2704 Worried about Jasper

Thursday, December 17, 2009

A church is not a museum for saints - it's a hospital for sinners.
-- Abigail VanBuren --

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Jasper is missing.

I went shopping last night. Among other things, I bought I bought a bag of dry cat food, two cans of moist, a catnip toy, and one of those ball-in-a-ring toys for Jasper. I got home about 9:30, put the plastic bag containing the smaller of those items on the floor in the kitchen, took out the bag of dry food, and put the ring on the floor for Jasper to explore.

He's a bit timid - relic of his early feral days - so I batted the ball around and made cooing sounds. He'd creep up to it, pat at the ball, then run to hide on the other side of the kitchen island.

I was standing on the other side of the island from the bag on the floor, so I don't know what happened, but after batting at the ball he ran around the island to where the bag was, I heard a crash, and then I heard him tear through the door to the foyer. When I went to see what had happened, I found the catnip toy and one can of food on the floor. The bag and the other can of food are missing.

So is Jasper. I walked around calling him last night, but when he didn't respond I figured he was frightened and hiding, so I'd just let him cool off. I haven't seen him since. It's now 11:30 am.

I put food in his dish last night, but he hasn't touched it. This morning, when I realized he hadn't jumped on my legs overnight, I looked for him. I've looked everywhere, for the past three hours, and called, and nothing.

I'm worried that he may have gotten his head through the handle loop on the bag, and has it wrapped around his neck.

I'm frightened.

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Now it's 11:40. I found him. He's ok.

I started with the back of the house and searched again, every inch. He usually hides in the basement stairwell, or the back bedroom, or under the cedar chest in the hall. He never goes under my bed, because there's no space under my bed. It's low, and there are stacks of framed prints and plastic containers of dross under there, packed solid. But I had committed to "every inch", so I pulled containers out, swept the flashlight around, and there he was. No bag - don't know where that is.

He came out for me, and I held him and scratched his neck, but he was tense, and when I carried him into the kitchen to show him the new food, he panicked.

He's hiding again now. I don't know where.
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