Kitty on the Loose

Oh boy, it seems like the days have been filled with so much going on.  The studio is completely painted (has been for a few days), but I haven't put things up on the walls just yet.  Furniture is all in place and I took the opportunity to rearrange some items.  I like it.  I promise pictures sometime in the future.

On a more somber note, last Saturday evening, my cat Oscar sneaked out of a window in the studio.  I have a portable air-conditioner which must be vented out a window.  Well, my windows are not of the normal double-hang type.  Instead, they swing open and the screen is on the inside.  I made a hole in the screen ages ago, but it has gotten larger and larger over the years (with some help from some felines I believe).

Well, I came upstairs for a break and dinner and failed to close the window.  Oscar was on the couch when I came upstairs, but when it was suppertime for the kitties, he was nowhere to be found.  It's possible that we did see him on the driveway under a car, but the cat ran off before anybody could lure him out.

I thought that Oscar would hang around and be peeking in on us during our painting sessions on Sunday.  Unfortunately, he has not been spotted.  We put out food which 'somebody' ate Sunday night.  Put out food on Monday night and missed spotting our visitor.

Tuesday night, I sat on the porch with a can of food, took a long time (and with much great noise) to open the can and let the aroma spread., then noisily put food on the plate.  Waited and waited, but no Oscar showed.  I finally came inside and left the plate on the porch, thinking that I would hear the plate scooting around if he came to eat dinner.  A cat was spotted, but it wasn't Oscar and this other guy cautiously scadattled as soon as he noticed two cats and two humans spying at him from inside the glass storm door.

We've visited the local park several times.  Might have spotted him at 1am Friday morning, but on the opposite side of a creek which goes through the neighborhood.  This cat had runoff before I got a chance to get closer to him on the right side of the creek.  Last night, I spotted a different cat, but it was definitely not Oscar because I saw a black stripe around that guy's neck.

Part of the neighborhood has been canvased door-to-door (yes, I found the strength to do this).  And posters have been placed on telephone poles and stop signs.  Local shelters have been alerted and nobody has a little guy fitting his description.

Oscar is the kitty who came to us as an abandoned stray 15 months ago.  He had already been neutered and was obviously a family cat when we brought him in.  So he's lived on the streets before.  He's a smart cat and certainly knows where he was two other kitties whom he likes to play with, three humans who give him lots of love, and plenty of regular meals.  As long as another animal or a cat hasn't got him, he's doing ok, I'm sure.

But he sure is missed around here.