Day Two

His name is Pit. Turns out he is microchipped, so we now know the name of his owner, their address (in Renton, so he seems to have wandered quite a ways), and telephone number. Which our vet called, and left a message. We hadn't heard from them by early evening, so I tried again, to the number in the microchip registry, and left another message. No message came tonight, so at this point we're trying to figure out how to get in touch with them if they don't call back.

Renton is a long way off for a stray cat (though he was heading that direction when I found him, so maybe he was trying to find his way home -- over twelve miles away, according to google maps). Suspect his original owners may have given him to someone else who lives near here, or perhaps further to the south. In which case, they cd probably tell us how to get in touch with his current owners, if it's not them. IF THEY WOULD CALL BACK.

In the meantime, I spent a good deal of time down in the box room this evening, working at the old desk (a much-battered relic of my grad school days,* presented to me long ago by fellow Marquette T.A. Stephen Hidalgo. thanks, Stephen!) and sharing the chair (also battered but comfy**) with Mr. Pitts, who sometimes sits in my lap while I work, sometimes behind me in the chair, and sometimes on the floor in front of the space heater. While I keep him company, upstairs Janice works to reassure our cats that All Will Be Well.


Fact of the Day: it turns out there's time for a cat in a car in a carrier to mew piteously two hundred and fifty-four times between leaving our garage and arriving at our vet's (McMonigle's on East Valley Hwy). Once we got there he settled down, and came out on a leash to sit by me and watch the proceedings as other cats and dogs came and went. He even behaved well when the two resident clinic cats, Frankie and Olive,*** came over to inspect the newcomer. Cats don't come much more tame than this.

Here's hoping they call soon.

--John R.

* back in the days when I used to decorate in Early Attic, according to one friend

**this being formerly Steve Winter's chair at TSR, and hence a Historical Relic.

***the two cats they had for such a long time, Orca and Thomas (both black-&-white cats) having now honorably retired, like the senior Dr. McMonigle himself, and turned over the day-to-day at the clinic to younger hands and paws.