Lilah's Big Adventure

Have you ever lost a pet?  Maybe they got out or ran away? Did they turn up eventually, after days or weeks, or has their fate become one of life's unsolved mysteries?

My old cat, Lilah, went missing last week. Of my five cats, four are strictly house cats, including Lilah. It took me a couple of days to realize she was gone.

I know that sounds terrible, but life is busy. And with five cats, I don't always register which ones I haven't seen that day. When finally it dawned on me, I scoured the house with a sense of foreboding. Lilah is almost 16; it was entirely possible, I knew, that she had crawled off somewhere to die.

I searched under beds, behind furniture, in closets,  calling her name all the while, clicking my tongue against the roof of my mouth, snapping my fingers. All her favorite calling sounds. No Lilah.

Then I happened to glance out at the backyard from my bathroom window. There she sat in front of my annual beds, front paws daintily side by side, looking up at the house.

I screamed. I couldn't help it. I was so happy to see her alive. I ran outside but, predictable feline that she is, she took off into the scrubby overgrowth behind the pool fence and wouldn't let me come near.

I put dishes of food out on the deck and went to work. When I got home, the food was gone. But no Lilah.

"We have to find her!" Daughter #2 was frantic as she left for a sleepover. "Text me as soon as you get her. No, send me a photo. I need to see her!"

"Set a trap," First-Born Son directed when I called to report the news.

"Who do you think I am?" I asked. "MacGyver?"

"Get a cardboard box and prop it with a stick. Put the food under it and attach a string to the stick."

He was serious. I had visions of Elmer Fudd or Wile E. Coyote's futile attempts to trap their elusive, much more clever prey. "Then pull the string when she comes to eat."

I decided to give it a try. Understand, my 16 year old arthritic, pansy-ass kitty was out in the wind and rain for the second night in a row. I was desperate.

In the end the wind knocked over my trap and the rain rendered the cardboard box soggy. But we were lucky. We'd also left the garage door open as backup, and that's where I found Lilah at six the following morning.

She was skinnier and maybe a little dehydrated, but otherwise okay. For the next two days she couldn't get enough of us. Purring and meowing, following me everywhere.

But there's something else. Whereas before she was fairly low in the animal hierarchy at our house, she now seems to have risen to the top. The other cats make room for her on the couch and the bed. The dog, who enjoys a good kitty-chasing from time to time, goes out of her way to give her her space.

They clearly think she's a rock star.

I'd love to have a little video camera that could give me a playback of her two day adventure in the big bad world, but alas, I've no idea what happened to her out there.  

Whatever it was, though, it must have been something big. She left a timid old lady. But she came back one super cool cat.

 

Comments

[class factotum]

I let Laverne (our year-old cat) out without her leash last summer. She was gone for 20 minutes and my husband blew a gasket, convinced she'd been eaten by the pit bulls that surely must live in our neighborhood somewhere. We had to drop everything and go look for her, even though she has always returned within half an hour and surely would have been back, especially as it was almost suppertime. We didn't find her, but sure enough, at 4:55, she strolled up to the back door.

I'm glad your kitty is back.

[Kirsty @ Gone Bananas]

Aww she went on a little kitty adventure! Glad she's back!

[Lynn]

Oh! I'm so glad she's safe. I meant to ask after you mentioned it earlier, but I'd only remember when I was in the shower or doing dishes. Why is it that we remember things we need to do when we can't do them and not when we can? One of life's little quirks.

Does she strut now, too? Flexing those kitty cat muscles and doing chest bumps with the other cats?

Quite a few years ago my cat got locked in an old schoolbus that my uncle had parked on my mom's property (long story). The bus was opened only maybe once or twice a year, if that, and he hopped in unnoticed on one of those rare times. We looked everywhere. Didn't think about the bus. I don't know how he survived, but as luck (or fate) would have it, Mom needed to go in the bus for something four days later, which was really unusual, and there he was. Skinny and thirsty, but miraculously alive.

Go Lilah!

[Lynn]

Oh Oh! Funny cat story that twigged when you mentioned video camera. A friend of mine and her husband wondered what their cat did when they left the house, because she was always sleeping when they were home.

One day shortly after they left, they realized they had forgotten something at the house and went back to get it.

