So we had to move. Long story, but one that had a good ending, but for a month after being here, we lost our cat Zo-Zo.

It was on labor day weekend. Lots of people were taking off for the holiday, I woke up early and Zo-Zo followed me out for our usual morning coffee and hang out on the porch routine. She went off to do her thing and that evening didn't come home.

This cat ended up being very special to my wife and I. If you've ever had one of those very strong animal bonds, you know what I'm talking about. She got sick enough to die, and I cared for her and some cats are funny about that. She didn't forget, and never left us for more than a small amount of time after that.

It didn't take all that long to realize something had happened. Zo-Zo checked in every couple hours always. So when it didn't happen, we thought the worst.

It completely ruined the move. Spent a little chunk of each day wondering what happened to our cat. The neighbors were all mostly gone on vacation, and I thought for sure the cat was gone. As they came home, one by one, I hoped they would open their houses and let her out, or something.

Everybody looked for about a week, so that was cool. Good way to meet the neighbors, I suppose.

Last night, I heard her distinctive call, and sure enough, she found her way home. The best we can figure out is that she had gotten mixed up with somebody leaving for vacation, got out and couldn't find her way home. Once before, she spent a long weekend in a garage. Same time of year too! It's now going to be a KSKD tradition to just keep that one indoors at high risk travel times. Just too curious for her own good.

She's skinny, very concerned about a lot of stuff, and just absolutely didn't want to do anything but get petted and hang out in the bed with us.

I'm tired, but happy this morning! The cat had bad dreams. She would sleep, perfectly comfortable, then wake up and just freak out, then see us, then relax and sleep again. Makes me wonder what she is thinking! Poor thing.

After all the bad things that have happened to us, losing that cat really sucked! Having her travel who knows how far to return home was special!

So that's it. Lost cat comes home, KSKD family happy!

Sorry, I am having problems posting. Something has crashed on my computer and my Mouse is missing!

http://blog.pennlive.com/asktony/2008/01/large_Kitten%20on%20Laptop%20Keyboard.g if

Dnag, and I just got the leaking problem fixed last week!
http://fury.com/images/weblog/vaio_pee.jpg

With a name like Zo-Zo, maybe she was out on tour with dear Nora.

Glad to hear she is home safe and sound.

That's great news to hear.

My wife's cat of 17 years had to be put down a few days before Christmas last year. She was a very special cat to her (and me, even though I came into the mix much later in her life). A few months later, we rescued a brown tabby cat that was about 9 months old that was found as a kitten and had to be fostered to be brought back to life. The Oregon Humane Society was going to euthanize him, but some good soul that worked there recognized that this little kitten had a great personality, and also had very beautiful markings (he looks like a bengal tiger but instead of orange, he's gray and brown with black stripes) and decided to take him to a no-kill shelter where we ended up adopting him. The first day we brought him home, we had the worst case of buyer's remorse you could imagine. All we could think about is the old cat and how this new cat isn't anything close to the old cat and that we jumped the gun on getting a new cat too soon. After a few days though, we warmed up to him and he warmed up to us. Now that it's been 8 months since we brought him home, I can't imagine him not being around. We both love animals and got really lucky to end up with such a good cat.

Also, when the cat gets freaked out, we call that "high alert". Our kitty occaisionally is on high alert where he lurks around the house as if a giant monster is around the corner ready to shred the cat to bits. It's kinda funny, but you can see the look in his eyes that he's not laughing. After a while though, it's back to purring like a mad man.

And by the way, I was raised with Golden Retrievers and hated cats until I got to know one.

That's tough having to put an animal down after so long. Our oldest cat is 22 years old! He's still pretty active, and healthy.

When it's time for him, I'm not going to do well.

I too was raised with dogs. Love them. I ended up with a cat and really enjoyed it's company. My wife also liked cats.

We have always adopted, or taken in stray cats. They are very loyal animals and many of them are great communicators. That's part of what makes this cat special. We understand one another very well.

