It's been a week since our sweet Hektor cat walked out our front door, like he has done thousands of times before, and simply disappeared. We've searched the neighborhood and alerted our neighbors, visited the animal shelter, and offered our other cats a salmon dinner for bringing Hektor back to us. We've had no leads, although we still suspect that our other cats are withholding pertinent information.
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A Catster poll from March 2009 asked cat owners, "Have you ever had a cat go missing or run away from home?" Look here if you want to go to the site. Otherwise, keep reading, and I'll give you the results:
No=34.41%
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Yes, for a couple of hours=18.61%
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Yes, for a couple of days=13.83%
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Yes, over a week=11.64%
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Yes, and was never found=21.52%
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The website indicated that they had 999 responses. Since Hektor has already been missing for a week, I'll consider the data for the 114 cats gone more than a week and the 221 cats never found. I won't bother to walk you through the math. (I've done enough of that with fourth graders to last me a lifetime.) So either do the math yourself, or trust me. (My math is probably right, since my dad was a math teacher. Then again, my sister got the math gene.)
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Anyway . . . of the cats that were missing for more than a week, according to my math, 34% returned. So at this point we have a 34% chance that Hektor will come home, and a 66% chance that he'll never be found. I'm pleasantly surprised to learn that our chances are as good as they are. Still, it's more likely that we won't find him. As one person commented on the Catster poll results, "Heartbreak with no end. Not knowing is the worst!"
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But today is sunny and beautiful, and we have a one in three chance that Hektor will waltz in here at any moment. In a scene similar to the prodigal son story, our faithful cats who stayed home and tolerated our cuddling will greet him with some resentment. They'll tire of his tales of adventure in exotic locales. They may even make plans to get rid of him, like Joseph's brothers.
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I can always hope, can't I?
4 comments:
I so hope you beat the odds and Hektor comes home.
Aww, Jeannie, I hope you are in that 34% also. We had a cat (when I was younger) who came back after a week so anything is possible. Hugs.
I sure hope Mr Hektor makes it home.
Im going with Hektor will be back...Sometimes when they are feeling so good or are hurt they will stay away...Thats what mine did once. Hes back. He had a shoulder injury..
Leave the light on. They like that. They might act like they dont care, but they do.
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