Our kitty, Oliver, went missing last Sunday evening. We were not too worried because 2 other times he had refused to come inside at night and he had been anxiously waiting at the door the following morning both times. Monday morning - no Ollie. I called and called him but there was no sign of him. Both Don and I walked the neighborhood calling for him and looking for him - no Ollie. Tuesday and Wednesday we continued our search and placed over 100 flyers on the doors of houses in our neighborhood but still - no Ollie. By Wednesday evening I am a bauling baby during my late night walks in the alley and down the street late at night but still - no Ollie.
Earlier in the week I had gone to the animal shelter and registered Ollie as lost. Thursday morning I received an email from the animal shelter that a cat of Ollie's description had been brought in. I looked over the picture and IT WAS HIM! I knew it 100% - it was him. Don was not so sure. We went to my Dr. appointment then rushed out to pick up Ollie. I was so excited when I walked in there. I couldn't wait to get my arms around him. The man at the front desk walked us back and there he was - a beautiful male that looked almost just like Ollie. Oh the sadness, I just wanted to drop to the floor and cry. Thursday evening I am so distraught thinking of him hiding somewhere sick and dying or locked inside someone's outbuilding starving to death that I can't rest. So, early Friday morning I began walking the neighborhood again. I was much braver by now and way less concerned about what people might think if I was walking in yards that did not belong to me. I searched yards, alleys, and any open shed where I thought he could be trapped.
Several times over the the last several days I had thought I heard him answering me in front of Jessie's house. I would stop and call again and wind up convincing myself I was hearing things because I could not hear it again. I went to the sidewalk in front of Jessie's house again. I called for Ollie and after 3 or 4 times I thought I heard him again. I kept calling, and this time I could hear him louder and louder. My fur baby was answering back LOUDLY. I walked down Jessie's driveway and Ollie was shouting his mews from the garage as loud as he possibly could. There is no way for me to convey the joy I felt in my heart when I heard his cries. I knew it was him!
Excitedly, I rang Jessie's doorbell and peered in her windows. However, Jessie was at work. I ran to the neighbor's house and asked if he had Jessie's phone number, which he graciously shared with me. I burst into the house and called Jessie and left a message on her answering machine. Thinking back to several months ago, when I first met Jessie, I remember her telling me where she worked. Frantically, I looked up the number and called. I was able to leave a message on her voice mail but feared that she may be out of town (since Ollie had been locked in her garage for 5 days). After several assertive messages and a plea for help from the secretary, Jessie called me. She will be home at 3:30 to let me get my fur baby out!
My impatience was getting the best of me and I decided to see if any doors to the garage had been left unlocked so I could get him out NOW. I went in the gate to Jessie's back yard and saw that the garage door had windows in it. I looked in the garage - no Ollie. Shouting his name, and wondering if I was loosing my mind, my hands cupped around my face and my eyes searching that garage - no Ollie. Several calls later, I see him! His beautiful face is right in front of that door looking up at me. He looks great, he looks well, I am so relieved. I tried the door but it was locked. 3:30 could not come fast enough for me.
Sometime between 3:15 and 3:30 Jessie drove up in front of our house and said she would be opening the garage door and let me go in and get Ollie out. She opened the door and Ollie was nowhere in site. I continued to call him and slowly, with great fear in his eyes, he started easing his way out of the small opening in the wall. Any quick move from me sent him running back to the opening. Finally he came out and let me pick him up. At that very moment I am sure that I was, indeed, the happiest person on earth.
Jessie was sitting outside the garage in her running car and was relieved for me when I walked out with Ollie. Ollie, in his nervous state, freaked when he saw her and bolted from me. He ran to our house and waited on the front porch for me to get home.
Jessie said she had not even eaten lunch, feeling terrible that she had not heard him crying over those 5 days. She conveyed several times that she had looked for him (after she received our flyer in her mail slot) because of noises she had heard. Neither one of her searchers ever showed any signs of him. I was so happy to get him, and so grateful that he had been in a safe, dry, warm place that I would never blame her. She did search for him and never saw him. He was probably hiding from her because he is scared of strangers.
Hopefully Ollie has learned to never enter ANY building except our home!
I want to end this blog by giving each person who read it encouragement to know that God hears your prayers and cares about your heart. I had been praying desperately beginning Monday afternoon for God to either bring Ollie home or keep him safe and give him a new family. My emotions were up and down, feeling full of faith at times and at other times feeling like God didn't care about what I was going through or the safety of my cat. I mean really, God has such bigger things to deal with, things much more important than an animal. But (in hind site) I believe in my heart that God knows that Ollie is, as are the other pets we have, a member of our family. We have not been blessed with children and we love these pets with all our hearts. He did keep Ollie safe, and He did help me find him. Thank you God for hearing my prayers and for helping me bring my Ollie home!
