SirenSongWoman
Cathlete
I really hate that any of my cats ever go outside but, the bottom line is, I have 2 that would need to be on serious medication if I refused to allow them out. So the in/out thing is a compromise. I complain about my long, lean (neutered, of course) male tabby, Tangerine, all the time. He's mean. He bites me. He bites his sisters and generally creates a lot of tension in the house, except when he's occasionally being sweet. In fact, I'd just gotten done complaining about him here yesterday when I realized it was about 10:00pm and my boy had been outside since the early afternoon. I kept checking and calling but didn't start to seriously worry until after midnight. By 2am I was in a full-blown panic. It wasn't real cold out but there was a chilly wind blowing the wind chimes on everyone's porches. Between the chimes, the noise from the busy street 8 houses away, and other cats (my inside kids and other cats on the block) making racket, I doubted I'd actually heard a faint plaintive meow on earlier trips to the front porch. But at 2am, I got my keys, grabbed my flashlight, closed my front door and called again. I only heard it twice but I could definitely hear a distant mew. It was Tangee. He couldn't get to me and I couldn't hear where it was coming from (and he didn't meow often enough to make it easy to find out!), but he was definitely out there somewhere.
Now, keep in mind I live in a pretty dangerous neighborhood. I love big old houses and the only remaining affordable one's are in less than stellar neighborhoods so that's why I'm here. How did it turn out? I cut-and-pasted the letter I left on a neighbor's door. You tell me if my response was appropriate (I left it at 2:30am and it's STILL there now!). Here it is:
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December 30, 2008
To Whom It May Concern:
For better or worse, my cats are my children. When one of my kids goes outside and doesn’t return, as would be normal, I’m pretty good about not panicking. Unless it’s 2am, and I’ve been calling for my baby every hour, on the hour, since 10pm – no doubt, irritating all our neighbors. Normally, Tangerine likes to let his presence be known but, since the faint meow I thought I was hearing wasn’t steady and didn’t seem to be coming from an obvious direction, I was sure I was imagining it and went back inside.
Do I need to tell you how dangerous it is for a woman to be walking around in this neighborhood in her bedroom slippers at 2am, alone, searching desperately and single-mindedly for her missing cat? At that hour it was finally quiet enough outside that I no longer doubted I could hear my boy responding to me when I called – but the sound seemed to be coming from everywhere and nowhere at the same time. Thus, I did what any pet owner, out of her mind with worry, would do: I grabbed my flashlight and went traipsing about the street and alley behind your house, moving in and out of the dark spaces between and through abandoned garages, frantically calling all the while, trying to follow a sound that came and went. I took incredible risks, including chancing a possible attack by someone’s territorial dog defending his private property or being confronted by any of one of our lovely neighborhood tier III sex offenders. After calling and searching for what felt like forever, would you like to take a guess where I found my baby? In your BACK yard.... IN A METAL TRAP next to your fence! As I got him out, he was dazed but, otherwise, unhurt. However, had the temperatures been below freezing, and you weren’t around to release him from your trap, and I hadn’t gotten to him in time, my baby would have been trapped to freeze to death and you’d be facing a serious lawsuit. I get along with everybody and generally believe in peace and being a good neighbor. But I would never get over my baby being sacrificed in such a thoughtless manner.
So please, for God’s sake, get rid of that damn trap before some poor, unlucky domesticated creature loses its’ life on a cold, lonely night, when you’re not around to stop it from happening.
Sincerely,
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I don't think I overreacted, do you? I mean, Tangee would still be trapped if I hadn't taken it upon myself to walk onto people's private property. And the man hasn't been to his front door to see my letter so God only knows when he'd have come home. I'm thanking God Tangee's okay (sleeping, all contorted, next to me right now... looking so much sweeter than he actually is...) and that it wasn't a sub-zero night or he might be dead or have frostbitten paws from the metal floor of the cage-trap in which I found him. I'm still fuming!
Now, keep in mind I live in a pretty dangerous neighborhood. I love big old houses and the only remaining affordable one's are in less than stellar neighborhoods so that's why I'm here. How did it turn out? I cut-and-pasted the letter I left on a neighbor's door. You tell me if my response was appropriate (I left it at 2:30am and it's STILL there now!). Here it is:
-------------------------------------------------------------------
December 30, 2008
To Whom It May Concern:
For better or worse, my cats are my children. When one of my kids goes outside and doesn’t return, as would be normal, I’m pretty good about not panicking. Unless it’s 2am, and I’ve been calling for my baby every hour, on the hour, since 10pm – no doubt, irritating all our neighbors. Normally, Tangerine likes to let his presence be known but, since the faint meow I thought I was hearing wasn’t steady and didn’t seem to be coming from an obvious direction, I was sure I was imagining it and went back inside.
Do I need to tell you how dangerous it is for a woman to be walking around in this neighborhood in her bedroom slippers at 2am, alone, searching desperately and single-mindedly for her missing cat? At that hour it was finally quiet enough outside that I no longer doubted I could hear my boy responding to me when I called – but the sound seemed to be coming from everywhere and nowhere at the same time. Thus, I did what any pet owner, out of her mind with worry, would do: I grabbed my flashlight and went traipsing about the street and alley behind your house, moving in and out of the dark spaces between and through abandoned garages, frantically calling all the while, trying to follow a sound that came and went. I took incredible risks, including chancing a possible attack by someone’s territorial dog defending his private property or being confronted by any of one of our lovely neighborhood tier III sex offenders. After calling and searching for what felt like forever, would you like to take a guess where I found my baby? In your BACK yard.... IN A METAL TRAP next to your fence! As I got him out, he was dazed but, otherwise, unhurt. However, had the temperatures been below freezing, and you weren’t around to release him from your trap, and I hadn’t gotten to him in time, my baby would have been trapped to freeze to death and you’d be facing a serious lawsuit. I get along with everybody and generally believe in peace and being a good neighbor. But I would never get over my baby being sacrificed in such a thoughtless manner.
So please, for God’s sake, get rid of that damn trap before some poor, unlucky domesticated creature loses its’ life on a cold, lonely night, when you’re not around to stop it from happening.
Sincerely,
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I don't think I overreacted, do you? I mean, Tangee would still be trapped if I hadn't taken it upon myself to walk onto people's private property. And the man hasn't been to his front door to see my letter so God only knows when he'd have come home. I'm thanking God Tangee's okay (sleeping, all contorted, next to me right now... looking so much sweeter than he actually is...) and that it wasn't a sub-zero night or he might be dead or have frostbitten paws from the metal floor of the cage-trap in which I found him. I'm still fuming!
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