Tanner is Missing

[ranuel]

 

My 18-year-old cat Tanner loves his Saturday afternoons sitting in the sunshine in the yard while I'm in and out doing various and sundry and since he never gets very far away from where I am I let him and  I laughed at him when he went tearing out of the house like his tail was on fire as soon as I opened the door. I was messing around with the hose at first so I wasn't surprised that he stayed around the corner and out of sight past the point when his game of "escape" would have been forgotten.

I went inside and did some things and around 11:30 decided that I wanted a nap more than lunch at that point. I decided to let him stay out since he has a tendency to want to lay on top of me and it was just too hot. Before I'd dozed off good though a storm came up and by the time I went to open the door and call him in it was pouring. He didn't come so I figured he was hiding under or inside the old trailer (there's a hole in the floor he can get in) and didn't worry about it.

When the rain finally ended I decided I needed to go to town.  When he wasn't around when I went out I thought he must be IN the old trailer and napping and went on without finding him and making him come in but when I got back he still wasn't around so I went looking for him and he wasn't there. Or anywhere else. He wasn't in any of his usual spots. I've walked around calling him several times with no answer. I've walked up and down the road  looking in the ditch. He's just vanished.

I went to the Humane Society Yesterday and they hadn't had any word of a cat like him. I'm taking them a picture today just in case.
He was in excellent health, ate a good breakfast, and other than his mad dash did nothing unusual for him Saturday.
He never leaves the yard and even when he has gone and hid somewhere for some reason he usually turns up for meals but it's been 3 days now and nothing.

I really don't know what to do. At what point do I give up? There are foxes and hawks in the area, and the occasional report of a coyote or aligator, all of which could make a good meal of a 10 pound cat but most of those wouldn't come that close to the house in daylight, the water is pretty low in the lake so it's a bit far for a gator unless he wandered further than I think and he's big enought to give a hawk enough of a fight for me to hear something. About the only thing I can be sure of is that he didn't get hit by a car because of the lack of a body.

Comments

[ranuel.livejournal.com]

Thanks, I needed a hug.