So, last night I coaxed my cat, Panda, outside. Too much moving around at night, jumping on the table and knocking things over. A cat should be on the prowl at night, looking for mice - and not peeing where she shouldn't.
It's not the first time she's been outside for the night - but the frequency of her nights outside has certainly reduced lately.
This morning, no Panda.
We didn't think much about it. She's normally my lunchtime alarm clock - but today she didn't arrive.
 |
| Panda - my black and white cat |
"Why did you put her outside?" asked Judith. "They kill cats at night - and eat them!"
We each went about our business as torrential rain fell.
A bit later, Judith said, "We'll get a new cat when we return from Kinshasa." We were both preoccupied with the situation.
I went through all the scenarios in my head - she's always here at midday, so, it doesn't bode well. Perhaps she's ill, perhaps she's found food elsewhere... she was just next to me yesterday, purring and wrapping her tail around my leg. What a shame if she's dead.
At the house, which is our 2nd centre, we're getting a new fence. Stout posts with thin sticks horizontally packed together will give us more privacy. We've also moved the gate across to the other side. The old fence had verical sticks and the dogs and cat knew where they could get in and out. Perhaps she'd got out through an unfinished bit and, when she'd returned, got confused by the new fence - and so wandered off to meet a stranger's machete.
At around 3:30 pm, through the clattering noise of the rain on the roof, we heard the noise of cheering -
"Francis, come quick! Francis come quick! Panda is here!"
They'd found her outside, near the next house.
She was a bit bedraggled from the rain - but glad to be home. I gave her a small piece of fish, left over from lunch. She seemed suspicious of it and hesitated before taking a nibble. She didn't seem particulary hungry - so perhaps there's more to the story.
In the meantime, we're very glad to have Panda back.
No comments:
Post a Comment