Sunday, April 3, 2011. Tom and I brought Cooper and Big Man, two cats that had lived across the street from our old house on 31st Place, to be our outside cats at the house in The Downs. Within 15 minutes, they both were gone. Cooper had jumped a fence and headed down the creek, and Tom retrieved him, but then I lost sight of both of them. Gone.
Wednesday, April 6. I made and distributed
flyers about the missing cats. I positioned them near the approximate route between the two houses, which you can see
here. That evening, Big Man came out from under our house. We continued to look for Cooper, who we had assumed had headed for home.
Sunday, April 10. A woman who had seen one of the flyers called me to say she thought she had seen Cooper. She lived at the end of 24th Street, off Price Ave., which you can locate on this
map. Her house was just above the direct line between our house and our old house, and her yard backed up to a creek that was too deep and wide for a cat to cross. I drove over to her street and called him for about half an hour, then I let Donald, his former owner, know that he should call in that direction, too. (Donald walks in the old neighborhood and comes close to that creek from the other side.)
Wednesday, April 27. Tornado. Big Man hunkered down under our house, and we wondered where poor Cooper had sheltered from the storm. We hoped he had been adopted by someone along the way; he hadn't been content to stay with us, but maybe after trekking for days or weeks he had settled down with someone in between the two neighborhoods.
Tuesday, May 31, 2:15. I was on my way back to the house to print something before meeting a Kaplan student. Just before the last curve in the road before my house, I saw a black and white cat in a yard. I think it was between houses 15 and 16; I live in 25. I stopped the car, told myself it couldn't be him but that I had to at least get a better look, and as he turned away from me I saw that he had a white stripe across the back of his back legs. He was about 5 lbs lighter, nearly half his body weight, but it was Cooper.
I said his name as he walked away from me, and he stopped. I kept saying it, as I walked toward him, and he meowed. Then when I got there he started snaking in between my feet, rubbing my ankles and talking to me. I picked him up and cradled him in my left arm, and then I drove around to my driveway. I put him down in front of Big Man's bowl and he ate as fast as I've ever seen a cat eat.
As this was happening I called to Big Man. They initially hissed at one another, but then Big Man backed away. Unfortunately, he was backing up to reload. He arched his back and slowly moved closer so he could strike. I yelld, "Big Man!" which startled Cooper, who flipped over the bowl as he ran away from me and Big Man. He ran around the side of the house, toward the front, and crossed the street. I once again scooped him up, and this time we went into the house.
I sat with him in the bathroom, letting him enjoy the cool tile floor, while I decided what to do (and called/texted Tom, Meredith, and Kristy). I also called Donald to tell him that Cooper had returned. We decided that I would take him to the vet to get checked out, and then he would go back to Donald's house. He is now as happy as any cat could be.
We think he returned to our neighborhood after deciding he couldn't ford the creek to get home, and in between the tornado hitting and his various travel routes, it took two months to find him. He is amazingly healthy and so happy to be back home.
--Jennifer
