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This morning as I was getting ready to leave for work and noticed the door to downstairs was shut, which is unusual. (We have a split foyer house so there is a door at the bottom landing leading into downstairs.) I go down to leave for work (door to the garage is off the family room) and who comes bounding quickly up the stairs past me heading straight for his food bowl? Griff yelled at him once and hid under the bed - I picked Sham up to make sure he was okay and uninjured as the kids (all were still home) came flying out of their rooms in various states of getting ready for school/work....and as everyone is trying to pet him he meows at me in a kind of bitchy tone and leaps out of my arms to get to food. We were allowed to pet him as long as he could keep eating. Seriously - the look he gave me and the clipped little meow was so "what is all the fuss about, will you knock it off and let me eat?" If cats could roll their eyes in annoyance he so would have. (It's not like I was preventing him from eating - this all happened in the space of seconds and I wanted to make sure he was in one piece and didn't need a trip to the vet.) Anyway, turns out one of the boys had been out looking this morning and left the patio doors open on purpose just in case he came back. That's why he closed the door to downstairs - to keep the other kitties safely upstairs. So apparently he just wandered in from whatever bender he was on and came home like it's nothing. I had to leave for work so as of when I left he was chowing down on wet food, kids were loving on him, and Griff was hiding under the bed recoiling from his brother smelling like the outside he so fears now. (I'm assuming - who knows what he was thinking. Maybe he was just pissed at his brother for all the worry.) He looked like he'd never left. Coat perfectly clean, smells good (like clean cat), eyes bright. I would think someone had taken him in, but then he wouldn't be so hungry. I did assume at first he had access to water wherever he was because he went to town on the food and ignored the fresh water bowl...but I don't know how long he was downstairs. Could have been as much as half an hour or so and we have water bowls there so who knows. Mr. Buffy's theory was that he'd been inadvertently shut up in a neighbors shed or garage and he went to every house in a couple block radius to give out flyers and ask them to look in their sheds/garages - but no dirt/oil on his fur although maybe he was in Monk's garage. Anyway - I'm DYING to know where he has been. Was he sitting there listening to us call and his brother cry and make heartbreaking noises like I've never heard before and didn't come home? (and I know when cats are lost and scared their brains go primal and they see even loved ones as threats and their instinct is to become invisible. But my heart still pouts that it's different with us and he should have known that ...but I digress.) Oh and before all this getting lost business happened Shadow had a bath... Completely not relevant to the topic...but she wanted to say hi.

I got very little sleep last night because two of my cats (very indoor cats) got out yesterday afternoon. They are brothers from the same litter and inseparable BFF. Having been a cat mommy for many years I knew they would be nearby and we did all the usual things - put something with my scent on the deck, called for them, had doors open so they could come home, wet food...the works. We called for them, but during the day nothing. Not uncommon - so a walk around at night I got a screaming response from one of them and had no idea where it was coming from. It was not a happy answer... We have some concrete stairs on the side of the garage with a crack in the cement...he got in and couldn't get out. After 3 of us trying to dig him out for 2.5 hours we had to sledge hammer part of the stairs after determining where we could without hurting him or causing a collapse. Mr. Me wanted to tie a tow rope and pull the stairs over but the way he was positioned in there was too risky. On the last hammer (and at midnight taking a sledgehammer to concrete...just glad the neighbors like my husband) he shot out and ran inside. He was jammed on there and lost a patch of fur on each side, but no blood, no injuries or abrasions. He's scared to death and very clingy last night and today - but physically okay. His brother wasn't with him - Mr. Me is home today with a couple of the kids to find him...taking the prodigal son out on a harness to see if he can find his brother. I know he's nearby - just praying he's okay and just hiding/freaked out and not thinking of worst case scenarios at this point. Asking for good thoughts for the prodigal son still lost out there...he's just a little marshmallow and has to be so scared. Whole family, human and fur, are freaked out until he comes home.