PITA recovered

Yay for the kitty. They have such amazing senses of direction too...my cat, (also named Midnight, by coincidence) once escaped from the vets office. 3 months later, she was crying at our door.

Yay. And I am glad to see you setting a good example with all those ID tags and bright collar. That is the best insurance for pets who get lost.

"You own a dog, but you can only feed a cat."

I'm so glad he came home.

I always LIKED my cats' independence. It's not like a kid or a dependant, its more like a little miniature panther has decided he likes to hang out with you sometimes. Wanders off into the woods behind the house to care care of cat things, but comes in to visit with his people friends. That's pretty cool.
Sure, he's a bit of a mooch, bogarts the cat food, but a lot of friends are like that. I don't mind, I don't really like cat food anyway.

Cats, apologize? To others? Like doors, such concepts don't exist in their furry little brains. You ought to beg forgiveness from Midnight for allowing him to get all wet and stinky and forcing him to take shelter in the garage where there was no shrimp or vital bits of paper to flop on. Poor kitty...

Yay Kitty! Just shows what a cool person you are, since he wants to hang out with you after all

Dogs have owners, cats have staff.

Exactly why weren't you feeding him wherever he was ... tsk ... rather than making him have to come back for it?

SILLY HUMAN.

Good; good. —Some friends up in deep Northeast Portland, catless for some time now, recently were adopted by a stray: a quite serious young thing who made herself very much at home. They fed her and looked around the neighborhood for Lost Cat signs and finally took her to the vet, for a formal adoption check-up.

There's a chip, said the vet. So they checked the chip. Turned out the cat came from a house four blocks away from us, 110 blocks away from them. She'd been missing three weeks. Her owner was ecstatically relieved at the news.

Our friends? They're finally going to get a new cat of their own...

It took 3 whole months, Claire? That doesn't sound like an 'amazing' sense of direction to me.

Considering it was from across a busy highway and she was a mostly indoor cat, I'd say it was pretty good.

Kip Manley--Chipping isn't a bad idea. My mutt is currently summering at my mom's beach shack. Outdoors, off the leash, swimming, rolling on the grass, collecting leftover steak bones, terrorizing waterfowl and horseshoe crabs, and annoying board-sailors (to whom he occasionally swims out and tries to hitchhike a ride).

You can see how, fun as this is for my dog (and it is identical to Doggy Heaven, except that he can't talk and his nuts didn't grow back), he could get lost. We had been depending on his separation anxiety to prevent this, but I'm hoping that his chip will work better.

(He will be back on Tuesday, matted and filthy, and will sleep for the rest of the week.)

My poor cat, Philabuster, died this morning in spite of the valiant efforts of our vet. He had a congenital diaphragmatic hernia, aggravated by his adoption of a little kitten we brought home and adopted after cutting her out of a dumpster drainpipe, where she had become stuck. Phil loved the little kitty and became a surrogate mother, completing the kittens education. unfortunately, all the extra activity brought his scrambled insides to a crisis. The vet operated, but there was too much internal damage and Phil died.

Poor Phil. :(

The cat we belong to, Wacky (formally Pyewacket) only wakes up to change beds. But she's about 19 yrs old, and entitled.

Sorry to hear that, Mooser.

We've buried a couple of kitties, and it never is easy.

fusilier
James 2:24

Sorry about your kitty, Mooser. It's unfair that these little furry creatures that sneak in and capture our hearts are so ephemeral.

Good news about Midnight. Why the garage though? Does he have a remote-control for getting into that?

Oh, good news. I'm glad you got your cat back!

Midnight looks almost exactly like our Twyla (originally named "Twilight"). And if he's like our Twyla, no apology will be forthcoming--it's the human's fault no matter what. I have been trained well.

Sorry about Philabuster, Mooser. What a kind cat, to adopt a smaller one. Cute name, too.

I'm sorry to hear about Philabuster, Mooser--he sounds like a great cat, to take in the kitten as he did.

PZ, I'm happy Midnight came back no worse for his adventure--Mr. Raven says you have coyotes there, but I'm not sure he's right about that. In any case, we're both glad about the happy ending.

it's the human's fault no matter what

One time, as I was brushing my teeth in the bathroom, Shimi (of beloved memory now) came in, and as was her habit, leaped up onto the toilet lid to watch me.

The problem was, this time the lid was up, and Shimi had failed to check that before she began her trajectory. She did the same double-take Wile E. Coyote does right after he runs off the cliff, and then began scrabbling at the air to try to stop herself, but landed in the toilet anyway.

As I fished her out, she gave me stinkeye like I've never seen before or since--clearly, even when Shimi jumps in the toilet, it was somehow my fault.

Cats seem to think although they own the world, their humans are responsible for managing it. My sister's late cat, Babes, used to always get very annoyed when we opened the door for her to go outside and the weather was rainy or snowy or too hot or whatever.

Well, I'm not a cat person but I can at least understand (my step mother had 17 cats, yes that is a one in front of a seven) so I have had some experience. However, I do share a house with a Huskey who has a few issues. When he digs out of the back yard and escapes for however long he deems necessary he does remind me of a cat (asshole). Its very similar to how I remember my step mother's cats. Actually It's alomst exactly how I remember (if you ignore the weight difference). A traumatic experience such as the flooding of a house would provoke the same cat like response.

So, what I'm trying to say is, I'm glad your cat made it back, and can you tell it to give my insane dog some advice?

PZ Writes "He hasn't apologized or anything, but is just demanding that we feed him. Typical."

Its your fault for not finding him earlier.

Silly Human

Gosh, I must have a coupla mutant alien cat-impersonators... won't leave me alone, follow me everywhere and wrestle for the special spot on my lap or on my shoulder. They are content only when some part of their bodies are in contact with mine, then they sleep like dormice. Sometimes I have to ring my own doorbell to get some catless time to myself - one disappears, the other sits by the door expectantly wo see who's visiting.

Don't even want to talk about the cocker spaniel...

I am very pleased Midnight made it back. I hope you can make it up to him somehow.

It's too late now, but I promise to give my cats a round of catnip tomorrow to celebrate his return. (Note to Kittenz who is reading this over my shoulder, that's 'round' not 'pound.') Let your guy know four cats and two 'cat-staff' are celebrating for him.

My cat too gets annoyed when I open the door for her to go outside and the weather is rainy or snowy. Moreover, she then requests to have the other door opened, and is annoyed again it is the same weather at the other door. I definitely should arrange the world as she wants it.

Best to Midnight.

Gerdien: Read The Door Into Summer, by Robert Heinlein.

RavenT: Cats have dignity! I wonce saw a half-grown kitten set out to climb a stack of milk-crates (student file cabinets :-) ). Unfortunately, the top crate was empty, so when Bruce put his weight on it, it tipped over and CRASH! Bruce just scrambled to his feet and gave this classic back-and-forth glare: "you didn't see that!", before stalking off....

Monstruoso: While I don't carry her around like her original owner, my cat likes being petted, brushed, and such. She likes to come onto my bed and lie on my chest. (I did have to train her not to do that unless I have a blanket on... kitty has claws!)