Or more accurately, the cat’s out of the house.
I’ve misplaced my Donut, and I’m Angry about it. Actually, truth be told, I’m worried sick. A couple of days ago, Donut pulled a runner on me. It all started Saturday evening when I got home from the airport (long story, but we flew this little cutie in from Saskatchewan so we could find her a home, after a friend rescued her from a bucket at a horse auction. She’ll be available for adoption soon on our website.)
(Photo by Kim)
I guess as I was unloading the car, Donut went walkabout. I found her under my house, and eventually coaxed her out by teasing her with a leash and then pouncing on her while she pounced on the leash. After a significant, painful (for me) struggle, I wrestled her back into the house.
This little taste of freedom ignited her wanderlust, for Sunday when I came home from Mother’s Day dinner, she bolted out the door as soon as I opened it and vanished into the night. The next morning she taunted me from the deck, but would vanish back under the house as soon as I stepped outside. She wouldn’t fall for the leash trick again either. A little later I saw her in the trees at the edge of the yard, and sent The WooTWoo after her, but she eluded their collective (and synchronized) efforts to chase her back home.
She’s not been sighted since. I’ve borrowed a live trap and had it set up under the house last night, but this morning it was unsprung and the stinky tuna untouched (until TWooie got his head stuck in it, that is).
Don’t be ridiculous. I meant to do that.
I’ve reset the trap in the scrub around the yard but I don’t know what else to do! :( I am worried about my Nuts. She’s a very pretty kitty, but not a smart one – well, she was smart enough to fling herself out the door the second I opened it, but I doubt she’s smart enough to avoid being a late night snack for roaming coyotes. They are bold as brass out here, and I often see them walking across my lawn mid day.
If you could send my Nutters some “come home” vibes or whatever cosmic interwebz good feelings you subscribe to, we’d all appreciate it. Wootie couldn’t even pick up her trail this morning, and I have bad feelings about the whole thing.
In other, happier news, TWooie has learned to PLAY. It’s really charming … he gets the zoomies now, and wiggles all around the yard like a mad creature bending in half with glee.
And then yesterday, he achieved another milestone – he played with a toy. I was cleaning my van and I tossed him a stuffie from the box, expecting him to cringe as it floated through the air toward him, like he usually does. Instead, he GRABBED it and started running around … and then he ran away.
This is a Wootie trick, the grab and run, so I wasn’t too surprised that TWooe didn’t fetch it back to me.
What’re you talking about? I bring toys back … for cookies …
But what was really funny about TWoo is that he didn’t just run a little ways away and play with the toy by himself. He ran really far away – through the horse paddock and into the horse pasture behind it, where he promptly buried the toy in a pile of hog fuel.
You didn’t see nuthin’, got it?
And then he avidly guarded the entire field from the other dogs, lest they find his buried treasure. I went and dug it out and tried throwing him the toy again, thinking it was a one-off. But nope – this time he grabbed the toy, jumped the ditch and quickly buried it on the property next door. He can dig a hole really fast!
It’s nice to see him excited about toys, but it’d be even nicer if he was a little more, erm, ‘interactive’ with them.
I cannot believe you are comparing me to the weirdo that is my brother.
Yeah well, I can’t believe I lost the cat Woo, so the world works in mysterious ways.
You know they say when something is lost, something else is found. I don’t know who “they” are but they’re right!
Yesterday, my friend Jen found a cow.
Moo.
She was driving down the freeway and stopped at a red light. When the truck in front of her accelerated as the light changed, Norman the baby cow fell out of the back of his truck in front of her car. He never even noticed, or stopped – he just drove away.
Jen, otoh, stopped immediately and sprang from her car. She wrangled the calf into her hatchback (you really CAN fit anything in a Honda Fit) and drove him to the local shelter.
I suppose he was on his way to be someone’s dinner, but now he’s in foster care until his “stray” period is up.
I told Dexter chicken about the whole thing, and he immediately got down low to hide in the grass and ran away. Cows, like sheep, are Very Very Scary.
I never find anything as cool as a cow.
Although right now, I would settle for finding Donut :(
Come home, kitten!
ETA – hey, your vibes are already working! Dexter just alerted me to her presence on the lawn. As soon as I went outside, she scooted back under the house (of course, little witch). I’ve reset the trap there – maybe I’ll get her soon! She’s got to be hungry about now …
ETA (again): Oh this is just SUPER. Fan-freakin-TASTIC.
I was out in the backyard with the dogs practicing some of these:
When I heard all this horrendous screaming over near the apple tree. I ran over there to find The WooTWoo digging up a nest of these:
I flipped out and started throwing dogs around and grabbing baby bunnies out of their mouths by the handful and stuffing them in my pockets. Now I have 7 of them in Tupperware.
