Ella & Bubba

Not in the two that I have now, but older cats, like in their twenties, tend to lose interest in eating, which is why I started buying such a large variety of wet foods, to begin with, in order to keep Cutie and Lydia interested in eating. In the process, Ella got used to eating that way. Ella eats more kibble than wet food, while I don't think I've ever seen Bubba eating kibble. He eats his wet food and whatever Ella leaves behind.

 

It's been a long time since I've had a male cat so that may be a part of it, but I am finding that Bubba is harder to train than Ella or any of my more recent cats have been, all female. He thinks everything is playing and it's all okay with him. Ella hates him, yet every time she slaps him down, he clearly thinks she's playing.

He likes to go out but when I bring him in, that's fine with him, and if I don't offer to let him out, he doesn't care. When I yell at him, he might think I'm crazy but it doesn't have anything to do with anything he might have done, as far as he's concerned.

He's not hard to please but he's not particularly interested in pleasing anyone else.

 

I have thought about writing a book, though.

 

I fell asleep in my office chair yesterday afternoon. I was awakened by Ella gently tapping me on the cheek. Her back legs were on my storage desk, one front leg was on my shoulder, and she was waking me up with the other one, while staring at my face. She gladly accepted a treat but I think she was checking to make sure I was okay. Maybe I was snoring and she was trying to get me to shut up.

 

I haven't been around much the past couple of days because I haven't felt much like talking. We've lost Ella; at least it looks that way. She has been outdoors only during the daylight hours, and rarely goes far. On Wednesday, she was outside. I was out there too, with Bubba. I picked Bubba to put him back inside. Ella was heading for the tracks. I said, "Don't go far, Ella. You're a good, good girl." She gave me a tailwave, and I haven't seen her since.

Shortly after that, we were hit with a sudden storm, with heavy rain and high winds, which kept up all day and all night. When Ella didn't return, I hoped she had found shelter somewhere and didn't want to go out into the bad weather in order to get home. Whenever she's outside, I leave the porch door open so that she had an inside place to retreat to. I went looking for her as soon as the rain and the wind came. I walked the tracks and a couple of blocks around, although I've never seen her go beyond our block.

I was up, literally, all night Wednesday night, walking the tracks, calling for her, or waiting for her in the library. I didn't sleep Thursday, but I did sleep about five hours last night. I've put posters up on poles for a couple of blocks around, and am hoping that someone took her in, although I seriously doubt she would let anyone get near enough to pick her up. That same day, someone two doors down, in the direction Ella was walking, lost his cat. While I am not feeling very positive about this, neither have I wanted to read a lot of consolation stuff because I haven't given up on her. I have been crying enough as it is.

I had cameras up in my yard and I literally have a short video of Ella walking toward the tracks the last time she was seen.

 

I think Bubba will be an inside cat. No, I haven't changed my mind about allowing a cat to go outdoors. Ella would have been miserable if we had confined her to the house. Bubba is a different cat. He has never been outdoors except for a an hour or two at a time, while I was out there with him, and going outdoors doesn't seem to be so important to him. If, by a miracle, I get Ella back, I will be very tempted to keep her indoors as well, not so much for her sake, but because I won't want to go through this again.

 

Prayers for you, Michelle, and little lost Ella cat. Hoping she has an angel bring her home, or you find her, @Ken Anderson . It truly is like losing a child when we lose one of our pets that we love so much.

One of the things they encourage for lost animals, is to leave an article of clothing that has been close to your skin, outside where the lost cat or dog can smell it and find their way back home again. Since they have much better smell, this might work.
We actually found a lost hamster once because I had made fried chicken, and the little fellow smelled it and was trying to get back up the stairs from the basement.
He apparently went down there when he escaped, and could not get back up, and was hiding when we were searching for him.