To find their cat on their kitchen table spinning around on the lazy susan with an, "Aw crud. Busted." look on her face.

True Story.

[Twenty Four At Heart]

She is a rock star! She had a big adventure and no doubt the other animals in your house are jealous. : )

[Casey]

That's the scariest feeling when a pet goes missing. I'm glad your little rock star made it back safely. Maybe she was on the road with some rock band, who knows?

[Jan]

We don't do cats - I'm VERY allergic - and while Scooter, our little beagle/dachshund mix, runs out of the backyard every now and then, he's never gone long. He knows where the food and affection is. As for what he does when he's gone, who knows? I always hope he's pooping on the crazy lady's lawn across the street.

I know...I'm bad.

[Pseudo]

Well, an old lady cat needs a little adventure before she settles back into old age. I love that she's got star status now with the other critters.

[Sprite's Keeper]

You've got to hand it to her for being able to hold her own out there, but do you think she was dared by one of the others? It sounds like a dog dare to me... I'd be eyeing the mutt..

[Nancy McDonnell]

That's a great story! Lila's a Rock Star...

There is always something mischeiveous behind a cat's eye. If only Lila would spill the beans.
:-)

[LPC]

What a great story. I imagine you might write it from her point of view. Jonathan Livingston Kitty Cat...

[Erin@TheLocalsLoveIt]

Sometimes it just takes an adventure to boost ones confidence. Worked for me. ;)

Glad she's back.

[jessica]

I wonder if I'd done that in Junior high if I would have been cool too. Oh well, too late now

[Erin]

I'd love to be kept by a cat. They're so cool. But like Jan, I am severely allergic.
Lilah seems to have earned her rockstar status. :-)

[Jill]

Walkabouts are good for the soul.

[Jen]

My cat is an outdoor cat in the summer but an indoor wuss in the winter. This is the cat that kills things and leaves them on the back deck for me to step in. In the winter she just wants to snuggle and sleep. She occasionally sits at the door but is only looking. She gains a few pounds during the winter months.

[Diane]

So glad she's back safe. Not sure what a cat has to do on the Vineyard to achieve celebrity status, but she obviously earned it! Sorry, but I just had to laugh about the cardboard box trap. That Is Funny. Welcome back, Lilah!

[Smart Mouth Broad]

I guess we will have to wait for the Disney movie version. I'm sure she sold the rights before she returned.

[Michele]

Right after we moved JR's cat got out. We think he got locked in someone garage because 2 days later he showed up hungry and starving for affection. It must have scared him because he doesn't go very far anymore.

Glad to hear your kittah came back and is now the cool cat.

[kathryn]

Oh, God! I'm soooo glad she's home safe! I was laughing out loud at #1 son's "helpful" suggestions (isn't it typical of them to micromanage?) and your desperation to see it work...I'd be the same way.

I'll bet she's got a new "smell" of the wild outdoors that the others have to respect...she's seen things they NEVER will!

Great post, as always!

[Jenn @ Juggling Life]

I would have had a touch of the frantic myself.

I'm glad she's back at home, safe and sound.

[Kimberly]

Maybe she got "lucky". :)
Great post, as usual. The trap made me laugh outloud.

[Dreamfarmgirl]

The other animals so clearly missed her, and her tales of the outside world must have dazzled them. Tales that we humans are not privy to know. Thank goodness she made it home safe and sound!

[Heather]

Glad your kitty came back. I know all too well, about cats getting lost. My vat Mohawk got out and usally stayed around the house or was back by dark. We searched for him for days and never found him. Hubby thinks a bobcat that had been hanging around the area got him.

[faemom]

Maybe she just wanted to go out and see the world. That takes guts no matter at what age.

[Picture Imperfect]

Gooooo Lilah! She's a rock star for sure, that's adorable that she gets a whole new status around the house.

Oreo went missing for a few days once. He was an indoor/outdoor kitty at that time (just indoor now) and was out wandering for DAYS. I was so worried about him... but he came back and had an even bigger attitude... like he had conquered the 'hood or something. ;o)

[kys]

That could be a Disney movie. Timid kitty goes on an adventure and transforms into a Queen. Seriously.