This was NOT what I was hoping to do this afternoon! WTH do I do now? The internetz say to put them back, but the dogs will just dig them up again, won’t they?
Oh come on. This is insane!!
(also very cute).
I have to go construct a dog-proof enclosure around the bunny nest now. *sigh*
Michelle says
Aww I hope you find Donut soon! It’s scary when they go missing like that.
My Dahlia didn’t play when we first got her either and it was an absolute joy when she first began to show interest in play and toys, so I completely understand your happiness over it. For the record, she still does the grab and run with her toys (though she doesn’t bury them; she just wants to go off somewhere and squeak it for several minutes). I’m happy to indulge her idea of play!
citydog says
All good thoughts to the Donut.
Vicky says
Sending lots and lots of good thoughts and wishes for Donut. Loved the calf story–he’s soooo cute. And, the little Border Collie/Aussie? that will soon go up for adoption is too adorable for words.
Stephanie says
Hoping you find Donut soon!
SweetPea says
I’m sending the “don’t get eaten” vibes to Donut… good luck!!
kristy says
Hope Donut makes it home soon! Have you tried rattling some food in a bowl outside?(works only if your cats eat dry food!) Our indoor/outdoor guys sometimes misses the return to the house part and then is usually quite good about staying inside! Hopefully Donut will show up today, hungry and happy to stay inside!
Michelle says
On a side note, I’d not seen the rescue site you work for before. It’s wonderful! I love the information on border collie and especially the yard myth. I have a mixed breed (BC and some sort of retriever) and no yard to speak of. She’s happy and content with all the exercise, both mental and physical she gets.
Michelle says
Donut, you’re much too cute for coyote food! Go home! STAY home!
Catherine says
That calf in a Fit photo… priceless. Honda marketing material perhaps?
For Donut… I hate it when my cats go on walkabouts. Even though we’re in the city, we too have all manner of coyote and ‘coon and possums living within a block of here and I worry every time.
So far, every time, they’ve gotten themselves locked in somebody’s garage/house/shed. Do please consider checking with the neighbors, even though they are distant. Sending Donut go home vibes up your direction.
And the puppy… good thing I just got myself a dog or that puppy might tempt me.
Carol says
OMG, Donutz! It’s not safe out there! Don’t make your mom sick with worry! Go home!
I got a sick feeling reading the blog. So glad to get to the part about her being back in the yard. Vibes, vibes, vibes!
Robin says
Donutz, get your AZZ home!!!!!!!
Rossie says
I’m glad to hear that Donut has been spotted. C’mon girly, get in the trap and no more bolting, okay?
That cow is lucky!
Heather and Ellie says
Oh no!
Hope Donut comes back soon :(
She’s a gorgeous cat….
Ha ha love the cow story!! I didn’t know that you actually could fit a cow in a Fit. Good to know :)
Amy says
My cat, Shadow, is an indoor cat. He’s been whining to go outside for days. But I will not let him out. When he goes out, he goes straight under the house and stays there. He’s too scared to go wandering off. Why he wants out in the first place is beyond me. After about 3 days, he’ll come out and cry at the door because he’s starving. Silly cat. Hopefully Donut is hungry by now and you can get her back inside where it’s safe!
Katharine Swan says
I love calves! There is a tame one that wanders around loose at the barn where I board my horse. The pictures aren’t nearly to your quality, but her cuteness makes up for it:
Tina the calf
I will be sending safe home-again thoughts Donut’s way, and you have to let us know the moment you catch her — I’m worried! I started keeping my cats indoors back in 2001, because I realized I just can’t handle the stress of them going missing for long periods of time. That being said, I’ll be right here fretting for Donut’s safety until you update, so……
Life in Vet School says
I love baby calves. I would be ecstatic if one fell – unhurt – from a truck right in front of me and I got to take it home!!! Jen is a lucky girl. :)
I’m sorry about Donut! You must be worried sick! I’m glad she seems to be staying sort of nearby, and I hope she’ll come back inside for you soon!
TWoo and the toy is hilarious. My first dog (when I was a kid) would do that with food, anytime we gave her table scraps. At first it was just bones, which worked out okay (except as far as I know it never occurred to her to dig any of them back up again, so the yard of the house we lived in is probably full of bones!), but then she started doing it with everything. Let me tell you, burying a pancake in the backyard is not going to improve the flavor!
riosmom says
Glad to hear Donut has been sighted. Strong vibes for her being hungry enough to go in the house. It would be great if you could get her in w/o using the trap because once you do you will never be able to use it again if she gets out. Bad Donut, get your ass in the house!
Great pictures as always. Twooie is making remarkable progress – any progress with his dog aggressiveness?
Please keep us posted about Donut.
angie says
bad donut!
CUTE COW!
