Bilbo safe and reasonably sound…

My wife Irene called me on the phone at about 7:00 am on Friday morning. This confused me: I was working from home and thus sleeping in until around 7:30, and Irene doesn’t normally leave for work until about 8:00 am. The morning brain-fog cleared a bit, though, when Irene explained that she was out walking our dog and calling from her cell. She had found a lost dog, and was bringing it home so we could call the SPCA, and could I please get the cats into the house?

Our cats aren’t supposed to be outside, but often a couple, usually Tux and Rommel, sneak out. This morning, however, four had made it out the door. I managed to get three back in, but Bilbo was no where to be found.



The strange dog was placed in our back yard: a Chow cross of some kind and a friendly dog. We called the SPCA, but they were backed up and wouldn’t be around until sometime in the afternoon. The lost dog spent the morning in our back yard.

We worried about Bilbo possibly coming back home and meeting this stranger. Its possible he might have done so- we don’t really know. But we didn’t see him, even after our temporary guest had been picked up. Darkness fell, and still no Bilbo. Both Irene and I did a walk about calling for BIlbo…and still nothing.

Irene went to Victoria the next morning to visit her parents. I kept calling for Bilbo periodically during the day, called the SPCA to report our missing Siamese, and went out for another lengthy walk in the evening, calling his name. Still no Bilbo…this was longer than he had ever been away. As darkness fell, I started watching a movie, pausing it every twenty minutes or so to go out back and call Bilbo again. By 10:00 PM, I was calling pretty quietly, and had some tears in my eyes- I didn’t want to lose Bill.

I went out one more time, at about 11:40 PM, and called quietly again, and this time I heard a quiet response- barely a whisper…Bilbo was back!

He’s sore and tired- I doubt he slept a wink during the 40 hours or so he was missing. It also looks like Bilbo got in a fight of some kind- we might have to take him to a vet. But he’s drinking and eating, and purring: that’s what counts.

5 thoughts on “Bilbo safe and reasonably sound…”

  1. A bit of an update: we took Bilbo to the vet. He has an abscess (drained now) and is a bit dehydrated. The vet gave him some subcutaneous fluid, and we are having a blood test done.

    Best guess: he got in a fight with another cat (most likely a cat given the almost invisible wound), hid somewhere, and developed an abscess. I doubt he was very far away during his “adventure”, but that’s just a guess.

  2. It must be lost cat weekend. Loki was gone for 20 hours saturday as well. In his case I suspect he just got locked in someones garage, though he had a lot of burrs stuck to him when he finally showed up at 3am.

    If they have GPS units small enough to fit in cell phones, I want then to cell units small enough to put on my cat’s collar. Then we can figure out where the heck these guys are.

  3. Loki too? Wow. I’m glad to hear he’s back safe and sound. Getting Bilbo back home pretty much lifted the weight of the world off my back.

    I’d love to know where they get to when they “disappear” like this. As far as I know, he could have been under our deck (although I looked pretty throughly) the whole time. Or he could have been 10 miles from here- I have no idea. The GPS thing could be great- they do apparently exist, although they currently aren’t small enough for cats or little dogs. I have no idea how good they are.

    With a cat, I’m pretty sure that you’d get this $600 GPS collar (plus monthly wireless fee), and end up searching all over to find…the collar, stuck in a fence some where, and no sign of the cat.

  4. It’s close… Loki could almost wear that. Of course the $250 a year is out of this world…. but I remember when we first got Shadow chipped it was something like $80 a year. Now there is nothing past the initial cost, and that’s a lot cheaper than it was. Of course the other problem with cats is I’m not sure how good GPS reception under cars, hot tubs and sheds. And even if you know your cat is within 30 meters… that doesn’t mean you are going to find him.

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