I’m trying not to get paranoid today. I’m telling myself that it’s very hot and the last thing cats want is to be indoors. Max was last seen around 7.30pm last evening. He came in for food then disappeared again. His usual pattern is that he turns up around 5am and wakes me, eats then goes out again, eventually settling three doors up at my neighbours, spending most of his day with her two cats Toby and Bilbo Baggins. Today however, no one has seen him. We’ve checked the main road (as we tragically lost a cat in an RTA twenty odd years ago) and there was thankfully no sign. Then you start thinking ‘has he got himself locked in?’ Our other cat Mollie went missing for two days a few weeks ago, turning up severely tramatised and necessitating a visit to the vet. It turned out she had been locked in a neighbour’s cellar. The trouble with cats is that they are incredibly curious and sometimes this works to their detriment. An open door is an invitation to explore and perhaps, if it’s a cellar, to find mice. Once the door has been closed by a human who hasn’t a clue they are in there, they are trapped. Worse case scenario is he’s been locked in either the house or the garage by someone as they were loading the car in preparation to go away on holiday – paranoia really kicking in here – I must calm down!
Hopefully, he will come home with an expression which says , well here I am, what’s all the fuss? If not, I’m about to compose a flyer for door to door distribution. Fingers and toes crossed we have a happy ending.
JO LAMBERT 