For my Facebook friends this won't be a surprise story...Sunday, January 4th, our little Boots, Madolyn's black and white kitten, disappeared. She goes in and out frequently as long as someone is around to open the door, and we have never had a problem with her not returning.
Sunday evening we noticed we had not seen her. We searched the house high and low, but nothing. The temperatures outside were horrific and we assumed she was in the barn and would turn up in the morning.
Monday morning came and she wasn't begging to come inside. We were slightly worried because it was so cold and it was very unlike her.
I told Jay this fall that I did not want to get her fixed just yet because I thought it would be fun to have one batch of kittens. He didn't really agree, but he didn't make an appointment for her either. So O decided that maybe she was off having kitties somewhere. She was a chubby, short thing and there had been a Tom cat hanging around in the fall. Jay thought she was too young, but I didn't dismiss the idea altogether and so Monday evening, the kids and I searched the house extensively and did not find her. My theory that she was off somewhere having babies was fading. She would've come out for food and water by now.
As the week progressed, Josie, the big kitty, was so pitiful. She was zipping around, up and down the stairs, meowing. She would sit at the big patio door and just watch, as if looking for her little buddy. Unfortunately, she was also reverting to her pre-Boots psychosis...which involves taking all of her frustrations out on me, which I'm told is out of love, but that doesn't make the scratches and bites less painful...
Every day I would text or call home and see if Boots showed up. I quit asking. Of course, Lane, our sympathetic one, would have to throw out that she had been coyote bait or make some sort of death gesture. Lane and Jay had found the white bunny carcass near the pond last weekend so the thought wasn't far-fetched...I just didn't want to hear about it.
I had announced we would have to get a new kitten because I could not live with Psycho Josie. Jay did not care for this idea at all, but I really saw no way around it. I wasn't running out to get a new kitty just yet, but the acquisition was imminent if Boots didn't return. Boots was Madolyn's kitten, but I loved the little gal dearly. She was simply the sweetest cat I have ever had.
I posted a few times over the course of last week about our MIA kitty and had lots of sympathetic ears. On Friday, I posted about getting a new kitten if Boots didn't turn up...
Friday evening we were getting ready to go to a basketball game and I saw headlights out the front windows. I went to the door and there were our closest neighbors...their daughter with a sweet black- and-white kitty in hand standing on our porch. I screamed, hugged the daughter, smushed the kitty and Madolyn came running outside. No one could believe it.
Immediately, Boots started her familiar purr and Madolyn ushered her inside. She had been lurking around their garage and they saw her just moments before. She was cold, a little wheezy and thin, but she was back. Josie and Boots exchanged a few hisses but are back to being best friends.
As is not always the case, all is well in the pet department at the Wilhoit Ranch...for now.
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