Goodbye Sassy?

It would appear that we have lost one of our number. Sassy has been missing since Monday. We have checked with Animal Control and the Humane Society and they do not have her.

I started feeding some cats who lived outside of our apartment a few years ago. I eventually made friends with Buddy, and he became quite friendly. Sassy took weeks to get her to the point where she would let me pet her. Eventually she would let me hold her, but she was always very skittish. She had one litter with 2 kittens, who found homes on their own and before we could get her fixed, she had another litter. This time there were four. All four had tails (her previous litter only one had a tail--Sassy has a little stub, as we think she is a Manx). Anyway, one of the kittens only lived a day, but the other three survived, and I moved mother and babies into the laundry room of our tiny apartment.

The babies grew and we couldn't keep them all, so I posted a note at the local pet store. Tragedy struck, as one day when I left the house, Scott called me back, saying that one of the cats was seriously injured and I should come back. I got back to discover a dying kitten. It seems the kittens had been hiding in the engine compartment of my car. The injured one died not long after I got back home. One of the kittens was missing and we couldn't find "Princess". We still had one baby, but were very worried that one was missing. Princess was gone for about 4 days or so, but made her way home, but wasn't walking on one leg, so Scott took her to the vet to find two things. One, the leg was broken, but if we kept the cat from jumping too much for 6 weeks it should heal just fine (which it did). Two, Princess was a boy. I was going to keep the name Princess, because the vet's office staff kept trying to make me rename him, but we did change the name to Kilobit.

We found a home for the remaining kitten, and kept Sassy and Princess Kilobit and they moved with us to the house.

Sassy is a very loving cat, for being a stray from a very young age. She loved to cuddle and be close, but didn't trust anyone too much beyond Scott and I (although she did warm up to Kate quickly). I hope that she has just wondered off for a few days, but will make it home again soon. I am worried that she is sick and may have left for good, but time will tell.

Anyway, this is a post for Sassy, hopefully she will be home for Christmas.

UPDATES:

12/21/08--I found Sassy!!! She was outside in the backyard yesterday! She won't come in the house, but she is alive and appears to be well!!!

12/26/08- I found Sassy outside, chased her down and got her inside the house. I can tell she is sick, her coat is dirty and not shiny like it normally is and the way she is acting just indicates she isn't well, but she is in the house! I will call the vet first thing tomorrow and see if I can't get her in. I am so glad she is home again!!

12/30/08- Sassy is doing much better! I finally let her go outside yesterday, but she came back in for the night. She was running around the backyard yesterday, so I think that she is feeling much better.