Thursday, October 6, 2011

MIA Day


We are joining with Samantha and Clementine and Maverick of Life from a Cat's Perspective in honor of both their Mr Tigger who went missing, and our Rusty, who we lost when he did not come home. When Simba first came to live here, Rusty was the other kitty, and they became pretty good buddies, though Rusty was an independent sort, and just could not be happy unless he was able to go outside. He would roam and hunt, and always be back at the end of the day.
One rainy night he stayed out extra late and did not come home. The next day Mom and Dad looked all over the neighborhood for him, and put flyers in mailboxes with his picture, and called the vets offices in the area, thinking he might have been hit by a car. But there was no news of him. Then a couple of days later Mom saw that among the grass in the front yard was some of his ginger and white fur, as if he had struggled with an animal that grabbed him by the throat. They believe he was taken away and killed by a coyote or wild dog. Yes, right here in suburbia, we have such things. They were so very upset, but there was nothing to be done to make the clock go backwards. Now a special stone marks the spot in the front yard where Rusty last was.

So the humans are very protective of us now, and don't let us go out unless under very close supervision (for Simba only, Audrey doesn't go off the deck at all). Yet they do know Rusty would have been a very unhappy boy if he was confined inside. One winter Mom tried to refuse to let him out and he would scratch and scratch at the doors, and yowl frantically. Once he had tasted the outside he could no longer be an inside cat. But he did have 13 wonderful years of life. Here is Rusty one Christmas, by the Christmas tree:




Mr Tigger, we hope you are happy and have a new family somewhere who love you too. We know your first family misses you a lot.

Rusty, we love you and miss you. We hope you are enjoying the infinite outdoors at the Rainbow Bridge.

24 comments:

  1. This post made Mommy leaky too. RIP sweet Rusty, you were much luffed. Thanks fur sharing this story with us. xoxo

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  2. Oh dear, we has leaky eyes here. So sorry about Rustcat. What a bootiful boy he was too. Dang Coyotes!! hisss on dem.

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  3. How horrible for your mum to find Rusty like that. We have seen coyotes here in our area too so that is one reason the woman was so careful about keeping us inside. Purrs. And we miss Mr. Tigger too.

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  4. What a beautiful boy Rusty was, thank you for sharing his story today. You must miss him very much!

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  5. The cat before me was like Rusty - born and bred to be allowed outdoors, and even though she always came when called, my human still worried about her a lot. Fortunately, she managed to avoid all the dangers of the outside - and there were many! But my human never wants an outside kitty again.

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  6. The PM experienced something similar with a pet rabbit when she was a little girl. So we are sad to hear these stories. Hopefully the most recent story will have a happy ending.

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  7. Hearing about Rusty made our mommy leaky. We know he'll always be missed. We're not allowed to go outside because our mommy is a worry wart so we're glad you two are only out with supervision.

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  8. We lost our beloved Coco this way. It was a raccoon. Don't let them fool you, they are ominvoires & quite huge! To this day we mourn her. She was four.

    xoxo

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  9. We mom's are leaky eyed everyone because we love our fur babies like that. I am afraid to ever again choose to let a furbaby outside. The coyote situation AND the raccoons are enough to get our furries killed.

    Rest peacefully Rusty you beautiful boy who was loved. xoxox

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  10. That is very sad about Rusty. He was a handsome mancat.

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  11. We are so sorry about Rusty. We know it was so hard for you. We had the same experience with our kitty Button. Button had been abandoned and she was living in a strip mall not far from our home. One day she followed me home and took up residence in my husband's workshop. SHE would NOT come indoors. She roamed during the day but every night she came back to sleep in the workshop. One Saturday in July of 2005 I watched her meander off, never to be seen again. She had health problems and she was REALLY feisty and I honestly believe she went off to die. But she didn't seem to be sick that day or anything, I don't know what happened but it was so hard...not knowing.
    purrs
    >^,,^<
    ♥Abby♥Boo♥Ping♥Jinx♥Grace♥

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  12. Now the mom needs some tissue while she is typing for me. This was such a lovely tribute to your sweet Rusty. Keep him close to you in your thoughts and in your heart.

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  13. Oh...so sad. You know Rusty was happy in your family and is happy now over the Bridge.

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  14. Oh we're sorry to hear about Rusty. But at least he got to do what he wanted. Purrs to your humans....

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  15. Oh, what a sad story about Rusty. (Like many of the other commenters, I'm tearing up!) I'm so sorry you lost him, and in that terrible way.

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  16. My mum lost a dog that way. I mean she ran away - escaped through a hole in the fence - not got eaten by a coyote. Mum was sad for ages.

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  17. That is such a sad story but at least he was there a long time. We had a cat disappear too and he never came back. We did have one disappear and she came back after three months. That was some kind of miracle.
    Take care and all of you have a great day.

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  18. My heart just hurts so much for those that are lost.

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  19. Sweet purrs for Rusty and your family.

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  20. We share your heartbreak about Rusty and send purrs. We think about the potential dangers every day our cats go out even though they are trained and supervised. Yes, there are risks but life is risk and Rusty had the pleasure of knowing a kind joy indoor cats do not.

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  21. So sorry about Rusty and Mr. Tigger. having a cat go missing and not really knowing what happened to them is the worst thing ever. The indoor vs. outdoor choice is a hard one to make. I struggle with wanting to keep my cats safe and wanting them to be happy. Two of mine don't care so much about being mostly indoors, but Mickey is a free spirit who would be completely miserable being confined 24/7. So I compromise -- they can go out during the day and at dark, they come in and the cat door gets locked.

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  22. This made the Human a little leaky. Rusty was a handsome boy! When she was a little girl, she had a kitty named Smoky who vanished one day.

    She thinks there's kind of a balance of considerations--outdoor kittehs live much more interesting lives, but there's some risk. Where we live now in the Big City, there's no yard--just sidewalks and traffic so I am not allowed out at all. But when she lived in a more rural area, her kittehs went outdoors. Also, it's really hard to keep a kitty in once he's been an outside kitty. Purrs for all!

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  23. Oh how awful! You two be careful out there, you hear?

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  24. Rusty looked so sweet. We also miss our orange boy - my son who went MIA when he was just 2.

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