I'm in kind of a goofy spot right now too. When we lost zozo (and that's probably the better way to spell it), one of the other cats had kittens, and we kept some of them.

The new cats are turning out to be pretty great, and now she's back, so we have pack / territory issues to work through. Nice problem to have though

Know what you mean about high alert! Another cat state that I enjoy is when they are fixated on something. You can literally move the cat and their head will not move at all! Funny to see.

I had one cat that would play fetch. She died long ago. One day, we were playing with this very colorful stuffed toy we got from the burger place. The cat was interested in the toy, so we played a little.

On a lark, I tossed it so that it would bounce and be hidden around a corner. She took off, found it, then brought it back. For the rest of that evening, we played the fetch game and it was just cool to see how a cat does it.

(they like the sneak and they like the speed of it)

From then on, we tried lots of other objects, but she would only fetch that thing and that thing only. Tried swapping for another toy of the same exact kind, and that wouldn't work either.

Bizzare.

I ended up making damn sure I kept track of some freebie give away toy for a lot of years, so that I could play fetch with the picky cat!

Hey, let's make this an animal warm fuzzy thread! Why not? There isn't much to the story, but it is good to hear what other peoples special animal stories are.

We have 13 (thirteen) cats... and love 'em all. When you live in the boondocks, people think it's OK to dump old couches, refrigerators and... oh yes, kitties. Let's see, there's Buddy, Meauryce ("Mo"), Molly, Charlie, Roxanne, Alex, Dewey, Louie, Red, Gateway, Sam, and the newest kittens, Winken & Nod. Yes, there was a Blinken but he died unexpectedly of kidney failure at 8 months... and that was a real heart-breaker, as we had bottle-fed those 3 little kittens from the age of 2 weeks. I have to drive past the vet's office every day, and there's not a day that goes by that little Blinken doesn't cross my mind.

Anyway, everybody's spayed or neutered and up-to-date on their shots. At 6PM every night, we break out the 13 little porcelain bowls and everyone gets a dollop of canned food. The rest of the time, they have free access to all the dry kibble they want.

Two (Alex & Gateway) are full-time outdoors, as they can't quite figure-out the whole litterbox thing...

Three (Louie, Dewey & Roxanne) are full-time indoors, as they're not the brightest bulbs in the socket, and can't be trusted to differentiate between coyotes and butterflies.

The remaining eight have full indoor/outdoor privileges and everybody (except for the the two outdoor-only guys) usually elect to spend these cold nights on the bed, which makes sleeping a challenge. The outdoor guys have a little kitty-house on the porch, complete with a heated pad.

Nuts? Hmmm, possibly, but I wouldn't trade 'em for the all the tea in China.

Dino was a cute kitten. I have pictures of him with the kids. Then, one day, he was up and gone. More than a year later, this cat shows up on our doorstep. He looked familiar ... but was an adult cat. We invited him in, checked our pictures of the kitten and, sure enough, it was Dino. He enjoyed being an indoor cat for a few weeks then wanted to go back outside. He disappeared and we never saw him again. I like to think he came back just to show us he was OK and, probably, living with another family.

I've been a guest to Mike & Sandi's "Incredible Kitty Farm". Mike's telling the truth. You'd think you'd have trouble just walking around his home without stepping on one of 13 kitties but they're all skittish. You can visit an hour without seeing one cat! They're all hidden under the covers of Mike & Sandi bed. Cowards!

Mikekolb
I don't think you're nuts. I have a bunch o' kitties too. 10 in all. In my neighborhood it seems to be the status quo to move and leave your cat behind. I've gotten 6 cats this way. The other four were rescues from various places. They're all fixed now and happy. I work with my local animal rescue to find homes for them, but it's hard to place adult cats.

Got three outside mousers at the ol' homestead. I just can't ever forget to give them their daily supplemental bowl of cat food cause if I do they never forget to leave me that half eaten mouse on my doorstep.....cat's have an evil side to them!