72 Hours Missing, I'm starting to freak out Options

[Mink&WillowsMom]

Please please PLEASE if anyone can offer me happy stories of cats trotting home after 3 nights away, I need to hear it. I found this site last year after losing my beloved Mink to a car. Slowly I've come to terms with that. Three months ago I lost my father. Coping with that. (He was very ready.) I inherited his wonderful cat, Twitchit. Gorgeous big Maine Coon, he and I have loved each other for years. My other three cats like him, and he likes them, and we've smoothly been easing into a blended household. He still spends a lot of time at Dad's next door, and I feed him both places; I'll be moving there once I remodel. He's been adjusting well to Dad being gone, and just Saturday afternoon we had a nice long belly-rubbing bonding moment on the lawn.

He's used to coming and going as he wants. He's a healthy, neutered six year old, and we live in a rural area. I'm trying to reassure myself that he's just out for summertime romping. In the past he's journeyed for up to two days that I know of. His biggest nighttime threat is raccoons, there are coyotes and even cougar rumors in the county, but no one has seen any within this area that I know of. He isn't on the road or in the ditches.

Please send him your thoughts to come home, or let me find him if he's injured. And if you have any positive stories to share, I REALLY need to hear them right now. If your story has a sad ending, please don't post.

I just can't take any more losses...
Kimberly

[Mink&WillowsMom]

It's now been 5 days. Last night I broke down in a torrent of grief, sobbing wildly. I'd been hearing my dad reassuring me, "he's okay, he's fine." But I didn't know which side of the veil he was okay on. Then yesterday afternoon it changed: I could hear my dad telling me, "it's okay, he's with me." I don't know whether it's just a thought banging around in my head, or some cross-frequency truth my intuitive soul can hear. The dull ache of grief is almost easier to bear, I'm afraid of hope rising again, because the crashing down again hurts so much.

My nephew searched the woods and found nothing. I'll print up more flyers and deliver them door to door. I hadn't thought about contacting the vets. I spoke with the Sheriff's office and the road dept today, neither of them picks up domestic animal bodies, (only deer) knowing that families need to find their babies. Twitchit won't let anyone else get near him, so I can't imagine someone would have taken him in. He has a collar and ID tag, so he's clearly not a stray. He's a strong boy of 15 pounds, and holds his own in cat fights. I'd noticed in the last couple of weeks that he's become more fiercely protective of my property, so maybe he's renegotiating his territory.

If another animal had attacked him, I think I would have heard. I wake out of a dead sleep to ANY kind of cat yowling, especially when it's one of my kids. I can hear the dog bark that lives 1/4 mile away, and the roosters that live farther than that.

He's healthy, he loves me, he likes my other kitties -- I can't envision him choosing to run away. He's been dealing with Dad's death pretty well, I think. The most logical solution is that he's on a vacation romp. Oh I hope so....
Kimbersad