We’ve looked high and low, checked and double checked the barn, the shed, the stable, even considered dredging the pond. Dandy the cat has been absent without leave since Wednesday morning.
He is sixteen years old and getting rather geriatric in his ways, he’s not been further than a couple of yards from the back door for months. He’s never missed a meal in all those sixteen years, his routine is eat, sleep litter tray; eat, sleep litter tray. So you can see why we were worried. He’s got himself into mischief before and frankly we thought he’d done that cat thing of going off to die.
So when I returned home this evening and found him sat in the porch demanding to be fed, I was both surprised and delighted and scooped him up to take him indoors to delight Spud, Tom, Joe and Mr Uhphilldowndale. Maybe, as Inspector Gadget had already suggested (he knows about finding lost things) Dandy was off out and about soothing his old bones in the warmest September/October weather in the UK for over two decades* We will probably never know, I’m just glad he’s home, and if he could mange in future, to keep his bottom inside the litter tray, I’d be especially pleased.
*18C at 8am, 25.5C this afternoon, it feels quite tropical this evening, what with the early, swift sunset, very odd, well odd for the UK
October 1, 2011 at 10:50 pm
Like Dandy (looking wonderful!) we enjoy a late summer weather here, which beats all heat records for this time of the year in Denmark!
October 2, 2011 at 6:42 am
What a relief that he returned safe and sound! I can’t believe your weather – I was sorely tempted to hop on a plane and grab a few rays! A chance to soak up some Vitamin D and enjoy.
October 2, 2011 at 10:04 am
The weather feels rather weird, the supermarket was bombed out yesterday, as everyone made a last grab at having a bar-b-q.
roses are having a go at flowering again and the autumn flowering plants are withering in the unfamiliar heat.
October 2, 2011 at 10:41 am
I think our heatwave is over – it’s absolutely tipping it down this morning! I’m glad Dandy is okay.
October 2, 2011 at 4:01 pm
Our weather has disappeared too. It was nice while it lasted. I’m glad the cat came back safely.
October 3, 2011 at 3:47 am
It’s been in the mid 80′sF/ high 20′s C here for a week and more, and we’re delighted because the weather is finally cooling down. Glad that Dandy has returned safe and sound — he seems very spry for his age. It’s 70F/21C right now, at almost 10 p.m. and it’s delightfully cool — but then we’ve had a real scorcher of a summer with weeks of highs in the 100+F/38+C range. Now if the thundershowers predicted for Wednes and Thurs would only materialize as predicted. . . .
October 3, 2011 at 7:48 am
I remember when my cat Artemis disappeared. We were distraught and spent much of the following three days searching high and low, expecting to find her crumpled corpse in the gutter. Then she reappeared, like Dandy.
In her case I suspect she had become trapped in someone’s garage and had then been released. I will never know but, as with Dandy, that was the least of my concerns once she was home again safe and sound.
It’s good when they return. That tells you all you need to know about their relationship with you.
October 3, 2011 at 10:24 am
Oooh, a happy ending! You carried the suspense all the way to the end of the post, so I’m especially glad that Dandy turned up again like that. Where on earth could he have been? Four days is a long time for a young cat to be absent, never mind an old-timer of sixteen. He probably isn’t carrying very plentiful supplies of on-board fat to keep him going either. How amazed you must have been to see him sitting there on Saturday night! How wonderful!
October 3, 2011 at 2:03 pm
Dandy is a gorgeous cat (and I’m a dog person, so Dandy should feel doubly-complimented!). So glad the old-timer returned and that he ensured a happy ending!
October 3, 2011 at 11:14 pm
Good news indeed!