Okay I'll be honest I knew how much I loved my cats.. however, I never really realized how much my heart would ache if I lost one of them... and now I know.
So It all started on Sunday September 30th..
We had NO idea what Turn of events were coming our way that morning. My family was in town and we weren't on our A-Game. I had opened the window at some point on Saturday because doing my hair can get pretty HOT and sweating from humidity. Our two back windows don't have screens on them so we've been trying to be really careful about leaving them open.. For whatever reasons this didn't get closed and we think when Clayton went to the bathroom at 6 A.M. is when she got out...
We woke up in a panic and everyone went straight outside looking for her.. taking the food bag out and shaking it... That first day we had no luck.. we made a few flyers up and put them around near by.. but like I said my family was in town and eventually we gave up the search so that they could still do some things on their trip... Now that I look back I wish I would have just let them go alone and I stay behind and continue to search for her. I'm pretty sure Clayton walked around that night but had no luck....
Monday-Thursday
My family left. We printed off 200 flyers and plastered them around the town.. we searched morning and night that day... keep in mind I had surgery not long before and wasn't in very good shape to help at all.. I still did help WAY more then I should have.. I'm not good at sitting around.. and when my CAT is lost ... forget it!
We posted on craigslist and got some really good advice about putting used socks/litter outside so if they walk near they will catch the scent and know that it's home... we also found online that peeing in a spray bottle and feeling it the rest of the way with water then spraying it around the house and every six feet around the neighborhood can help... it was about Thursday when we did that last one... we were desperate...
All Thursday I personally spent the whole day crying and accepting that she probably wasn't coming home.. This is the day that Clayton is gone from 8 A.M. - 10 P.M. and I just spent the whole day alone accepting she was gone.
Friday
We got an email from our neighbor who said their cat sitter had heard from someone across the street who thought they fed her on Monday night, but that was the only time he had seen her... We were pretty shocked and excited to just hear that someone may have seen her! I ran back home and instantly grabbed the spray bottle and went out on the hunt... I spent almost 3 hours walking around the other side of the major street we live on... INSANE amount of walking for me.. of course I took medicine before I went out.. I was determined .. I had just spent the whole day before accepting she would never come home. I had no luck.. but I did talk to two other people who said they saw her all in a three block area... HOPE so much HOPE.... Yet my screaming did me NO good. That night our next door neighbors helped us Look for her.. We looked everywhere and continued to call for her... I almost lost my voice among other signs of exhaustion.. Because of all the sightings we really thought she had just crossed that street and maybe she was THAT close!...
Saturday
We had one last sighting.. a guy called said they had a cat in their house begging for food.. but they didn't know it may have been lost, so the let it go back outside. He said he didn't think it looked like our cat but that his girlfriend swore it was her.. So I texted him a few more photos that better showed her and he said "No, It is definitely not your cat..." Our hearts sank.. Thinking that there is probably a Calico long haired cat roaming that side of the neighborhood and that Scratch! most likely wasn't close at all...
This was Claytons day to morn her and accept the possibility of her never coming home.. So heart breaking all over again for me... We sat around saying all the things we were going to miss about her.. then crying right afterwards.. That night I said to Clayton "Here I'll do something to help us move forward." I walked to the kitchen window.. where she would most likely try to get back in.. and where we had also had the blinds up all week hoping to see her standing on the railing outside that window... I slowly lowered the blinds.. Showing that we were done with the search for her....
We balled for a good 15 minutes after that..
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| If you cant tell we had been crying.. Oooh Burgers.. Comfort food. |
Sunday
We were both completely worn out.. Clayton hadn't gotten ANYTHING done for school.. and along with that we were so sad.. It was better then the day before but still hadn't worn off.. I looked through my phone photos and saw that I had photos from the day before she jumped out the window... and it made us start crying all over again..
We have been so busy and with me being out because of surgery unable to drive not a whole lot had gotten done other then searching for scratch. Not only that Claytons phone decided to crap out on us the day before and he could only get on to see if he had a voicemail. So because we were extremely low on food.. and I mean... so low that I was pretty much starving Thursday and Friday until clayton got home from school and could drive us somewhere. We decide we just needed to make a HUGE Grocery shopping trip.
After that he saw that there was a voicemail on his phone from an hour before.. Saying that they had Scratch!. Oh my goodness OH MY GOODNESS!?? They said that she had her collar and they called the number on it!!! THEY HAD HER! Not that they had just SEEN her, but that they physically had her there waiting for us!! We were out the door sooo fast..
She was 1.5 Miles away from our house in a online Old Anime store warehouse ( here is there sight )!! so odd but so awesome! They think she was there for a couple days before she started meowing because there were paw prints on the sink (so scratch! This also means that if she had continued to travel she would be EVEN farther!). We are forever grateful for these great cat lovers who were willing to feed her and even wipe her down because she was soo dirty! Dang she was so dirty!!
She was really hungry.. she most likely hadn't been spotted at all around our house... She lost a lot of weight and is very weak.. But boy are we glad to have her home!! as soon as we go into the house she drank water and then started sniffing EVERYTHING and meowing with approval! seconds later she was back to her old self.. She is still having nightmares but she's happy to be home!!!
WE will love her forever!
Claiming Mrs. Edgerton
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