in a matter of minutes searching for this cat! I checked under the sink, dresser drawers, closets, in the washer and dryer and Steve was tearing apart the unfinished part of our basement and garage. After about an hour it was evident that Otis was not in our house (he is an indoor cat by the way). I started walking up and down our street looking for him. Then, Steve and I both hopped in the car and drove around the neighborhood for our lost cat, praying he was safe. Aside from being terrified that something happened to our Otis, I kept thinking "if I can't keep track of one of the most low maintenance pets there are, HOW ON EARTH AM I GOING TO TAKE CARE OF A BABY".
After about an hour and a half of intense searching, we had to stop and take a break. It was only 7:30am and the Humane Society wasn't even open yet. So, I got ready to go in to work for a few hours and Steve did too. We kept telling ourselves that when we got home from work, Otis would be waiting for us on the front porch wanting in. It was all I could do to think of anything other than Otis during the time I was at the office. When I was finally able to go home around 1:30pm I gathered all the vet records and made my way to the Humane Society. Otis was not there, but I was able to file a lost animal report. The nice people at the shelter suggested I place an add on Craig's List under "lost and found" and make some signs to put up around the neighborhood. So, I did. In total I made and put up over 50 signs!
When Steve got home from work we went all over our neighborhood and hung the signs. Our last stop to hang signs was at the park. On our way back to the car after hanging the last sign, we saw something move. It was really dark out at this point, and couldn't tell if it was a cat or some other critter. As we got closer we realized it WAS a cat! I got so excited and ran over to it, picked it up, started loving on it, then thought to myself "WOW, Otis has thick fur, he's heaver than I remember, and looks darker than usual (but that's ok, its completely black out) , and his cry sounds funny...." This HAD to be Otis. I mean really, how many gray cats are there just wandering around outside (again sarcastic). Steve told me to put the cat down. I did reluctantly. What if it was our cat and I just couldn't see him well enough. How bad would that be to find your cat, but leave it because you weren't sure? So, I told Steve to check the cat out to see if it was Otis while I ran to the car to turn the head lights on so we could see it better. The cat was not happy! We soon realized that this cat was definitely NOT our sweet little Otis. This cat had claws! We were disappointed, but hopeful. Because it was dark, and cats are more active at night, we thought it was the best time to hunt for Otis as he would probably be out from hiding, wherever he was.
On the way home from the park, we decided that when we got home (after 10pm) we would walk up and down our street with a flashlight and cat food in hopes of finding Otis. Surely he was hungry by now, and would be on his way home! Once we got home, Steve ran downstairs to grab the supplies for our walk and I let Sadie outside to go to the bathroom before we left for our walk. She started barking (didn't think anything of it). I got my tennis shoes on and was ready to go. After about 5 minutes I opened the back door to let Sadie back in the house and in ran Otis! My jaw hit the floor and Steve and I just stood there staring at each other! After all the searching, phone calls, sign making/hanging, and Otis just showed up!
We still have no idea how he got outside, or when exactly it happened, but we do know that he was gone for over 24 hours! Last night Steve and I both were able to sleep well knowing that we had all our "babies" at home! Milo isn't sure what to think. Otis doesn't smell like Otis because he was outside for so long, so Milo doesn't recognize him. Milo is just stalking Otis's every move and hissing at him if Otis gets too close... This will pass as soon as Otis gets cleaned up and starts to smell like himself instead of the great outdoors. I am so glad Otis came home when he did! We had lots of rain and nasty weather last night!
Right now, Otis is curled up sleep in the couch! He is soooo sleepy after his BIG adventure yesterday!
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