Deb says
Never a dull moment out in the country! So glad Twooie is learning to play. He looks so happy. Too bad about Donut. Hope he falls for the tuna trap soon. I hear those coyotes can be really dangerous! And finding a puppy in a bucket! How can people do such things. He/She is a cutie, nice color. And how can someone not notice that a cow just fell out of the back of their car???
Vicki says
I hope you find Donut soon. I had one run out and it took three days until the cat was so hungry it went right into the trap and then back into the house. good luck in getting her back inside!
Bev Johnson says
Come home Donut!!! Sheena misses you.. wants her kitty back.
I would once you finally get her back make sure when leaving house she is locked in a room she can’t get out of so when you do come home with pack of critters she doesn’t bolt out the door. Also maybe put a harness on her and take her outside on a long cord so she can explore with you in attendance damn cords wrap around everything. It worked for us, of course I did this for almost a year before I could trust our dear trouble maker Kiwi didn’t take off. Also worked on my first cat.
Good luck!
I love the calf though couldn’t you have kept it maybe given it to Cheryl.. LOL
Genie's Mom says
Have you tried shaking a box of treats at Donut? Or, opening a can of tuna while she’s under the house? Sometimes the SOUND will coax them out!
Anda says
I just saw your update, YAY for spotting the traveling Donut and good luck catching her before the night’s ready to settle in.
What a hilarious post and you see, Woo has finally a purpose – he’s your watch dog! Good Woo! Love the WooTWoo team, I cannot imagine separating those two clowns :)
nickelsmum says
BAD DONUT. NO COPS.
Arwen Lune says
Yikes Donutz, get yourself back inside! ‘taint safe for kitties out there…
Love that Twooie is discovering more and more what it’s like to be a dog. Could we please see some Twooie-zoomies video? And maybe some one-dog-same-dog footage in there?
Good luck with the baby buns. The more you tell us about Woo and Twoo the more I start to go over to the English Shepherd idea for their breed type..
Philip's Mom says
Wow, what an eventful day for you! Sending good vibes for Donut to come into the house, but glad to hear she is still close by. If you have spare materials lying around, try to block off the exits from under the house as much as you can (first making sure she is still there of course). That way you’ll at least have her trapped in a safe location, and hunger should lead her to the live trap eventually.
The calf is darling, hope the truck driver doesn’t find him in the shelter, and he goes to a lovely home instead. And OMG bunny babies! Call your local wildlife center (if you have such a thing), they might take them or suggest a suitable relocation place, but they stand little chance of surviving without their mom or intense human foster care.
Hope everything turns out well for all the critters, will check back for updates later.
Paula says
Go HOME, Donut! Right now, ya hear?
And baby bunnies are adorable. I hope you can figure out a way to keep ’em safe. AND, wait, there’s more. Who finds a cow in the middle of the road? That never happens to me.
JoAnne says
Chanting….Donut go home and go inside the FL misses you.
Love that TWoo has found toys are fun!!! If you are missing your slippers they may have become a toy and are under a pile of hog fule. :o)
I agree, the baby calf and Honda could be a $$$$ maker of an ad. Who would have guessed that the calf would fit. Hope the guy in the truck goes hungry for a few days….not nice.
OMG….baby buns, just what ya need. They sure a cute, but would be worried too as to where they would be safe or if the Mom will come back.
Please keep us updated about Donut and the buns.
Ooops, almost forgot….that is the sweetest puppy face, glad you guys rescued him.
Ktbug Ladydid says
sending sweet kitty treat thoughts to the Donut. May she return safely to the INSIDE of the house! And as for the buns, good luck making them safe from the WooTwoo! Hope some of them manage to live to frolic and hop away from those devilish (but oh-so-lovable-and-infuriatingly-cute) dogs as adult buns!
Lena says
As for the bunnies, put them back in the nest and cover them, and put a dusting of flour around the nest and an X of floss across the top…wait 24 hours and see if it is disturbed at all by the momma. If she’s going to come back to them, she’ll do it in that time. If she hasn’t, she’s been scared off by the dogs/something else and the bunnies will need to be fed…they can go about a day but no longer. You can take them to a wildlife rehab place or try to feed them yourselves with some kitten milk replacer, but cottontails don’t eat very well so you might have to intubate them…tricky little things. And at that age, (the white dots on their heads mean they’re still pretty young) you’d need to stimulate them to go to the bathroom as well.
I’d suggest trying to find a rehabber near you, or hope to god that the mother comes back and the dogs dont eat them =]
Jean B says
DoNut you get in that house right this minute and DON’T take off again – it is a dangerous world for kitties! (Sheena, my cat seems to go through a stage like this about once or twice every year, where she hangs right near the door and tries to dart through the second it is opened. The rest of the year she’s content as can be. And yes she is spayed….).
Love the calf story – definitely worth sending it in to Honda!
