Found Pet - Thankfully!

Twice this week, I've almost had to make "LOST PET" signs.

First, I must have snapped the leash on the tag ring instead of the collar, because the second Hazel and I stepped outside, the ring broke and she zipped off after a rabbit. "ffuuu...." was my first thought. I ran around the block and neighborhood, calling her name, and asking random people walking by if they'd seen a dog. Considering it was 10pm on a weekday, there were only two or three people, and no one had seen her. Resigning myself to calling animal control, I trudged back home. As I turned the corner, who was sitting on the front porch but Hazel! I was so happy, I just gave her a hug and a "good dog" for coming home, and put the leash back on. We found the tags laying in the yard the next morning.

So relieved.

Today, I got up at 6 to feed the cat, and take the dog for a walk. I had a headache (not from a hangover, though! I went to bed at 10 because I was so tired!), so I went back to sleep for a couple hours. "Odd that the cat didn't come when I poured her food out. She must be hungry by now," I thought as sleep took me again. When I got up at 8, she still hadn't eaten her food. So I went searching in all her favorite spots. Not on the cabinets, nor under my bed, not in the shower, or in the closet. I had left the window in the living room open last night, so maybe she was still hunkered down there, even though the dog was in there. I pushed back the curtain only to find a big gaping corner of the screen pushed out. "Fuuuuuu.... How long has she been gone? She could be anywhere!" The last time I saw her was 10pm when she jumped off my bed after cuddling before I fell asleep.

So, I run outside, looking up trees and under neighbors porches. Around and around theg neighborhood I go. "Momo wouldn't go very far. When she gets scared, she hides under stuff or jumps up." A lightbulb when off after twenty minutes. "Is it possible she wiggled through the trellis skirt on my porch?" I went to look. Sure enough, there are definite signs of digging underneath the porch skirt. I go inside to grab a flashlight. I don't see her right away, but I go around the corner, and look again. Lo and behold, what is looking back at me but those two adorable green eyes? She let out the most piteous "mew." I pull the skirt back enough for her to wiggle back through, and she jumps into my arms, covered in dirt and spider webs.

Thank goodness my pets know where they live!