Still no sight of Windigo and the calls from the signs I posted etc have completely stopped. Not that any of them were beneficial. At one point I even had one lady call me and say “I saw your flier and Yokes and I didn’t find your cat but I found another stray you can have!” I hung up, otherwise I would have screamed at her.

I know Windigo could still return but I find myself beginning to wonder when I should consider finding a friend for Aos. He still will wander around in the middle of the day meowing for someone to play with him (and then won’t play with me!) I have been taking him out on his leash every day to acquaint him with the great outdoors, in case he every gets out, or we decide to let him be an indoor/outdoor cat.

On an personal level, Aos has had to make his biggest lifestyle change ever. He now has to clean himself, Windigo use to do it for him. This means he has had to discover the horror of hairball formula. He is not thrilled about it.

It has been 10 days since Windigo went missing and despite our continuing best efforts, he has not yet been found. I am starting to lose hope, though I am far from giving up. I have dreamed of him every night.

Aos has lost a little weight and he wanders around meowing and looking out the windows several times a day. He has never been a very cuddly cat but since Windigo disappeared he has spent every night on our bed. I am giving him extra attention, but I can tell he is lonely. I have also spent some time outside with him on his leash, should he get out I want him to know the area so he can come home. He also is going to get microchipped and his outdoor cat vaccines.

This was taken in June 2005, it is one of the first pictures I took after we adopted Aos and Windigo. I really miss him.

Windigo is missing. I haven’t seen him since yesterday afternoon. Michael found a cat sized hole in the insulation in the basement with cat hair around it. It might go all the way outside, I feel cold air coming through it. Aos is still here (he is a scardy cat with very little sense of adventure) and very stressed out of her brother’s disappearance.

I know it is probably standard to tell someone not to worry (or worse, he is just a cat so don’t worry) but it is driving me nuts. I will worry, but I am trying to be hopefully, which is proving difficult. Windigo has ALWAYS come when I call, in that sense he is more like a dog then a cat. That he is not coming means he is out of hearing range, which worries me even more. It was also really cold and rainy last night. He is an indoor cat and doesn’t know this neighborhood, which has a lot of dogs that seem to just wander out of their yards when they feel like it.

No matter how silly some people think it is, our animals are our babies (our “furbabies” in fact) and to not know where one is is both depressing and heart-breaking. He is not just a pet, he is not a possession, he is not a toy, he IS part of our family, and he is missing.

I wish he would come home…

Edit: For some icing on this stress cake, our van battery was dead this morning since we accidentally left the dome light on yesterday trying to figure out why the blinkers don’t work.

The cats like to hang out on the changing table, one of the few places downstairs that us mostly safe from the grip of Damian.

Neither cats are being terribly photogenic lately, this tickles the sophomorish part of my sense of humor though…

For the curious, Windigo has always had the kink in his tail. Supposable it is not an uncommon birth defect in Siamese, which he is part according to the vet.

Hello!

Ya, I know, you haven’t seen human-free Feline Fridays in awhile but this one was just too cute for me to pass up.

I am not sure if Windigo likes Damian so much because he is soft and moves just enough to be nice to rub against or if he actually likes Damian just because! Damian loves it though. I will have to get a video sometime.

Cleaning him or tastes like chicken?

Damian is on my breastfeeding pillow in my lap here, which is where he likes to nap when I am on the computer. Windigo decided he was all for a quick nap there too, though right after Michael snapped the picture he decided it was a little too crowded for him.

By the way, I am going to start linking most my photos (except for the photoblog) to 1024×768 copies of them for family. Just click the photo for the bigger version.

~~~

Oh! And there is a new Simon’s Cat video on YouTube:

Windigo is definitely competing for cutest pose in this shot…

His eye infection is mostly cleared up by the way. The anti-viral cream, which actually turned out to be a dietary supplement, works well. We have to keep it up though or it comes back within a couple days.

I don’t care how they flavor any cat medication by the way, my cats will never ever lick it off my finger. Does anyone’s cat take medication willingly?

I totally adore this rocking chair, it is one of the most comfortable pieces of furniture I have ever sat in. I hope the baby likes being in it too. I try to keep the cats off the nursery furniture but I am lenient about the chair (as long as I don’t want to sit in it.) My Aunt Vickie crocheted the beautiful rainbow baby blanket draped over it.

(Click the image for a bigger picture – 1024×768.)

This is how my birthing necklace looks so far (if I receive more beads, it will grow in length of course.) I really like how it has turned out too. I know not all the donated beads are red, but some people have difficulty following directions (I love you grandma and mom.) I find I really don’t mind though, the beads they sent were justified with special meanings which, in this case, were more important than color.

As always, Windigo had to get his adorable little face in my craft picture too. I usually crop him out but I thought he looked exceptional cute here.

Who can resist sparkley kitty eyes filled with love?

(That is a statue of Hephaestus on the altar by the way.)

Mars Attacks!!! The local stray makes an appearance in our back yard, putting our furbabies on edge.

I mean… their bed.

Windigo: Okay, she’s asleep! Now go get the shaving cream…

There’s a cat who leads a life of danger
To everyone he meets he stays a stranger
(unless they have gooshy food…)
With every move he makes another chance he takes
Odds are he won’t live to see tomorrow
(though he does have nine lives…)

Secret agent cat, secret agent cat…

(From Two Lumps which eternally reminds me of Windigo and Aos…)

A question for cat connoisseurs…

Windigo is obsessive about cleaning not just his own fur, but also Aos’s. He will clean himself and Aos to the point of throwing up some pretty scary solid hairballs. Some of you might remember last year he got a bowel obstruction (which was passed after a couple days at the vet) it turned out to be a hair blockage of his own making.

Now the weather is warming again and he is starting the obsessive licking cycle again, the hairballs are also just beginning to start again. I brush him, but honestly no hair comes off with the cat brush. Is he pulling his fur out? He doesn’t seem to be going bald anywhere, maybe his tongue is more efficient then my brush. I use a natural hairball formula which seems to work okay when he gets it once or twice a day.

Has anyone else experience this problem with one of their cats? Could I be doing anything else? I really do not want this to turn into another $500 vet bill.

Someone I know at work sugguested that I get some cat grass from Petco, she said it would aid their digestion. Do you think it would help? Windigo and Aos are indoor cats, so they don’t any roughage from the great outdoors. (I am not against letting cats outdoors by the way, we just happen to live 20 feet from 29th Avenue which is a main road in Spokane.) Aos doesn’t get the hairballs Windigo does, however that is probably because he lets Windigo clean him instead of doing it himself…

I can’t believe how close the cats can lay to our space heaters without becoming furry fire hazards…