Lost & Found: One ChiaCat

I’ve owned dogs & I’ve owned cats.

At this stage of life I prefer cats due to their independent nature and self sufficiency.

Since Kathy and I married a dozen years ago we’ve had three, no more than two at a time. The one we have now may be our last.

He is a combo cat in many ways.  He likes people but loves being outside.  During the warm days of summer he will spend the day alternating between working on his cat tan in the driveway and staying cool in the bushes with the occasional trip inside to nibble on some food.

We pretty much have him trained to come in at night but there have been some occasions when he has wandered off and spent the night outside sleeping on our porch swing since we’re already in bed when he returns.

Thursday night was the first time in about a month that he didn’t show up and I didn’t see him Friday morning or evening.

I mentioned this to Kathy and we were trying to recall when we last saw him.  I knew I saw him Thursday morning, but we couldn’t narrow it down any further.

After several trips outside Friday night, searching the backyard, front yard and the neighborhood, I was resigned that I would make a trip Saturday to the animal shelter to see if he was there.

Then Kathy suggested I check upstairs.

The upstairs of our house is half loft area and half attic.  Neither one of us had been up there recently. We have a house guest who has some things stored in our attic and he may have been up there.

So I opened the door to the upstairs, flipped on the light and climbed the steps.

I called ChiaCat’s name, Napoleon, and right before I opened the attic door, I heard a faint meow from the opposite direction.

I looked to see if he is trapped inside a couch or under a chair or…

I heard him again and I glanced at a window that opens to a roof we have over our front porch.  Is the cat stuck on our roof?

Right before I opened the window to check, i heard him one more time near my feet, but didn’t see him.  We have built in cupboards in this room at floor level and I open one and out he came.

I carried this purring critter downstairs and we got him fresh food and water and off to bed we went.

The mystery of how he got stuck in the cabinet continues, but we’re just grateful we checked.  I’m sure spending 24 to 36 hours in a small dark space wasn’t much fun for an adventurous cat.

Saturday he was back to his normal self, basking in the sunshine, coming up to you to be petted and played with and life with our ChiaCat continues…

One side note, ChiaCat has his own webpage and Twitter account.  But he doesn’t do that much with it.