Paying back the fates for returning my cell phone to me
Today I was walking home from work and I was about 10 minutes from my house when a large gray cat started meowing loudly. It was moving slowly down the sidewalk. I shut off my music and said hi to it - as I naturally do with all cats. As I was on a main road lined with abandoned stores, I looked to see if I could see where it had come from. There was no obvious owner in sight, but as the cat looked a bit mangy but not in distress, I continued on my way.
Not a half minute later I saw a homemade sign taped to a light post. Even in the photocopied likeness the picture looked incredibly like the cat I had just passed. Which looked incredibly like the cat on the Simpsons (not Itchy and Scratchy, but their pet, and someone can clue me into the name because I can't be arsed to Google it). I scanned the sign quickly - lost, loud meow... That's what did it for me. The bit about the loud meow.
I turned back around and by this time the cat was lying on the sidewalk. I tore off one of the phone numbers on the sheet and ran back to the cat. I think that despite looking not too bad, it was overcome with the heat. I started petting it and calling its name. The whole time I was rummaging through my bag with my other hand, trying to locate my cell phone.
As I was waiting for the number to connect, a woman came out of the beauty salon in front of me. She told me that she thought the cat on the poster had already been found. She was holding another copy of the poster in her hand. At that point a man answered the number I had dialed. I started babbling.
"Yeah hi. Uh, did you find your missing cat? No? Oh well I think it's here. Yeah wait...[as I read the poster the woman handed to me]...green...and pink...collar...yeah...this is your cat. He's a little worse for wear but otherwise fine. So can you come here now? Should I pick him up? Will he bite? No wait - I'll stay here and watch your cat and you come here now."
I think the guy had managed to say about two sentences in amongst all of my chatter. He lived just around the corner. Me and the salon owner and another woman who lived nearby all stayed around the cat. I was still seated on the sidewalk petting it. A guy showed up quickly. Apparently the cat had been missing for two weeks. He scooped the cat into his arms and shortly after, the man's very pregnant wife headed down the sidewalk towards all of us. The man thought I'd found the cat at a bar. I explained that I had walked into their cat on the sidewalk. We surmised that someone had originally taken the cat as its id tag had been torn off.
I went on my way to the grocery store and left the cat lying in his human's arms.
It was kind of strange. We were all so low key. Believe me, if one of my cats went missing for two weeks I would be screaming with joy and hugging her none stop upon her return. This was all very casual, or maybe it was that in this heat none of us could process it all.
So here are my questions... I'm glad the guy was home, but if he hadn't been, what could I have done? I was going to pick up the cat and take it home with me, but that's always a risk of infection for my other cats. Also, carrying a strange cat in my arms by a busy street for over 10 minutes was not a process I was looking forward to. Still, the cat was apparently 20, so I wouldn't have left it outside. If it had been a dog and the owners hadn't been home, I don't know what I would have done. There's no way I would bring a stray dog into my home - I like dogs, but I'm scared of them.
13 comments:
My cat went missing for a couple of weeks and it was horrendous. A neighbor a couple of streets over found her and said she got into fights almost every night. They stay indoors now. Well, except for the patio.
Yay!! You're my hero!! I would have totally kissed you.
"Snowball II" is the name of the cat you can't be arsed to look up.
That is why I never go anywhere without my cat-drowning sack. Uh, I mean cat-carrying sack.
Strange that they were rather emotionless over the finding of their cat. Sara got out a couple times over the years and I couldn't sleep until we found her.
Oh! I found the owner's blog. It seems that the cat had been found from when it was originally lost. Maybe it was just out for a walk today and he thought I was insane. Or maybe it was lost again. Anyhow, that explains why he may have seemed so calm.
Hmmm, I don't know what I'd have done if he hadn't answered the phone.
But cheers to you for calling. And I'd be ecstatic if someone found my lost cats...
On a similar note, in April I saw loads of notices all over my neighbourhood about a lost cockatiel. In my laundry room last night I saw a paper saying "to whoever lost the cockatiel - call me..."
My Sherlock Holmes instincts are waking...
I'd be over the moon if someone was kind enough to return my cat...but then I'd never expect anyone would do such a kind thing being as the human race are a bunch of w*nkers!! (I'm obviously not feeling the love today!)
You did a good thing though...& that gives me hope that there are good people out there ;-)
I shut off my music and said hi to it - as I naturally do with all cats.
You're too cool.
(Either that or 30 years from now, we're going to be coaxing you out of an appartment filled with dozens of cats and boxes of malamars...)
Some Simpons fan: Yes, the Simpsons are so extraordinarily important that it WOULD seem shocking that someone wouldn't be "arsed" to look it up...LOL!
FM: I have to find lost cats in order to get you to kiss me? Sheesh.
SSF: I should have guessed you would clarify that one for me! Have you seen the movie yet?
TRS: Bad! Bad girl!
Torn: I know - it was so weird. However, it was obvious they adore their cat to bits and it was a delightful creature, so who knows?
StD: Personally last year I kept hoping that Fur Snake wouldn't come home, but I love her now.
And cool about the potential bird/owner reunion. Unless they're calling the owner to say it's dead. I had to do that once about an ad for a lost pet.
Hotdudi: My faith in humanity was renewed after a girl returned my cell phone which she found in the road. Hope your day shapes up hon.
Dan: 30 years from now? Um, that's right... no, no I don't have cats and malamars now...
And believe me, once I realized who SSF was, I laughed because it's true that he is such a Simpsons addict that he was probably horrified by my lack on knowledge on the topic.
and then there's the crazy old woman on The Simpsons who babbles incoherently, all the while plucking cats from a buggy and throwing them at people
You know, I hate to say this, but I probably wouldn't have looked at the cat or the poster closely enough to have made the connection.
Cats scare the bejeebus out of me. I'm allergic to them, and I'm always thinking they're about to bite me with those sharp little teeth.
Dogs? I love. Even though they could do far more damage.
But still, so cool you did that. I totally have brought dogs home that were obviously lost.
One of my neighbours mentioned that one of her 2 cats (Cleo and Patra, can't remember which it was) got stuck in our garage for a week when the previous owners had been away on vacation. The cat was very hungry, weak, and dehydrated when it was finally rescued and returned to her owner but ever since hearing that story both Toni and I are careful to make sure there's no cat in the garage when we shut the garage doors.
As a sign of thanks for our feline vigilance, one of the cats left a prize on our back patio. The "prize" was a baby rabbit it had killed.
Lovely!
MR: Now that will definitely be me a few years from now
Rebekah: That's so great that you've brought home lost dogs. I can't blame people for being scared of cats - sometimes when one of mine suddenly pounces on me it scares the crap out of me and I'm so used to cats.
Perplexio: I love the fact that the cat brought its kill to your door! Good for you for checking your garage before leaving on trips. I once shut the neighbour's cat in my apartment. It was safe of course, but I hadn't even noticed it run upstairs.
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