Wednesday, March 26, 2008

On the verge of tears

We had a scare yesterday. Daisy was missing all day and we searched every where, in and out of the house, and couldn't find her. We continuously searched and double searched and double backed to where we had already looked several times before. We jumped to investigate every little noise thinking that it might be her, trapped some where and trying to send us a signal. She meows very softly, and sometimes you just see her little mouth move as if to meow and not a sound comes out.

Daisy had laid around all day on Tuesday as if she wasn’t feeling well, and very early on Wednesday morning Jybow & her wanted to go outside. In a few minutes they both came back inside and that was the last time Jimmy remembers seeing Daisy…I hadn’t seen Daisy since the night before. I was asleep and when I got up Daisy was not at my heels. She usually follows me everywhere from the moment my feet hit the floor. I didn't think too much of it at the time, because I thought she was outside.

All afternoon & night we hunted and called for her. Jimmy & I were both very sad thinking that she might have gone somewhere to die. We remembered that she hadn't gotten up to play with the newspaper house and that it was only Jybow & Hopalong who played with it on both nights. Jimmy was sure that it was Daisy who had played with the newspaper and my pictures confirmed that it was only the other two cats. I also remembered that I hadn’t accidentally put my feet on her while I was blogging yesterday. She has a tendency to lie on my feet when she can’t climb in my lap and when I move my feet around I hit her accidentally.

Late in the evening we sat around quietly, pretending to watch TV, both secretly shedding a tear and praying that Daisy was okay and in the hands of God. Then suddenly I heard a scraping on the window screen, jumped up and was disappointed that it wasn't Daisy. The wind was blowing and a branch from the Rose of Sharon Bush was scraping against the screen. I hung my head and went back to my crocheting, and to praying for her safety.

There's a table next to the window on the front porch that Daisy uses to peek inside while taking her paw and lightly flicking the window screen. She does this to get our attention if she sees us inside the house, and we run and let her in...It's her way of knocking and she has trained us well. If we don’t hear her the first time, she flicks the screen harder, poking holes in it. When she was a younger and much smaller cat she used to jump on the screen with all four paws…Jimmy had to install a new screen every year just because of her…thank God she’s grown up.

Sometime after midnight I heard that same faint scraping on the screen and almost dismissed it as that limb blowing in the wind again. I turned around and thought I saw the little yellow & white tomcat, that looks so much like Daisy, peeping through the window. He’s a smart kitty and has watched Daisy, but it never gets him inside, but he still tries. In the dark they look similar but I took a second look just to be sure, and it was that sweet face of Daisy peering back at me. I quickly unlocked the door and let her in. She was so happy to see me. She greeted Jimmy & woke Hopalong & Jybow to let them know that she was home & happy to see them. We were so relieved and happy to see her too and although she was only gone from early morning until after midnight, it seemed like an eternity. She is never gone like that, but maybe with the warming weather of Spring she decided to go off exploring and got momentarily lost…or chased up a tree by the neighbors pack of dogs…or maybe since she wasn’t feeling well she just decided to find a nice quiet place, hidden away from everyone, to rest up & sleep. Someone may have even accidentally locked her up in one of their buildings, who knows?

Before she showed up you would have thought that we were mourning the loss of a close relative…or a lost child. Our cats have become our children…when did that happen?

8 comments:

Jellyhead said...

Well I was nervous all the way through this post - thank goodness it had a happy ending!

I know just what you mean about you much you treasure your pets .... when Millie our beagle escapes, I am *frantic*.

I hope the rest of the week is much more relaxing for you :)

tomlaureld@yahoo.com said...

I am glad she is back. It is always hard when this happens. For 15 years we had a terrible time with dogs. Every time we brought one home we would lose it one way or another. We finally learned that this neighborhood was to dangerous for dogs. Our cats have taught each other about the cars and highway. We only lose cats with age nowadays and that is always tough on us. We give in to young kittens every once and awhile.

Granny said...

Our kitty ran off when we moved - didn't like the sound of the dogs next door.

My friend found her almost a week later. She was under the window of our old house (2 doors down the street), meowing to get in please.

Dawn carried her here and she hasn't been out of our sight since.

I'm so glad Daisy came back. Spunky jumps on our outside freezer and waits patiently usually for us to notice. If we take too long, she starts scratching at the screen.

Cats are smart.

Oh, you might appreciate that she stirred my coffee with her tail last night. Why is there never a camera when I need one.

Rachel said...

I'm glad Daisy came home!! I know how you feel. Munchie stayed out all night and half the day yesterday. I think the warmer weather is causing her/them to want to be out more.

I love your crocheted socks, and the picture of you in the hat!!

JunieRose2005 said...

So glad your cute-faced kitty came back!

I know how scary that was because we've been through the same thing with our cats-and dogs! Sometimes you don't get the happy ending!

But so glad you did! :)


Junie

TUFFENUF said...

Daisy may have another family that takes her in. Cats are smart enough to "love the one you're with" but still come back home! I am glad she came back.

Kerri said...

PTL for happy endings :)
Jasmine does the scratching thing at the screen on our sliding glass doors. Sometimes she climbs up it too...which makes us really mad with her. Naughty girl! Occasionally she'll do as she's supposed to and ask to be let in the back door.
Please give Daisy and cuddle for me.

Alipurr said...

oh, i am so glad she is back