Talk about getting an Easter gift/surprise

[rainbow4321]

Our cat that has been MIA for four days came strolling down our street at 2 am while I was outside standing on our porch. Actually, she is one of my daughter's cats that I have been babysitting for almost a year now..worst call I ever had to make was 4 days ago to tell her that the cat had gotten out and we couldn't find her..she is an INside cat.

Best call was 2 am this morning when I left her a voicemail telling her that the cat was BACK!!!!
I'll admit we are not "big Easter people", but this had even me thinking of this as an Easter gift...

She's BACK (and, yes, the picture taking glowing eyes were pre-MIA, also, she didn't just come back that way..)

[Heidi]

1. Welcome home, adventurous kitty girl!

I bet she's awfully glad to be back among family and familiar surroundings, and I know you're unbelievably relieved, rainbow. So happy for you guys! :hug:

:kick:

[rainbow4321]

4. Thank you...it is a beautiful, calm day here once again

To see TWO cats wandering around the house once again!

[MiddleFingerMom]

2. My cat NoName...

.
...was a completely indoor cat who, over the course of the eight years
that I had her, managed to slip past me at the door about a half-dozen
times. She was like the Borg... when she first got out, I simply walked
over and picked her up while she was luxuriating in her dirt bath. The
next time, I had to sneak up on her (she moved 5 feet away JUST when I'd
get in reach). Whatever successful trick I would come up with would just
not work the next time because she had incorporated it into her escape
plans.
.
So, there were a coupla times she was gone for up to 8 hours or so.
.
I spent the WHOLE time worrying... she had her claws, but she had never
known real conflict, she didn't have any learned traffic survival skills,
and, as MiddleFingerMomMom taught me, there's a French word here in the
desert for outdoor cats -- "hors d'oeuvre".
.
Always made it back, though she used to do a last-minute tease and resist
the food that I was shaking in its bag to bring her close enough to grab --
despite what was almost certainly ravenous hunger.
.

[rainbow4321]

3. That was my biggest concern

Yeah, she, too has claws but if she came upon some of our other creatures we have roaming around, could she outrun them??

I'm sure you know the drill of "what if" scenarios that go thru your head..high traffic areas, wildlife, people who keep the cat just "because"...it's a never ending list.
The longest her other "got out" episodes were like your's..an hour to several hours. All compliments of my 19 yr old OTHER daughter who has been careless when letting the dogs out, leaving an UNscreened window open, leaving the door open just a little too long..all with a "whatever, the cat(s) will come back" 'tude.

It's been a tense 4 days around here..her not understanding how badly my other daughter was taking this (she's had them since they were several weeks old) and how grief/guilt stricken I was as the grandma-babysitting-cats. I got to a point where every rustle/jingle/noise I heard outside was her "returning".
Not the case..til 2 am last night when the collar jingle was getting louder as was the faint meow. Walking down the cul de sac like she didn't have a care..then her head jerked in my direction when I called her name and you could see her eyes suddenly "recognize" the house/area..her causal stroll turned into a run!

All is good now...gave both the cats flea baths, just in case. I don't even care that me and the counters are drenched!