Ken, it is possible that Ella knew that her time had come and wanted to spare you from pain of seeing her last moments. Not that that makes it easier on you. We once had a dog that was an inside outside dog. He never left our yard. He lived to be quite old and feeble. Then one day, he didn't come in. We searched for him and found him across the road in the neighbor's yard under a bush. He had gone to die in privacy. I have since read that some animals will do that. Sending my sympathy. {{{{Hugs}}}}
Ken, I know how hard this is for you and I am hoping that Ella has just "gone walkabout" and is having an adventure. I have heard of cats leaving home for weeks at a time, then turning up as if nothing had happened. I know Ella has tested you a few times by venturing out, so here's hoping that she will show up soon. Wish I had some words of comfort.
She's back! She's eating right now, which is the only reason I am here rather than smothering her with love. She just showed up at the fire escape window a few moments ago. She lost a little bit of weight but she's clean and unharmed. She's pretty nonchalant about being home, as if she had just come in from a walk. She still hates Bubba. Now, I am left with a bunch of promises that I made to God that I am going to have to try to keep.
My experience of male vs female cats is different in several ways. I've only had two males among the many females but they seemed calmer, more affectionate and just as easily teachable. My Felix I took in from being a stray and it took him only about a week to overcome the hostility of my two girl cats. Yay!!!!!!
That is awesome news, @Ken Anderson , and I am so happy for you ! Prayers are wonderful, and Jesus does not just find the lost sheep and bring it back to the fold; but also the lost kitty-cat.
Hopefully, one of those “promises” wasn’t, “please solve this one problem and bring her back home and I’ll take care of the rest of my problems by myself”. ....... . I’m sure she’s glad to be home!
Looking her over more fully, she has something that looks like ashes or soot under her chin, and her feet aren't as clean as they usually are, which isn't like her. She's usually fastidious, so I'm thinking maybe she wasn't inside someone's house. Before she disappeared, the weather was nice outside. Then there was a sudden storm that kept up pretty much most of the time that she had been gone, with a few periods of clearing. It would be nice to know where she was holed up. She's capable of hunting so she could feed herself, although I haven't known her to hunt for food. She usually leaves her kills by the backdoor or tries to get us to let her come in the window with them. She might have been under someone's house or somewhere. I'd love to know where she was.
Put her on a long leash and tell her to show you where she went. Yeah, somewhere in my brain I’m picturing you with a long red leash yelling “go kitty go!”. Hey, it’s Sunday and my brain is allowed to go anywhere it wants to. It’s resting. Kinda.
I don't think she would do that. However, Cutie was completely deaf for the last couple of years that she was with us, but she still wanted to go outside. She never left the yard but, being black, it was hard to find her if she was under something. Three different times, I asked Ella to find Cutie for me and she did. She led me to her once, and stared at her a couple of other times, when she under a tree so that I could find her by looking in the direction Ella was staring. It was if she was was saying, "She's right there under the tree." And earlier this summer, when Bubba left the yard and didn't come when I called him, Ella went and got him.
I think one of Ken's promises was, that if Ella came back, he'd send every member of SeniorsOnly $10 in the mail. I'll email you my address, Ken.
Now THAT’s an idea! To test the theory, Ken can snag Michelle’s phone and strap it on his cat’s collar and with his own phone he can just sit and track where she is at all times! I’m sure Ken’s wife would simply love to try it.
Haha. Amazon and Chewy.com both have pet trackers that attach to a collar. I assume they work like fitness GPS or whatever; you do need a smartphone to use the tracking function.