House of Misfit Pets: The Cat came back / First official Mother's day for EJ

Lots to write about gang. Last week was pretty sad for us. Don't worry, everyone of our members came through pretty much unscathed, but it was touch and go for our little trouble maker cat (Cosmo) for a while. It all started while I was packing early in the morning for a short road trip. Cosmo, always one for adventure and intrigue, must have slipped out the front door whilst I was blearily packing the car at 4 am (admittedly I had worked approximately 12 hours the day before too!). I suspect this is how he escaped. Though we can't fully rule out that he didn't escape as someone else was exiting the house (don't tell her I said that ;-) ).

This was not Cosmo's first great adventure. He has snuck out while we were trying to get in the house laden with groceries, baby gear or other goods. He has pushed out screens to go on nightly jaunts only to return for breakfast in the morning. He would have got away with that escapade as well except for the muddy footprints on the counter. Typically, like many indoor/outdoor cats we know, he eats a little grass, rolls around in the mulch, stalks a few birds at our feeders and returns for the cushy inside life again. Despite EJ's strict diet plan, his prominent fat pouch clearly showed his pampered existence. So you can imagine our concern and consternation when we returned the next evening and had only 3 feline friends begging for food. Where was our little tuxedo boy? Surely, I thought he would show up that night or early the next morning looking for his meals and gazing scornfully at us for making him miss 3 whole feeding opportunities. Not much sleep was had by me that night friends, and it had nothing to do with our 3 month old. Jake slept through the night, but daddy was up every hour to turn on the porch light and call out for Cosmo to return. Why didn't he come back? Was he injured somewhere and suffering? Was he trapped in someone's shed or garage? Had some good Samaritan picked him up and brought him to the shelter? Worse could some crazy cat lady or Satanic worshipper have taken him to a fate worse than death?

I desperately tried to push these thoughts from my mind as I went for my daily run the next morning (which now was also cat scouting mission). Surely, he was either having the time of his life like the cats in the book "Tailchaser's song," or he was in the room of some young girl all dressed up for a tea party. Alternatively, maybe he was fatter than Garfield chuckling to himself on a window seat as I looked for him while he enjoyed his third portion of salmon tar-tar. This is what kept me going during the next week. Cosmo has always been more of EJ's pet than mine (she is the one who saved his life initially), but his cool demeanor and joy for life always impressed me. His absence left a large void in our household and besides it made my wife super sad :-(

Several of our family friends and Elsa's technicians worked like crazy to spread the word about Cosmo's absence and made a wonderful lost cat poster (seen above). Their support during our week long rescue mission was priceless. My wife tirelessly canvassed all the surrounding neighborhoods handing out posters and business cards. By the by, don't think that my 5 foot blond wife with my 3 month infant walking around talking to strangers for days on end didn't make me a little nervous. However, consider 2 things 1) she is Cuban, feisty, intelligent and far tougher than I will ever hope to be and 2) nothing I could say or do was going to discourage her. Both of us looked in the woods, down storm drains, in the park, at local shelters, around known feral cat colonies, and through neighbors yard (once permission was given of course). We would drive around at dawn and dusk (figuring he would be most active then) as well, looking in sheds, under bushes, around dumpsters ... anywhere a cat would find fun to go or could get trapped near. Our friends and family offered support, prayers, and at the end when prognosis seemed most grave even condolences. What did we get for our efforts? Nada, zip, zilch... simply put the little stinker was laying pretty darn low. Countless times I cursed myself for not reregistering his microchip from his previous owner (its done now don't you worry about that!) or for not being more careful that early morning. Several times I dragged myself through our nasty crawlspace, climbed around our sweltering attic, emptied closets, searched under beds, and behind furniture in order to assure that he was dead or dying IN the house. Can you imagine finding that 2-3 months later? Hello Dr. Shrink ... I'm gonna need to book a couple sessions so you can go ahead and buy that boat or summer home you always wanted :) Ej even hung some scissors from our window because an old wives tale guaranteed a safe return upon doing so.

Old wives tale or magical charn?

No dice my friends ... 10 days and no cat. However, there was hope... we had received 2 potential Cosmo sighting around a park across a river near our house. I had been going there for 3 nights straight calling and looking for Cos with no success. When we got the second sighting info though, I had renewed excitement. "Sure" I told my wife, I would go again tonight after work "but why don't you go down now and see if you can see him." You see I am not an overly proud man. I know he is EJ's cat and he is more likely to respond to her call than mine. Whatever, it takes to get him back to our house and me out of the dog house if you will. She did not find him at the park... but not even an hour after her return home to feed the baby before resuming her search he was standing at the door wide eyed and asking to come in. The little stinker!

He say "what's the problem?!"

So where was he? No idea, how much would I love to have a cat cam to see what his week was lke. Why did he come back now? I don't know, but the day before was rainy and cold following a rather mild (weather wise) week. Maybe he decided that adventuring was not his bag after all. Perhaps, he was trapped in a sense across the river and needed to follow Elsa's car home. Who knows, maybe it was the "magic" scissors. All we know is he is back. Poor lil poop head got shipped right to the hospital for a thorough de-fleaing (note he like all our cats is on monthly revolution but the time had come for frontline as well), de-worming, blood letting (I mean testing of course), and physical once over. I am happy to say, other than an upset tummy from over indulging on his return the furry devil is doing fine now. Yay!

While, Cosmo's great adventure did take up the vast majority of this post, I would be remiss not to mention that today is Mother's day. We are spending it up at Elsa's parents house in Sparta the new mom (EJ) is enjoying her day thoroughly. Jake got her some pretty grand presents after all. A personalized wine glass to celebrate our house's return to full capacity or to relax after a day of being a super star mom and two awesome movies (to help with said relaxing). Best gift of all ... well you'll have to ask her (hint it better be one or two males with four letter nicknames :) )