Cinder's Big Adventure

After a busy weekend of Jen flying in from Colorado for Harborfest and us taking her back to the airport we arrived home around 2 pm to find... no cat. Cinder Ella was nowhere to be found and had not touched her food. I started to panic. She had escaped while packing up the car for the weekend, that little sneak. Tears and more panic from me. She is my baby and there are wild critters in the area that EAT cats. She had been outside since Friday afternoon and here it is Sunday afternoon.
Luke and I wandered around the house checking for her or a sign that she'd been there. We walked down the street sort of behind us that is yet to be built to find a coyote home (eeek!).
We put up Missing Cat signs with her name and picture. Lime green duct tape and a cute critter should get some attention.
We drove out to Lollypop farm to see if she was found and turned in there. Before leaving we left our external garage door open enough that she could push it open. At Lollypop there were a few that looked like her but weren't Cinders. Luke was great through all of it and really thought we should have taken a cute 1 year old cat Mia home so when we found our baby she'd have a friend. Mia was lounging and perked up when we walked by, all the other cats didn't even notice us, maybe that's why he thought Mia was Cinders.
We came home and found a toad in the garage. Continuing the search for Cinder Ella my folks came over and started helping to ask neighbors if they'd seen her. One neighbor was like, "oh, that cat she walks on a leash?" Yup, that's the cat. "Cinder Ella, Cinder Ella, mrroow, mrowww, mroww..." She comes running when I make that noise. After circling the neighborhood for what seemed like the millionth time Luke went back to filling out forms online for a missing pet in the area and searching the newspaper lost and found section. I sat out back calling towards the wooded area hoping she'd come bounding out. I put up an ad on Craigslist.
Mom and Dad went home. There wasn't much they could do that we weren't already doing. They still had trash in the back of the pick-up truck. My phone range with a number I didn't recognize at 10. "Are you the one who put put up fliers for a missing cat?" I tried to contain my excitement. "My daughter has a suggestion that you put out some food or a toy so she knows it's her house." I thanked him for the suggestion and for calling. I slumped onto the couch with more tears. There was a plate of food on the back steps and the open garage door. My poor baby.
Around 11pm (only the 9 horrible hours that I knew she was missing for) I called out the front window for her then on a whim opened the interior garage door. A scared Cinder Ella crept around the corner and walked slowly into the house. She was scared, hungry and thirsty. Other than some seeds stuck to her fur and quite a bit of dirt she was ok. A slight purr. She scarfed some food and then puked from eating too much, too soon.
We are happy to report that she is back to her cuddly, purring self and we are happy that she is home safe and sound.