As for the dogs and the wabbits, I used to have an outdoor cat who brought home baby bunnies like other cats bring home mice or birds – left them on my doorstep (or on my pillow if he could sneak them inside) as a gift for me. Sadly, I was never able to save even one, though they were often still alive when brought in. Perhaps the rabbit rescues could help you?
SweetCeana says
Yikes,when it rains it pours. Good luck with the bunnies. Maybe they will draw Nutz out of hiding because she’ll think you got them for her.
Nutz & now Bunny mojo from AZ
Emma says
Yikes! Sending lots of “go back inside, Donut!” vibes to you! I know how scary it is when an indoor only cat decides to go on a walkabout.
amy says
Your days are FAR more exciting than mine.. ‘never a dull day’ came to mind until somebody said it first! Donut, get your ass home! NOW.
Cute as heck puppy. Have been pining for a pup/new addition. As a stay at homer I am needing some new challenges. And hubby refuses to adopt/have another child. Damn him!
The cow rescuer is a precious soul. Good for her for making the effort!
Reminds me that as a child I REALLY wanted a horse. So there we were, the eight of us in our trusty station wagon making the journey east to Ontario when what should I see on the side of the road? A loose foal!!
Dad promised that if the foal was still out of his/her fence on our way back we would pick he/she up and take her home. Yeah, amazing what you can promise a kid all of 8 on a very long journey across 5 provinces ;)
And no, I never did quite figure out which bend in the road promised my new horse (that would have lived in our city lot, heh.) Years later I did get my horse though so my father is forgiven :)
Sorry for the ramble but you reminded me of that long forgotten story. Hoping calf finds a wonderful home!
Karen says
Checked in tonight hoping to hear good news about Donut, but no such luck. I’m sure you’ve googled all you can about baby rabbits, so hope all goes well in that department, but I think it might be touch and go with them, no matter what you do. Thinking positive thoughts about Donut, hope to read some good news in the morning.
RachelB says
Sending good vibes, hoping that Donut decides she’s had enough of the great outdoors for a while, Food Lady.
julie says
I work in wildlife rescue, and a normal bunny mother will never return to her babies if they carry the smell of humans/dogs (unless the Canadian bunnies are much different from the European ;-)).
With some mammals, like deer, foxes etc. it’s possible to rub the young animals for a long time with strong-smelling weeds and grasses, to chase away your own smell. But wild bunnies are not the bestest mothers in general, let alone they would risk to return to their litter while they smell so dangerous.
You could try to hand raise them by yourself (though I really wouldn’t recommend that), of bring them to some wildlife rescue close by. In the latter case you should do it asap, because these bunnies are still quite young and are used to being fed practically every hour. If they are still alive by now, you should try to keep them as warm as possible by placing them on a hot water bottle (don’t know if you know what I mean, I don’t really know the word in English). You’ve probably thought of that ;-) but don’t ever feed them cow’s milk. You could go to the pharmacist and ask them for liquid electrolytes for the first or so feeding session, and then for some powder that you can turn into rabbit milk (again, poor English explanation). If they don’t have anything for rabbits, puppy or kitten varieties will do for a short period!
Thumbs up that Donut will be home by now, and if not that she will return very soon for the tuna. And maybe you could put TWooies gps device on her, so that you can chase her next time. ;-)
Abigail says
Definitely put them back. At that age you’d need to help them pee and poop as well as eat. Mum will come back to them and move them somewhere else. People say they won’t but that maternal bond is a lot stronger than the fact that they now smell like you!
If you do keep them then feed them kitten supplement milk (it’s pretty much the same stuff as bunnies need) and DON’T feed them every hour. Bunnies only feed their babies twice a day, once in the morning and once in the evening.
Which also means that if you put them back out and don’t see momma for a few hours DO NOT panic and bring them back in again. She’ll be there when it’s time to feed them.
Good luck with whatever you do with them!
fuzzy says
Mama bunnies often only feed babies every 12-24 hours…..and I’ve yet to successfully raise a baby bunny, though I’ve tried. Some luck with fostering them off onto another bunny, though.
susan says
Good gawd, never a dull moment! Sending ‘come-inside-home’ vibes to Donut. And bunnies? What are you going to do with all your spare time? ;o)
Adrienne says
Hey! TWooee learned to play really fast! It took Emma over a year. Of course she didn’t have the awesome example of you crew to follow.
Stupid (lovable and highly missed) cat! Sending “come home” thoughts to you.
I know it sounds bad, but methinks you might regret saving those bunnies when the garden is all up… But they are awfully cute. :-)
Michelle says
Glad you got Donut back! The cow in the Fit is priceless – I love it. I’m going to forward this post to my friend who’s looking at one. I’m not sure the calf will sell it for her, but it’s funny as hell!