Lost And Found

So we lost Tatoo the cat. It was all my fault, I left the window open. We have a few, more like a 80, stray cats in our back alley. So of course we decided to feed them, who wouldn't? So I put a bowl out for them and forgot to shut the window. A couple hours later I decided to find the cat because people were coming to see him but, no cat. I looked everywhere until I noticed the window was open.

The girls who live downstairs said they had seen him but there are a lot of cats and many of them grey. I hunted the alley and all the adjoining alleys shaking cat treats in my hand. We had quite a following at some points but no Tatoo.

The next step was to leave the windows open overnight and hope he came back. This was all of course after I called the Animal Rescue Network to tell them they couldn't come see the cat because he was gone, that was a fun conversation.

I felt both bad and good about the cat. Bad because these people wanted to adopt him and now maybe they can't. Plus I was responsible for him and the Animal Rescue people probably don't like me now. But I also kinda felt good for Tatoo. He isn't really a people cat and there are many strays out in the alley, I got to thinking he would probably like being an alley cat. The bad outweighed the good though and I was bent on getting him back.

First I made a lost cat poster and put them in people's mailboxes as well as the main convenience store window. I got three calls from those posters. The first was from a little girl that only spoke French, the conversation went something like this.

Little Girl-I found your number on the poster for the lost cat.

Me-You found the cat?

Little Girl-No

Me-You've seen the cat?

Little Girl-No

Me (long pause) The cat on the poster?

Little Girl-Yes

Me-You found him?

Little Girl-No

I actually have Kate on the other phone and she can hear what I'm saying and she says my French is fine, there must be some other confusion, have the little girl call her. Good plan right?

Me-Can you call my girlfriend who speaks French?

Little Girl-I have the poster of the lost cat.

Me-You found the cat?

Little Girl-No

Me-Can you call my girlfriend who speaks French?

Little Girl (silence)

Then I realize I have her number on the phone, caller ID.

Me-I'm going to have my girl friend call you ok?

Little Girl-I found the lost cat poster and called the number.

Kate tells me she's going to hang up and I can text her the number so I say goodbye to Kate.

Little Girl-Ok bye!

And she hangs up. Kate calls her and has a similar conversation, she called the number on the lost cat poster, not because she had the cat, or had seen the cat but because there was a number to call I guess? Trés bizzare.

The next call is from a woman across the alley who thinks Tatoo is in her backyard. I rush over to find 6 cats in her backyard, the most I've ever had on my porch is 3 and two of them were humping. None of the cats are Tatoo but one looks like him.

I get home, a few minutes later the third call comes in, guy down the alley thinks he sees the cat. I rush down while on the phone and see the same cat that the woman across the alley phoned about, that darn cat.

For two nights we slept with the windows open and the bedroom door barricaded shut listening to the remaining cats clawing at the door. The first morning I come out and the toy basket has been dumped over, the food in the cat's secondary bowl is empty and there are food bits all over the floor near it. Whichever alley cat spent the night in our apartment was a very messy one.

On the second morning Kate asks me when I think Tatoo will be back and I tell her I'm concerned he's not going to come back. She gets up to take her shower and I hear, "Tatoo is back!" Sure enough he's sitting on one of the dining room chairs so we close the windows before anyone can get out or in and we're back to normal.

The people looking to take him home are coming back tonight, hopefully I can manage to keep him in the apartment till then.