Saturday through Monday
We are gone for the weekend to a wedding in Vermont. No one calls about Boots.
Tuesday
After sending Will’s picture of Boots to the neighbor who saw him, he responds, I am sure it was Boots.” My spirits soar. My commitment strengthens and grows. Just before dinner the next door neighbor comes over and says, I saw your cat across the street. I follow him. We see a little rustling in the weeds and brush. I have no doubt he saw him. Boots is around. Hot dog.
I call to confirm with another neighbor that the picture of Boots I sent them is the same cat as the one that has been hanging their house for a year. Upon picking up the phone, she says your cat has been by the bird feeder this afternoon. Have-A-Heart is the only way you are going to catch this cat.
My plan is to call local vets tomorrow and ask the same questions I posed to the online vets.
Wednesday
I call a local vet where the tech fuels my doubts. She wonders if it is really our cat since it is so skitterish around me. To my question whether it could turn wild, she thinks it possible if someone was mean to it. It may not trust people, but she still is skeptical that it is our cat. If it was friendly, and you had it for five years, it would remain friendly. She wouldn’t start with the Have-A-Heart trap but encourages us to put food out, which we are doing, to coax it to us.
I call the emergency pet line where this tech thinks cats can change by being out in the wild for a year as Boots has been. They can start to distrust. If you do catch him, he’ll have to be quarantined because he might have rabies and other nasty diseases by having been in the wild. He should be examined. It all made sense. Try to coax him with food and then maybe use the Have-A-Heart trap.
I’m discouraged, but we continue to put food out each day.
Will - Don't think Boots had that much white on him. He was also a little thicker but perhaps fending for himself for a year he lost some girth. Feel like his face was a little wider and again less white. Not sure though. Haven't seen him in a while.
Molly - I'd have to agree with Will. I think Boots' boots of white were smaller - just on the lower part of his legs....But again, I had seen Boots far fewer times that you all!
Robyn - It looks a little like Boots, but as you said before, he probably got a little thinner. Have a great day!
Hannah - I do seem to remember extra white on his boots (at least one or two of them). Yup, he was beefier, but the year away I'm sure has slenderized and toughened him up. The part that didn't look like Boots to me was the extra black on his face--lower jaw. Eyes were the same color. Still, after a year, our memories are all a little blurry. I guess I'd still have to see him for myself before I'd say a definite "no". Ahh...I don't let go of Hope easily!
After revisiting the pictures, Hannah adds, The extra black is right above his mouth, not below on his jaw....
We still put dry food in our garage every day. More days than not the food is gone from the bowl. That’s not conclusive since animals, raccoons, skunks, chipmunks, squirrels live in the area. Yesterday, “Boots” passed by my window. Later that day a neighbor called that her kids were shooing Boots towards our house.
Whether it’s Boots or a new Boots we get, we won’t give up; we are relentless in putting food out, hoping to fill the feline void in our home.
Compare the above picture to the picture of Boots on the fourth day’s posting. What do you think?
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