It is my boys birthday!

My boys turned one-year-old today!

Paquito, Nico and Sonny

I sang Happy Birthday to them this morning and aside from their regular cat food I gave each a good portion of shredded chicken.  I only wish Rudy had been here to celebrate with them :-(

The orange and white cat on the right is not their brother he just showed up one day and never left. While at first, they gave him a hard time they now embrace Sonny as their half-brother.

Paquito went MIA

Yesterday morning when I could not find Paquito anywhere, I went through a roller coaster of emotions.  All four cats...now only three (sigh)...sleep in the property, they have their own room in the outside shed/bathroom/storage room and Paquito always sleeps there as he has taken over the cat bed I bought them for Christmas.  No one else can sleep there, it is HIS bed.

The funny thing was that he had not slept there in two nights but since the weather is getting warmer I figure he was sleeping in the outside cuchas (basically a box with a small towel or an old garment) I made for them so they can nap during the day.

Paquito napping in his cucha
the water bottle is to keep it from blowing away

I looked for him everywhere and I felt mad and uneasy that he had disappeared as strangely as Rudy Gay.  Was someone catching stray cats and then dumping them elsewhere?  Paquito is not one to miss a single meal, he eats more than all of them combined.

Nico waking up from his siesta

I made a post on my main blog so I can keep up with dates and appointments as my memory leaves a lot to be desired and my blogs serve a double function as Cyber Journals... http://terlinguadreams.blogspot.com/2019/03/vet-cats-shopping-without-buying.html

The previous day when I was cleaning the cat carrier Paquito came around and actually played inside of it. Since he was going to be neutered I opted to take off his torn and tattered Dollar Tree collar as the vet would probably remove it for surgery anyway.

This morning I was regretting that decision because even with his dingy collar if someone found him they would know he was someone's pet and not another stray of which we have many in this area.

Took Nico instead since appointments are hard to come by.  Fast forward to our return and there was still no sign of Paquito.  It was beginning to feel eerie similar to when my three stray dogs started to disappear one by one with no explanation.

Once more I went looking for Paquito calling out his name but there was no response. The only one that came running was Blanca (Momma cat) from the distance she fooled for a minute as she is the same color as he is.

I made my final rounds outside at 7:00 p.m. and lord and behold...there was Paquito!  I was so happy to see him.  He was filthy and not very hungry, something strange for him. Of course, then I was so mad at him for not having come home that I gave him a good scolding. He didn't really seem to care :)

By 8:00 p.m. he was in bed soundly asleep.  I think he must have gone partying just like his human mother did in her day :)

Rudy Update

On Thursday, February 28th I decided to go to the City of Del Rio Animal Control Center on the off chance that someone had either brought him in or dumped him within the City Limits. 

I showed the lady a picture of him and told him he was now sporting a metallic red collar. She commented that I was the second person that day to be looking for a black cat.  Usually, you have to wait until visitor hours to be allowed to see the animals but she took me to see him right away and I felt hopeful.

He was in an individual cage frightened and cowardly hiding behind his food bowl. I could barely make him out then I saw one of his eyes and it was round and a different sort of green than Rudy's.

Had it been him he would have come rushing to me. I remarked that he did not have a collar on.  I so wanted it to be him she told me that if I did not find him I could adopt this one. 

They must have new policies in place because I was even able to fill out a report in case a cat matching his description was picked up they would call me so I could come to identify him. This was not the case when Pedrito my stray dog never came back home two years ago and I went looking for him there.

I had no idea there were so many stray black cats in the neighborhood.  Probably due to the fact that his father has procreated many of them.  I have come to a screeching halt thinking it was Rudy only to see the cats take off.  My Rudy would have stayed around.