Omni had a bad day.
It was about 9 pm yesterday, Friday the 13th, when I decided it was my bedtime. I made sure all of the critters were fed and watered, tossed leftover bones to the dogs who had decided to spend the night on the back porch, and rounded up the kittens to put them to bed. That’s when I discovered that little Omni was missing.
The kittens and their mom had spent the day with me in the kitchen, playing with the contents of storage boxes that I was sorting through. The room was a big maze and they loved it. Omni was especially taken by his redecorated play room and found a couple of old Christmas ornaments to bat around on the floor. When bedtime came, though, Omni was nowhere to be found.
The kids, Corey and I searched every level of the house. The kittens had been barricaded into the kitchen, but I knew there was a possibility that this little monkey had made it over the wall and was somewhere in the rest of the house. I sent the family to bed at midnight when our searching was fruitless. I continued to look on my own until 4 am when exhaustion overtook me. Reluctantly, I let the kitten’s mom search for her lost son on her own. I knew that if anyone would find him, Purdy would.
The alarm went off at 7 this morning for Corey to go to work. I continued to look for Omni. By this time, the mommy cat was frantic. I re-looked everywhere I had looked before and, with the kids still sleeping, listened for mews. I heard nothing. All I found were lost cat toys. I feared the worst, but couldn't explain how he had disappeared or, *gulp*, died. The house was too quiet for him to still be alive, I thought.
Evan and Matt woke up about two hours later and started searching, too. They pulled all of their dresser drawers out and emptied their closets while I went through every cupboard and unpacked and repacked all of the boxes that were in the kitchen. The boys joined me in the room. Evan said “first you look in the obvious places and then you look in the ridiculous places.” I knew he was right, but my heart stopped when he searched the fridge and freezer. Nothing. My heart could beat again. Then Evan said to Matt, "lets go outside".
Friday the 13th couldn’t have been much worse for the 10 week old silver tabby boy. The boys immediately found him crying underneath the back deck. When I tossed bones to the dogs last night, he must have snuck out of the door between my feet, although I hadn't seen or felt him. Maybe he thought the bones should have been for him. When Matt carried him to me at the back door, Omni was warm, purring, and shedding dog fur. He’d been outside, all night, and 0ur temperature had gone down to 0C. That’s 32F. It’s a good thing he has a good coat! For a Devon, that is. Not to mention doggy friends named Bailey and Sambuca.
Omni is an f3 curly Devon Rex kitten born in February to Nudirexshun’s Purdy of PrairieDawn , straight-coated hybrid, and Capilano’s Stirling of PrairieDawn . He was named for a rose and also for the arena where the Atlanta Flames played hockey before the team moved to Calgary. I haven’t decided if he will stay as part of our breeding program or if he may go to a pet home, although the boys have loudly and repeatedly expressed their opinion.
Here is Omni with the pet detectives, Matt and Evan.
…Pam - Go Flames Go!
