Miracle on 5th Avenue

This time I can say it!

Last week it was my birthday.  Marius asked what would I like as a present.  I replied, I'd just like Ratty to come home again, I miss him.

We all knew that we would not see him again.  He'd been missing for three weeks, he'd had two life-threatening 'neurological meltdowns', and there had been the poison on the golf course. 

I had almost begun to say goodbye to the hope of seeing him again.

Last night I went out to feed LG, Seams and Tiny Tim, before we went out to a party (yet another leaving do).  I went around the corner to the small generator building, and scattered the cat-crunchies on the steps, as I often do.  This technique spreads the food around so that no one cat can dominate the others and stop them getting a fair share.

I was in a bit of a hurry, so I didn't hang around while they ate;  I simply left my alms and headed home.  I had my back to the golf course and had entered our street.  I heard maows.  I presumed they were the maows of the cats I had been feeding.  But the voice was different and insistent.

I turned back to see Ratty leaping over the golf course wall and running towards me.

Ratty?

I wasn't sure for a moment that I had the right cat.  Ratty?

He came charging home with me, maowing and rubbing my legs and circling me and purring. 

I called to Marius:  Look who's here!  I can't believe it!

Ratty knew exactly where he was.  He came bounding in the front door and made straight for the food bowls, where he INHALED two full bowls of crunchies.  I expected him to be sick he was eating so fast, but no.

We went to the party full of excitement and disbelief. He'd been missing for 25 days and we had no expectation we would see him again, or even that he was still alive.

We came home early to check up on him.  He ate two more bowls of food and then settled down on the couch, on his back beside me.  Purring.  He has a few small scratches near his nose but no other signs of wounds or illness.  He is definitely thinner but his coat is in good condition and he is clean.  He paws are not worn, nor the fur around the pads matted or dirty.  His claws are long and sharp.

We have no idea where he has been.  Perhaps he was trapped somewhere, perhaps he got picked up and taken away, but he doesn't look like he's walked a long way.  The only sign that something is amiss is that he is thinner.  Strong but thin.

Not everybody is pleased to see him.  The jealous queen is put out:

We are delighted he is back and safe.  He is fast asleep at my feet now.

x

I'm Convalescing - Okay?

I was quite worried about Ratty yesterday.  About 4 o'clock, after being tempted with hand-offered turkey slices, he emerged from seclusion and had a big bowl of cat-crunchies and a drink of water.  He spent the evening on the lawn, chatting and being patted, and showing off his new walking skills.  He can manage 2 metres or so and then needs a little sit (I know it well!) but he is walking almost normally.

This morning he managed to scratch an ear with his hind paw - quite a feat of balance and strength given his recent history!

It did occur to me - finally - that maybe Ratty was worried about being in Macc's territory and was keeping a low profile as he was not his normal Supercat self.  Macc hissed at him but did not display his aggression otherwise - he saves that for poor Wolfe who is still copping it on all sides.

It is midday here and warmish (33) but not too oppressive;  sleepy time for cats usually.  Macc is upstairs on the verandah, asleep.  Ming is on our bed, asleep, Wolfe is on a chair under the kitchen table, asleep, and Ratty is under some ornamental grass in the garden.

I'm not so worried about him any more.  Tomorrow we're taking him for a check up at the Vet and we will see if the Vet thinks it's safe to give him a general anaesthetic so soon after his 'head injury' or whether we should wait a little longer for his operation.

As for the future, we will give him the option of returning to his former life on the streets.  Unlike Wolfe, we don't think he wants to be a house cat. He has made no attempt to come back inside through the always-open garden door.   Rest assured we will continue to do our best for him.

Thank you for being interested in his progress.  It is really quite a miraculous story isn't it?  I feel, not so much vindicated for my stubborness, as relieved that for once I seem to have made the right decision in giving him more time.

x