The Great Cat Escape

Three weeks ago we were working on our garage as part of a long-term effort to clean out our basement. We were sealing the concrete so as to be able to use the space without quite so much dust being constantly created. While we had the garage door open to facilitate drying, the back door of our kitchen blew open (a not-unusual occurrence that has resulted in false-positive house alarm alerts in the past), and our cat Ka went downstairs to investigate. When I realized what had happened, I managed to follow her down the stairs and into the garage at exactly the right time to scare her onto the street. Kyle was just a few seconds too late to stop her from running away entirely, and followed her a few houses down, and then lost her in the bushes.

Disaster! Cats are normally hard to catch, but our Ka is a class-A fraidly cat and has never been comfortable being petted. We're not even entirely sure she likes us, for that matter. Well, she seems appreciative enough when food is in the offing.

So what to do? Not a day later, the woman from whom we adopted our cats emailed us with a cheery, "How are you doing and how are the cats?" check-in email. We had to tell her that Ka had gone missing, at which point she started showering us with information on how to find lost cats. Key points included: 1) have patience (cats take a while to get bcak) and 2) the cat is probably very near by (within 5 houses). She continued to pepper us with other advice, including how to leave tuna trails, walking the neighborhood to leave our scent around, and how to design an effective lost pet flyer (ask me if you ever want to know). She even brought us one of her humane traps (she catches lots of feral cats and takes them to get their shots and spayed/neutered) and a blanket to conceal it with.

Over the course of the next two weeks we did just about all the things I listed above. We left out food and water daily, and hoped that she was getting it (someone was definitely eating it - was it Ka?). We left tuna trails. We walked the neighborhood, making noise with her favorite toys and calling her name. We even posted signs on the block and talked with neighbors. We did manage to trap two possums (ick) and feed the local skunk trio (thanks for the smell guys), but no cats and definitely no Ka.

Finally, the day K came back from Comic Con in San Diego, he was putting out the cat food and came back into the house looking for a flaslight. "There's a cat eating the food right now and I think it's Ka!" It was, and we put the cage out with great anticipation. A few hours later, we had trapped something - another possum! (2 of 2) Catching possums, aside from being disappointing and somewhat guilt inducing (sorry, dude), requires that the cage and blanket be washed (to get rid of the scared possum smell). So on Monday I came home early and hosed everything down so we would be ready to set the trap again.

That night we set the trap, making much noise with the food bag and hoping fervently that Ka would still be in the area. Just as I was headed for bed, we heard the trap spring. Kyle went to check it, thinking, "Please no possums, please no possums!" and was delighted to find it was Ka. She was initially terrified and mewling to break your heart, but once we got her inside she very quickly realized she was home once again and seemed visibly relieved. She was hungry, thirsty, tired, and quickly went to sleep.

The only lingering bumpiness was that Pi'i did not recognize Ka at all and hissed at her viciously. We looked it up online, and after 2 weeks on the outisde, Ka smelled all kinds of foreign. Her familiar face was not enough to convince Pi'i to welcome her back. (Plus, Pi'i had seemed quite happy to be a single cat during those two weeks - perhaps she had pushed Ka out the back door??) Friends with cats reported that visits to the vet and even short separations could result in this kind of hissing behavior, and that it would pass. Even so, we decided to invest in a cat pheremone diffuser (Feliway) which would hopefully calm both cats and help Ka get rid of her old smells faster.

It's been almost a week since Ka came home, and I'm happy to report that the two cats are snuggled on the sofa now. Thank goodness. Ka seems much calmer than when she left, as though she recognizes a good thing now that's she's been without it. She's much less jumpy, and almost tolerates being touched. I'm just glad she's back, and glad Pi'i has company again. Let the romples resume!