Emotional Stability?

"Cats are smarter than dogs. You can't get eight cats to pull a sled through snow."  Jeff Valdez

Cats truly are smarter than dogs.  My cat Annie made me a believer this morning. 

The story goes:  Every morning our routine is that I get out of bed, stumble around finding my clothes and getting ready for work, while my three cats sit patiently outside my bedroom door waiting for me to feed them.  As soon as I open the door the trio trot happily down the hall and wait  by their food bowls,  meowing contstantly, just to be sure I know that they are there.

Well,  this morning, only two cats were waiting for me.  I proceeded with the normal routine and it became obvious that one cat was missing!  I looked in the linen closet because at times she has gotten shut in there.  She is getting old and is a bit senile.   Well I fed the other two and proceeded to look around for Annie (named after Little Orphan Annie, because she was rescued from the bushes at the office where someone had dumped a litter).  I decided to check outside, not sure how she would have gotten out, but I was out of options.  

Well the back door was ajar!  Somehow the lock must not have caught the last time we let the dog out for the evening and the wind must have blown the door open a bit.  Now I was in a panic!  I went out and called for her,  she is so vocal I expected her to "talk to me", but she didn't.  I looked all over the yard,  I got J out of bed to help me look for her.  Then I drove around the neighborhood  looking.

I was in quite an emotional state by this point. I called R and got her out of bed to help me walk the neighborhood.  I stopped in at work to let them know I would be a little late and a co-worker suggested I put a bowl of food outside in the place where I wanted her to return to.  So I called J and told her to do that.  Well, right when I got to R's apartment, J called and said she had noticed the other cat staring intently out the back door;  the food trap had worked!  Annie was munching on food on the deck!

By this time I was an emotional wreck.  I just burst into tears!  I could not bear the thought of poor old Annie being lost.  As it turned out she was having a deck party!   She wasn't distraught at all, she was hanging out under the deck, enjoying the outdoors!   I drove home and just hugged her for a bit, and got my emotions in check, washed my face and headed to work.

I think I may be way to emotional to be a pet owner!  I am happy that she is home.