Andrea’s Weblog

It’s a strange universe where one day you find a cat and a few weeks later you lose one. Our big fluffy calico darted out the door last Sunday. She usually hides in the front bushes or somewhere in our yard and comes inside a few hours later, but this time she never returned. I spent the week finding a suitable photo, visiting animal control, flyering homes, getting an ad in the paper, putting a sign up at the local elementary school, notifying bus drivers, and making and posting signs. I wanted to be sure we did everything to find our furry friend.

We got a call Saturday morning from our vet that someone had found her body. At first that’s all the information we had, but later the person who found her called us after seeing our number on a poster. Apparently she was just in their back yard–no signs of trauma–so we’ll never know what happened.

Frank and I had a crash course on how to explain death to a two year old. We told her that Caper won’t be coming home because she died. I’m sure she didn’t comprehend it, but I feel it was important to tell her the truth instead of some story.

Caper was our first kitty. She showed up at our house not long after we moved here, a scruffy, skinny kitten desperate enough to follow a neighbor’s dog around in hopes of finding food. She’d always been a wanna-be outdoor cat, but she was a long-haired cat in the South and extremely clumsy, so we figured she was safer as an indoor cat. I think Caper had been feeling a bit miffed at the new additions to the family (the kitten Otto and Elena) and the chaos that surrounded each new arrival.

We were able to retrieve her body from the family who found her (two streets away). Frank took it to the vet to be cremated, so we’ll have a little ceremony in a few days to hopefully gain some closure.

So, the good news is that Otto von Walmart will now be a permanent resident. Oh, and it’s Otto as in Auto–ha-ha!