The Return of Molly Cat

[mallorys_camera]

I found Molly.

Noticeably scrawnier. But otherwise, not too worse off for wear.



About five weeks ago, the chickens who’d been happily free-ranging, clucking their way all over the property, began congregating exclusively in the small stretch of woods that separates Iggy’s property from his easterly neighbor’s. Almost as though they were hiding out… from a predator. Seeking refuge.

This was the most compelling evidence to me that Molly Cat was out there somewhere because the chickens began hiding out almost exactly around the same time that Molly went missing.

This afternoon, when I went out to give the chickens their afternoon treats, I couldn’t find them.

And this was very worrisome to me!

I’d seen them this morning.

I’d seen them last night.

Where could they be?

I wandered around in the woods for a bit, heart in throat because I’m quite fond of the chickens.

And then I saw it—a black & white cat. With a distinctive harlequin eyepatch.

Molly.

Right next to the hen house.

I think she was glad to see me. She certainly recognized me because she didn’t run away, she hunched down on the ground, and began meowing at me—she & Mabel are the most vocal cats I’ve ever had as companion animals. What was she saying? I wish I knew!

I ran back to the casa to get her favorite treats & then ran back out there. She had ventured out a bit farther than I had left her.

I gave her treats.

I cooed at her.

And after about 15 minutes, I grabbed her.

I think she let me grab her though she hissed a bunch once I got her inside the house.

And she hissed at Mabel when she saw her.

And Mabel hissed at her.

###

I was told by the lady who gave Molly & Mabel to me that they were a bonded pair. It was a sad situation, an ad on craigslist—My father has dementia; my mother has just been diagnosed with Stage 4 breast cancer. They can’t care for the pets anymore—

Sybyl, the world’s most perfect cat, had died just three months before. I’d had to put her to sleep. She’d had an enormous tumor on her brain stem that went all the way down to her jaw. She couldn’t walk. She couldn’t open her mouth wide enough to eat; I’d had to syringe feed her.

You’re doing the right thing, my wonderful vet told me. Was I? Humans cling so greedily to life; they want to stay alive at all costs! Why do we assume that animals don’t want that, too?

I wasn’t ready for a new companion animal (let alone two), but there was something about that craigslist ad…

###

I have seen Molly & Mabel grooming each other.

But mostly they’re like Bette Davis & Joan Crawford in Who’s Afraid of Baby Jane?

They don’t really seem to like each other.

Mabel was really, really happy being an only cat.

She even began to purr, which is something I’d never heard her do before Molly went missing.

She’ll sit on my lap occasionally & likes to sleep on my bed now. But she never lets me cuddle her. Neither does Molly. And this makes me think that I don’t really love Mabel & Molly so much as I’ve committed myself to a duty of care.

But then I’ve never thought of love as an emotion.

I’ve always thought of love as a duty of care.

###

P.S. The chickens are fine.

Once I got Molly safely back in the house & doused with flea medication, I scurried back to the woods—and there they were, strutting & clucking.

I gave them their treats & congratulated them on being such excellent hiders.

###

Felliway is in my future.

Comments

Yay, and why not both?

[bb_lurks_here_too]

I'm so happy to hear Molly has returned. As the light fades, having more than one cat might help.

On that love thing, you can have the emotion of love as well as the care of love. To me love is an action (what you do for or contribute to one you love--and not dependent on whether you're talking eros, philia or agape) and an emotion (what it feels like both to be impelled to action, and in the doing of care)

Re: Yay, and why not both?

[mallorys_camera]

Definitely having a little cat family helps. 😀

You can have the emotion of love as well as the care of love

May just be a matter of semantics. I think of limerance as an emotion. And tenderness as an emotion. And those great surges of spontaneous affection one gets from time to time. All emotions that exist within the greater context of love (and sometimes, independent of love.)

But I always think of love as a kind of intellectual commitment.

It's the only way I was ever able to love people like my mother—who elicited very few positive emotions in me but who I had to love 'cause she was my mother.

Re: Yay, and why not both?

[bb_lurks_here_too]

Time for a Symposium. We can do better than Plato did.

Re: Yay, and why not both?

[mallorys_camera]

We'll make a fortune selling tickets! 😀

[smokingboot]

I am delighted she's home! And pleased at the wisdom of the chickens!

Love and duty can get so tangled, no way of knowing how they merge and separate. But it was an act of love helping M&M. There is something special in generosity like that.

[mallorys_camera]

Definitely good to have Molly Cat back! One small goodness in a Universe that seems to be filled with various sizes of badness. 😀

[mellowtigger]

Yay for found cat. I suspect (with little data) that the longer a cat's hair, the less likely they are to remain physically near to humans. We pet them, and their long fur produces static electricity more easily than with shorthair cats... or it's more noticeable/uncomfortable to the longhair cat because of the frizz. Just a theory.

[mallorys_camera]

Interesting theory. 😀 But, of course, stuff gets into the fur of long-hair cats, which in the wild includes scratchy, itchy brambles and burrs that frequently break the skin. And that causes pain. Humans, at least, are useful for grooming. So, I dunno.

Most cats remain within 500 yards of home, so I was fairly confident that if she wasn't dead, Molly would turn up—eventually. I kept my eye out for circling carrion birds but didn't see any. I did keep checking the local Humane Society for new rescues, even though I didn't hold out many hopes on that one—Molly is very skittish.

But she's back now. Skinny but seemingly healthy.

[lethe1]

So glad that Molly is safe and sound! But is there any way you could you find her a loving home elsewhere and keep Mabel as an only cat? It seems neither would miss each other's company.

[mallorys_camera]

If I thought they were going to continue behaving aggressively toward each other, I'd consider it. Though it would be hard to pick one to keep & one to give away. I'm equally fond of them both.

But I think Felliway is gonna solve the aggression problem.

[adoptedwriter]

Whew! So glas she is back!

[moonbeam6612]

I'm so happy Molly is back!

I had two cats as you know - Lilly and Nala. Lilly was more of a "people cat", meaning she was the one who sought out our affection and cuddles. When Lilly died last year, Nala became more affectionate towards us (though she always enjoyed cuddles, too, but there was a definite change in her behavior. I think she was feeling a bit lost after Lilly died, too, which contributed to that change).

As it is, I'm catless for now and believe it will stay that way for a while. It makes travelling easier and less worrisome, although I really miss having a pet. I was thinking about a dog, because you can take dogs almost everywhere... but strangely getting a dog would seem like a betrayal of Lilly and Nala (the most wonderful cats ever).

My daughter's cat is not very affectionate at all. She likes being petted but hates being held. No cuddles from her.

[mallorys_camera]

Yeah, definitely, cats are an issue if you like to travel—and you like to travel!

I could see you with a smallish, smart, sassy pup. 😀

[lookfar2]

I wonder where the little devil went. Not to the all you can eat cat buffet, that's for sure. Was she just camping out in the woods? And what made her circle back home?

[mallorys_camera]

Yeah, I wish I could have tracked her during those four weeks! 😀

I suspect she stayed pretty close to the house—and that's why the chickens changed their habits. She & Mabel both are quite the agile predators!

Both kitsers are incredibly skittish—& I wouldn't say she's particularly attached to me—though she clearly recognized me once I caught sight of her & called her. Anyway, she's back now.

[asakiyume]

Wohoo! How many days total was she gone? I'm glad she's back--too sad and hard to have a creature just disappear, though of course it happens.

[mallorys_camera]

She was gone for exactly one month.

Another "and the cat came back" epic! 😀