From: STella@thelema.uucp (STella)
Subject: Re: When the Cat is Lost...
Organization: Idiosyncratic Anarchic Order
Date: Thu, 31 Dec 92 07:05:05 GMT

In article <1htq56INNak5@agate.berkeley.edu> spp@zabriskie.berkeley.edu (Steve Pope) writes:
>In article <1992Dec31.031824.2400@news.eng.convex.com> oexmann@convex.com (Carla Oexmann) writes:
>>What would you do when your cat is lost ?  Two weeks ago, we let the 
>>Q out into the back yard, which is, or so I thought, cat proof.  She
>>hasn't returned....

I'm concerned over the possibility that she had been scared by
something and was hiding someplace waiting to be rescued, afraid to
come out till she heard her people.  And that, I'm afraid, means
alienating your neighbors by wandering around the neighborhood for
HOURS in the middle of the dog-light night, mumbling comfort-the-cat
noises, calling her pet names, etc.  (you have not lived till the
elderly householder has come out and dumped a cup of her tea, hot, on
your protruding butt because she doesn't quite understand why there's
half a fat woman under her porch, and she's not real sure, absent a
clue, that she cares for the idea.  Not screaming in the cat's face?
Well, I'm glad I'm a masochist, 'cause the practice not-screaming
helped when the tea and elder's shrieking landed.  But once she
understood that my pussycat was under the porch, she brought me
catnip, tunafish, cord and a derder.  I threw in the catnip, pushed in
the tunafish, tied a loop in the cord, threaded it through the derder
(papertowel roll core, or any like cylindrical arm-extension), snared
the cat, only got bit twice on the way to the pillowcase, and promised
to bring a cat to visit next week.  Being a catperson is so much fun!

I could shit with joy, sometimes.

But you might have a scared feline-turned-gibbering idiot sulled up in
anyone's crawlspace, storage shed, or hedge.  And unless the poor
scared idiot gets your smell, or hears your voice, sie'll just squat
as you walk right by.

Wjr brought Kit'n Hook home that way once, when he'd gotten out.  He'd
spent a cold night under a warm oil leak, too scared to squawk the
first time wjr walked by.  On his way back, though, he heard/smelled
wjr, and squeaked a safeword.  Wjr had to coax him within grabshot,
'cause he was too confused to move.

And that's another thing.  A cat once escaped from a catsitter and
ended up living half a block from my house when someone finally saw my
ads, months later.  But she had gotten that close because I'd been
moving without a car, which involved loading 200 pounds of books on my
bike and pushing it across town about five times.  And mercifully, I'd
done it in sandals, and she found me.  When I have lost a cat in a
known place, I take off a piece of my clothing, or cut off a
shirttail, to leave something that smells like ME there.  Then I check
back on it several times.

When a cat gets out, if it doesn't come back in an hour and complain
at the door, I'll take a barefoot walk around the block, or at least
(and in snow, that's all I'll do) to the curb or corner.  And as often
as weather and my resolve permit, I'll renew that scent trail.  On one
successful occasion, I did it by putting my smelliest pair of unwashed
GROSS socks on the outside of my snowboots and criss-crossing the
neighborhood all night.  It was miserable, but better than barefoot.

But if your cat has freaked the hell out, I mean really lost her kitty
equilibrium, signs and other people might not help her.  So stink up
your neighborhood and let her hear your voice as much as you can
without getting your butt scalded.

That's the worst case -- the cats that get found by someone may well
eat and get petted, anyway, even if they never find their way home.
And your signs are a good idea, but

does every vet in town have one on hir bulletin board?

do the petstores and feed stores have 'em?

is there a relevant breed rescue organization?

do you know the crazy cat-ladies and other felophiliacs?  Do they know
your cat?

do you spend time each night visualizing the cat returning to the back
yard?  I neither believe nor disbelieve in the psychic powers of cats,
and I daresay they'd say the same of me.

if the cat found its way back to the good back yard, WOULD it be able
to get your attention?  If it saw the bad front yard, would it be able
to get your attention without going to where it got rained on?

That's all I think I know about finding cats right now, and some of
it's probably superstitious bullshit, but since I don't know which
bits are what, I don't worry about it.  Try what feels like it fits,
and I hope your cat's home before New Year.

STella@xanadu.com	1016 E. El Camino Real, #302, Sunnyvale, CA 94087
STella%thelema.uucp@dec.com	Don't blame me, I voted Libertarian!
Newsgroups: rec.pets.cats