The last few years we have done everything we can to get rid of the animals. It started with Pongo our English Springer and Bob our Himalayan. They were both up in their years and had suffered from strokes. It came to be time to do the humane thing and put them down. Long time family pets but now Denise and I were becoming empty nesters of both kids and pets. (We didn’t put the kids down, they left on their own.)
Then the oldest moved back in with her husband, first child and their two dogs. A chocolate lab mix and a pit bull. What an interesting 8 months. Finally the kids were able to get back out on their own and we just had one more cat at the house.
When our youngest moved out of the house she claimed Blackie as hers and took the cat with her. So we were almost totally empty nesters now. Except…
During this past year our middle daughter was unable to keep her cat Rocky at her house so she asked if we could keep him for a couple of weeks. I’m not sure how long ago that’s been, at least 10 months.
In the spring we decided that Rocky needed to be more of an outdoor cat so we let him out. At first just for a few hours and eventually he was out most of the time. But he never missed a meal. That was until a few weeks ago, he stopped showing up.
We put out the regular notices of a missing cat. Neighbors all around us reported seeing him. Especially around a certain wooded area where they said he would be seen playing. But we never could find him.
Then finally today, a neighbor next to us said she saw him in an empty rental house behind us. Apparently there was a broken basement window that he went in but couldn’t get out. So we’re not sure how long he was in there but he is definitely a skinny cat now. We are nursing him back to health.
While we’re not so keen on having pets, we had really been worried about him. Denise especially is know for not caring much for cats but she was often looking for him and talking to the neighbors. So it’s nice to have him back. Now if we can just get the daughter to take him back…