Over two months ago, at the end of July, my favorite of five kitties, Tut, disappeared, not an unheard-of experience around here, as there are a lot of coyotes and fox, as well as a neighbor who shoots stray cats. As a matter of fact, Tut's (half?) sister Hunny had disappeared the same way severaf years ago. They were from two different litters, but the same mom, rescued from the local state park by someone who knew this sucker to take them in. After Tut and his litter-mate sister were captured and brought to me, his mother and a third sibling were caught and killed by someone camping at the park, just helping out the park, you understand.
I think I bonded to Hunny, and later Tut, more than the others I have because they were so little when they came to me, needing extra care--Hunny and her brothers needed help even peeing and pooping, as well as bottle feeding. Tut was freaky wild when he first came here (I had to put on a heavy winter coat and two pair of leather gloves just to get him out of the park's cage), and took a long time to tame. Hunny had disappeared the year before Tut came here, never came home, so I held out little hope for Tut-kitty when he disappeared. Two months passed, with me constanly calling and looking for him around the area, asking the neighbors not to shoot any orange cats. Hope finally faded. On Tuesday this week, after coming home from a run up town, I heard a weird yowling from the weeds beyond the garage. I thought one of the regular cats had gotten caught in something, but when i peeked into the weeds, it was an orange kitty. Tut-kitty. He seems to be as happy to see me as I am to see him.
