My oldest cat went missing thursday afternoon.

I wasn’t all that alarmed until that evening. He usually comes home by the evening ’cause he’s hungry or cold, but he didn’t show.

All day today I was fretting worried where he was.

You must understand… this is no ordinary cat…

Shady jumps up to standing height to give “hugs” (puts one paw on either side of your face, pulls your face to his and rubs his face on your and licks your nose… I’m not kidding. I’ll post a video of it tomorrow 🙂

He comes to his name and understands the majority of commands a dog does (No, Down, come here)

He’s been on 3 aeroplanes (kitchener–>toronto–.>calgary—>edmonton)

He has more friends than I do, and even some of my best friends declare him their best friend over me!

So you can understand when he went missing my heart died a little. There are children/teens who look to torture animals for fun, people who carelessly leave antifreeze or pesticides around their yards, or even people who just take in the first animal they see on the street. Images of all of the aforementioned scenes plagued my mind like a movie reel gone mad. Over and Over my brain jumped to the worst scenario, yay for having an anxiety disorder.

Tonight I couldn’t wait any longer for Shady to come home. I put on a sweater, got a water bottle, and a bag of treats and off i went. I started calling his name and shaking the treats, I went about 10 blocks before one cat came running up to me. He had white socks like Shady, but, it wasn’t him. He was clearly a big furry cat but someone had shaved him to keep him cool in summer, so he was fashioned like a black and white poodle/cat. I still fed him 2 treats and said “I’m trying to find Shady, can you help me find him please?” And without waiting for an answer (I’m nuts but I’m not that crazy), I carried on around the corner and the cat brushed up against my leg and followed me.

He stayed with me as I called for shady for at least 5 blocks and then as I crossed the road back to the way I came, he stayed. I said farewell to my furry friend and carried on.

I made it 10 paces without my little shadow friend before another little one came to see me on the sidewalk. This was a small, beautiful, little, ginger tabby, so as I stroked her pretty fur I told her “I’m looking for Shady, can you tell him to come home please?” She rolled over graciously, sat up and ate her treats.

I walked around to the next block and saw a small shadow and my heart skipped. It looked sort of like shady but smaller maybe…

but when his collar jingled I knew it was him

I asked “Shady?” and he meowed and came running to me! I almost started crying! I swept him up in my arms, his paws grabbed my face and we rubbed heads for a sec, then I clung right on to him and carried him home.

At the corner of every block he looked at me as if to say “oh, it was this one right?” and as I’d keep walking he’d bump his head against me again and go “oh god they all look the same! how much farther!?”

I walked up to the door with him in my arms, and Lucifer (his fur-step-brother) came running to see him. I opened the door and he burst out of my arms into the home.

Lucifer came up to him and they circled each other, tails intertwining, bumping heads showing affection for each other.

Right now he’s sprawled out on the kitchen floor… I’m just so happy he’s home. I love you shady