So for a change, this post will not be about politics. This post is about finding a missing cat. Searching for a missing cat. Crying over a missing cat and eventually locating the missing cat.

Exhibit A: The Cat
Also, Exhibit B: the window. (Yes it needs a coat of paint.)

Last Saturday we opened the window about 4 inches to let in some cool Fall air. Not the window pictured, but another window that didn't have a screen. Then we went about our normal daily routines until we realized we hadn't seen Finbar in hours. He hadn't shown up for his lunch nor his afternoon snack. He wasn't in his favorite sleeping places. He wasn't anywhere that we could find him.

Slowly it dawned on us that we had the open window in the bedroom, was it possible he could have jumped out from such a small opening?

The search began in earnest and by 8 Pm Saturday night we were half crazed. We were frightened but hoped that by morning he would have returned home. Although Fin is an indoor cat, he goes out twice a day for about an hour. He doesn't go far, in fact most times he just sits on the porch, then scratches at the door to come in. We weren't sobbing uncontrollably yet, but Sunday morning there was no cat and tears started to flow. Monday no cat. Tuesday the cat was still missing. Wednesday still no cat.

We had scoured the neighborhood looking for him. Got up every hour on the hour to check the porch. We called his name, we banged the spoon against his dish, we notified Animal Control, neighbors, friends, family and signed up for online pet searching organizations and put an ad in the paper.

No cat. Gone.

By Thursday we were dealing with the realization that we might never see him again. He had been swallowed up by a big black hole. He had been run over by a car, stolen by some fool who wanted an aloof cat that could eat 10 can's of Fancy Feast a day, trapped by a neighbor who didn't like cats and was being slowly poisoned to death, up a tree so high we'd need binoculars to find him, down in a storm drain treading water with his lovely polydactyl paws. We tortured ourselves with the possibilities of how he died and were totally bereft.

At approximately one PM yesterday, I opened a closet in the spare room and placed some summer clothing onto the shelf. Then I went into the office to read my email. While typing away I saw something moving in my peripheral vision: it was the cat!

Apparently he got into the closet, which has a little crawl space way in the back behind a ton of bedding and pure junk and got into the attic. He stayed in the attic for five days without meowing or pawing at the door or making a single sound that we or the dog could hear.

I'm not sure what struck him dumb and mute or why or even how he could have his almost 17 pound body in there for five days without someone hearing him, but folks, that's what he did.

So if you are missing a cat, if you have given up hope, don't. Look in your own house, small spots, attics etc. and you, like me, might get the surprise of your life when out sashays your cat like nothing unusual has happened.

Other than eating 5 cans of food in 3 hours, he's back to his old self and old routines like sitting on his window shelf or on top of the armoir, curling up with the dog and playing noisily with his toys.

I thought I'd never see him again and still can't believe he was in the attic for 5 days without us knowing, but that's what happened.

By making the false assumption he'd jumped out the window, our search focused outdoors. I'm posting this rather lengthy essay on finding a cat because maybe it will help someone else locate their cat and then they can be as happy as we are now!