Two Weeks

Two weeks ago today Cornelius vanished. He must have run out of a door sometime during the day. He would do this from time to time, but he never left the backyard. He would not stay out for very long either. He did not like being outside that much. All the strange noises would spook him. The only thing I can think of is he got loose, got spooked, got into another yard, and could not find his way back. Someone may have managed to get him to get in their house and just kept him - but I don't know. People he did not know would also spook him. One of yards that borders the backyard has a mean ass dog. If he got in that yard, he would not have lasted too long. But if he was captured by people, they would have known he was not a stray. He was fixed, he was well fed, he had no fleas or ear mites, and his claws were trimmed.
One would think that they would have just let him go to return home. Unless he was injured and they took him to the vet then decided to keep him.

So I put up a bunch of signs with a recent photo of Cornelius.

Nobody called. The signs have been up for a while now. I just put up a fresh batch Thursday. Everyone on the block has to have seen the signs.

Well almost nobody called. Last Tuesday or Wednesday I got a call at 10:30 PM from some people that live three houses down the block. They said there was a cat in their backyard that looked like the cat on the posters. The Cornelius sign contained a description of the cat. Male neutered cat, 11 pounds.

So I gather up a flashlight and head out. I found Max. Max is a very nice gray and white blotchy cat that lives down the street. But no Cornelius. Max looks nothing like the photo. But the people said that was not the cat they saw. So the guy went off to search the front yard, where he found the cat that "matched the description of the lost cat sign". And what did I find? Cornelius? Not exactly.

This pathetic little cat not only does NOT look like Cornelius (Cornelius had shorter hair and was more gray than brown), it is a female and a kitten. The sign said "11 pounds". This little kitten is nowhere near 11 pounds.

But she was skinny and pathetic. And friendly. Not afraid of people at all. It seems that someone on the other side of the block moved out and abandoned at least 4 kittens. And maybe the mother cat too. Who knows.

It was obvious that nobody was taking care of this cat, it was skin and bones. No fleas or ear mites (amazingly enough) but it has the squirts - which means some sort of intestinal parasite. More than likely those of the protozoa variety. And I suspect that there are other worms up there as well.

Anyway, I fed the thing. I had to go off and find kitten chow and cat litter at 11:30 PM. The sick cat would just infect the other three not sick cats - then I would have four cats all with the squirts. It would be like a soft serve ice cream factory in here, only WAY stinkier. And warmer. And not much like an ice cream factory at all.

The little cat does not seem to want to run off. She is here now, sleeping while I type this. After a few days with unlimited kitten chow, she seems to have more energy.

I guess Ill take her to the vet today, to get the squirts problem fixed.

But - I have no idea what happened to Cornelius. It is possible he will turn up, but that is not very likely at this point. I do not think Ill ever find out what happened to him. Two weeks is a long time for a cat that hardly ever goes outside and never leaves the back yard to be missing.