Sir Bennett Did It Again!, Went 'missing'..... Options

[paris]

Yes, he did it again. Thanksgiving we went away for the weekend. We 'jokingly' said "OK, now he'll have to wonder where WE are!"

My neighbor comes in every day to check in, and we do leave the window opened for Sir Bennett to get in and out. We've done this several times before, no problem. Except this time the neighbor wrote daily notes that Bennett was nowhere to be seen, food was untouched. And yes, I live in Vermont where it is below freezing and snow. I looked on the deck and there were no paw prints in the snow. (It snowed after we left.)

So now I'm wondering again, where he is, for an entire week. All I could think of is "Here I go again" and was getting depressed. At one point I regretted keeping the window open, but I know that was illogical because he goes out all the time. I know, and have posted, that the choice to let a cat outdoors brings risks. This time, though, he had collar/ID and microchip, so that was helpful.

What was worrying me was the cold, wondering where he was getting food/water. One morning I saw some birds, and that was to me a sign from God that he was OK.

He usually turns up early in the morning, so last evening at 7:00 I let out a scream when I saw him standing at the back deck glass door, lightly covered with snow flurries. I let him in. No collar. I expected a thin and hungry cat, but he actually looked beefier than when he left.

This cat is a mystery and he's driving me crazy!

[oceanpets]

I believe I am going through the same thing with Jax. Every neighbor I talk to now tells me, " Oh we love that cat." " We almost got him a collar." " We walked down the street with our dog and him every day." SO... he has had all these other people in his life.. and friends... and unlike humans I guess cats dont' realize they should have friends, but ONE home! I think my Jax is like SIr Bennet and is eating wet food on another's lap! I only offer dry food... maybe I need to improve the diet....
It helps to hear also that others allow their cats to be free.. I tried to keep Jax and indoor only cat for the first 4 months we had him.. since we'd lost Toonces in end of July in Maine... other post... and it was SO heartwrenching.. this was definately a coyote deal or fisher cat.... woods in Maine... it had happened to me many many years back... so when we got Jax to heal our hearts we thought, this time we'll keep him safe, our hearts safe, but then it was too hard to thwart what we could tell was his instinct, right, desire.
I didn't do collar. I never have. I worry about them getting caught, never got a breakaway kind.. I did get the tag, but not the right collar... so I didn't use it. I shoudl have I guess, but it sounds like the either ditch them or people take them off?
Anyway.... it is better to hear that more cats are fickle and that Jax might return home.. only to leave again! I guess I need to not feel like he's 'mine' and that I only get to visit and pay the vet bills!
I hope he turns up one day so I can hug and scold him! My mother is coming down for the winter ( we're in Florida) and she was so looking forward to seeing how much he grew. She was with me when Toonces went missing and saw my pain.. and then Jax as a sickly new kitty we nursed to health and hearty and sociability. We loved him so much that he became a lothario as you put it!
Well, I am trying to keep a fun positive visual about it. He's eating steak somewhere and was mad I had to put ear drops in every day. So he ditched me. Easier to take than he is hurting somehow...
I have flyers and might put an ad.. but I feel like that hurts the most. so I might just let him come home... but it is hard doing nothing.. so I am balancing doing something with laughing about him running away as it were.
Joani

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