Biggles...Where Are Thou???

Our poor kitty is missing :( We have not seen Mr. Bigglesworth since we got back from our trip on Tuesday. We always board the cats if we are going to be gone for more than five days (they get a little "pissy"). We had them brought home on Monday, we always have them come home a day early to get settled in before our return. I didn't worry when I didn't see him at first, but once he wasn't waiting on the back porch when we got up Wednesday, worry began to set in. He is ALWAYS waiting to come inside in the morning.

Poor Oreo is just a mess as well. Our boys have lived together for almost nine years. He is practically sleeping ON my head every night. I tried to put fliers in mailboxes yesterday, but got a courtesy call from the mailman. He took out all my fliers and told me how it's illegal to do that, told me how I am supposed to pay 42 cents per flier. I think what pissed me off the most about it was that I put invitations in our neighborhood mailboxes for five years in a row regarding our 4th of July parties and NEVER received a complaint.

I went back out and taped the fliers on the newspaper boxes. One lady was outside and told me how her neighbor was missing two cats. She also said that people have seen a fox in the area. Then I got a phone call from another lady that her cat is missing too. She said the same thing, she looks for her every morning :( With Biggles being the fourth cat to have gone missing in a few weeks time I have very little hope now. The thought of a fox getting him and carrying him away by the scruff just breaks my heart.

Some could argue that I should have never let him out since he had no front claws. But really, what are the chances? Even now, we really don't know what happened for sure. And our boys have been going outside on this property for seven years. Even now, we still allow Oreo to go outside...but we do our best to be sure he comes in each evening. The boys LOVE going outside and often wait by the door to run out. Oreo usually just plops to the ground and rolls around. It makes him so happy that I would never take that away from him...I just hope each time I open that door that it is NOT the last time I see him.

It really hit home the other day when Marc was watching the kids for me. Aspen fell asleep in her little house upstairs. This is the second time she has just gone upstairs and taken a nap all on her own while Marc is watching her (he says he is really good at ignoring)...she had NEVER done that for me. When I got home and went upstairs to check on her it just wasn't the same. The first time Biggles was crashed right next to her, but this time she was all alone :( She has cried a few times, wanting her Biggles back.

Although I lose faith daily, I still go to bed each evening hoping tomorrow will be the day he is looking at me through the kitchen window waiting to come inside. Biggles is a rare find and he is going to be VERY hard to replace. I guess he will never be "replaced", but if we get a new kitty it will have big paws to live up too ;) He had been around for ten years...what a good ten years it was. Our cats don't even seem that old to me. They are still full of life. I can't believe I have had Oreo since I turned 20...it seems like it was just yesterday. He was the cutest kitten EVER ;)