A cry in the night!

One of my 11 month old kittens, Bebe, the grey calico, was missing yesterday. She is on heat and is doing a bit of unauthorised wandering. She usually just pops over the wall into my neighbour's yard which is fairly safe as they have no animals of their own and sits calling for any willing male. As soon as I call for her, she jumps back over and comes home.

I called her yesterday morning and there was no sign of her. It's not like her to miss meals and I was stressing by the time I left the house for work. When her brother disappeared, he never returned and I thought that I had lost another baby!

I tried calling her last night when I got home and still no sign of her. As darkness fell, I went outside with the pot of food to dish up a portion for Pup who eats outside on his own due to antisocial doggy behaviour and the evening was quiet. I banged the pot and called loudly for Bebe, alternating her name with my distinctive 'cat-cat-cat' call! After a while of doing this calling which was echoing around the neighbourhood (poor neighbours!) and stirring up the dogs, I heard a tiny meow in the distance. Oh no! Don't tell me Bebe is caught up a tree in someone's yard. I called to Bradley to walk down the road and see if he could tell where the sound was coming from. I carried on calling and eventually the sound came closer. I was really excited and went to the wall. Bradley had returned and was helping me look for Bebe in the bushes. Suddenly he exclaimed, "Mom, its Monty!" Now Monty is one of our foster cats who became our cat when he was returned by his adoptive parents for not being friendly enough. He lived with us for many years and has always been very loving but has also always been a wanderer. He would disappear for days at a time and we came to realise that he must have another 'home' in the area. He hasn't (to the best of my knowledge) been back to my place in more than a year but because he heard my extended calling, he came to visit! He was born in February 2002 and is a black tabby with grey markings. On his sides his markings form a circle like a bullseye! It was a bittersweet moment because now I knew that he was still fine but he wasn't Bebe! The other cats were a bit wary of him but he ended up spending the night on a folding chair just outside my front door. He was still in the garden this morning when I went to call for Bebe again. After a couple of calls, I gave up and went in to carry on with my chores.

Imagine my surprise when I turned around from washing dishes to spot Bebe sitting on the kitchen counter, casually grooming herself. She had arrived from her razzlings without announcement. She accepted my cuddlings reluctantly. She absolutely has a bee in her bonnet at the moment and kept running in and out of the house while waiting for food. I'm just so relieved that she hasn't met with any harm.

I stood over Monty while he ate because Mischief, our one alpha male didn't want to let him have his bowl of food. We left Monty on the driveway as we went off for the day. Not sure how long he'll stay but it was great to see him again, looking healthy and well-fed.