A reunion repeat — one of my favorites!

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Yesterday was our family reunion. It was hot and rainy. No one took a group picture this year. My brain is fried so I thought I’d bring back one of my favorite posts. This is a story from 2015, when I hosted my family reunion. Jake, my late great cat, could make my life topsy turvy but he also supplied me with great posts. This was his last reunion. He passed on a month later.
 
Every reunion has its story. Sometimes it’s about people and sometimes not. This year it’s about my old cat Jake.

Jake is over 18 and that’s old for a cat. He is an indoor/outdoor cat but his outdoor time is very little and usually involves lying on the warm brick patio.

Usually.

This past Sunday I was hosting my family reunion. That means I’m slightly (ok, maybe more than slightly) neurotic. Getting things ready. Do we have enough? (I don’t know why I ever worry about that!)

Jake went out after breakfast like he always does. He smells the perimeter bushes and if there was an offending critter that came in during the night, he will pee on the bush to re-establish territory. It’s exhausting work keeping the yard safe. Sometimes he can spend over an hour peeing on bushes with his old bladder.

Around noon I realized he never came back in. The plan was to keep the cats upstairs through the festivities. I had until 4 p.m. to find him and get him back inside.

I went walking his favorite spots around 2:30 p.m. but couldn’t find him. It’s ok. I have another hour and a half. Or so I thought.

My brother showed up an hour early with his family. It’s not a problem except there is no way Jake will come in. Strangers! Lots of them (anything more than one is lots)!

By the time everyone left it would be dark and he hadn’t eaten since breakfast so I didn’t think it would be too hard to get him back in.

Ha!

The last folks left before 9 p.m. A perimeter walk came up cat less. We cleaned up. Made sure all the food was put away. I walked the yard again. No Jake.

I walked the yard calling for him every half hour until midnight when my weary bones were exhausted so I went to sleep.

Since he hadn’t eaten and he only has three teeth (hard to gum something to death) I was afraid he’d be hungry. I left a small dish of dry cat food with some water in the screened porch which has a cat door. In a moment of brilliance I adjusted the door so he could only come in and couldn’t go back out. (Que scary music here!)

At 3:30 a.m. (my first pee break) I decided to check the screen porch. I would let him back in if he was sleeping on the chair. There was a critter in the porch all right but it wasn’t Jake.

There was a raccoon happily dining on cat food. He was taking a nice long drink of water. He’s trapped on the porch because he can’t get out the cat door which is how he came in.

How do I know that? When he was done he went over to the cat door to get out. He acts like he’s done this before although we never leave food out there.

All day long the exterior people door to the screened porch would stick and would not close unless you pushed it. All I had to do was run around the back; push the door open; and run like hell back into the house.

Yeah, that’s all.

By the time I got back to the house I heard the damn door slam shut. First time it did that all day.

So far the raccoon isn’t agitated although I thought about waking up the beloved husband in case I was attacked. In the end I thought it wise to let sleeping husbands sleep.

I took a long stick I use for the pond to push open the door again and jammed it between the door and the sash.

The damn door again closed but not all the way. There was a 2” opening. I wisely went inside the house to watch the raccoon through a nice safe window.

He calmly opened the door and scurried on his way delighted that he had such a great supper. He would have to tell his friends about this restaurant.

I called for Jake but chose not to walk the yard in case other critters were lurking but again no Jake.

Now I was wide awake. From 3:30 on, every 20 to 30 minutes I checked for him. At 5:30 a.m. I heard him howling at the back door.

I let him in. He was looking for the wait staff (that would be me) to open the restaurant and feed him. Tthe other three cats showed up from nowhere. They must have heard that the cat diner opened early.

He slept the entire day except for a vet visit and he had no interest in going outside again.

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, I won’t have another cat that goes outdoors. When you invest yourself in a pet, the anguish runs too deep when they can’t be found.

This story had a good end. Most of the reunion stories do although some have surprise, tragedy or heartache along the way.

And that was the reunion story for 2015!

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Hi Cupcake! Want some ‘nip?

47 thoughts on “A reunion repeat — one of my favorites!”

    • I loved all of mine but some stick around in my head. Jake gave me the best posts. Mollie was the most beautiful. Lacy, well, if she were a person, we wouldn’t like her. My current crew is great. Everyone gets along.

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  3. You scared me in the beginning with the mention of bushes. I’ve heard of old cats that nestle into a bush to die.

    Raccoons seem to like cat food (and everything else). I learned that when I left our cat’s food out on the deck one day.

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  5. That was a fun story. You were lucky it was not a skunk. I will never have an outdoor cat either. My hubby had an indoor/outdoor cat when we got married and I saw her almost get run over- that was the end of her outside days.

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    • towards the end he would only go out to sit on the patio which is what made this so extraordinary. He never stayed out overnight! Scared me half to death. I thought for sure I’d find a dead cat under a bush the next day.

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  7. Well, it had a happy ending thankfully. Jake was relieved the raccoon was gone so he could come back for breakfast. My cat friend Carol deals with raccoons and groundhogs, plus an orphan deer, all which eat the food she puts out for the feral cats she takes care of. They drink the water and tip the bowls over as well.

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  8. That was an interesting reunion. Glad Jake was safe. I agree with you about indoor only. Years ago I had a summer of kittens outdoors until the mother cat let me bring them indoors. That was too much worry and stress.

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  12. I remember Jake. And, I especially loved how he called you Cupcake. A cat with an attitude! The best. Hope your family reunion was warm and special.

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    • No one calls me Cupcake anymore. 😦 He was a special cat. I still remember the day he figured out that the front door and the back door went into the same house. It was hilarious!

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  14. I love the raccoon who could get in, but not out. You may have another pet on your hands. And could you blame him? Your house is so pretty, a perfect spot, with snacks no less. Let’s hope he doesn’t have close cousins.:)

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  15. Hunting for a cat outside is awful. Especially when there are cars and coyotes. Andy always talks about putting an AirTag on Boss Cat (who is SUPPOSED to stay indoors), but since she’s almost as good at ripping off her collars as she is at escaping, I don’t see that working.

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    • I always said that if I ever had a pet that went outdoors, I’d get some sort of GPS gizmo. When I had Jake, they were just coming out and big and clunky, more dog-sized then cat-sized. He was all black so he would watch me as I called and searched. Hard to see him under the bushes.

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  16. Jake sounds like a real character……one of those “it’s my way or the highway” kind of guys. I was feeling exhausted just reading this tale and after hosting a family reunion to have experienced this missing cat trauma/raccoon dining evening really must have been MORE than exhausting. I have had outdoor cats in my life but it’s too much worrying. Teddy goes out but with one or both of his “parents” with him which is fine with us – we get fresh air and he gets a taste of the freedom he had in his early life pre-shelter when we adopted him. Glad your reunion this year had no DRAMA (at least that kind!).

    Hugs, Pam

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    • No drama at all except for the thunder storm that made us go inside. At the end, Jake stayed close by so this was unusual but he was wary of people. If we were getting company, I kept him inside where he could nap UNDER the beds.

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