Why do we always want what we can't have?

Yesterday we noticed that we were missing one of our cats.

I tried to remember the last time I had seen her and I realized that she hadn't been in any of her usual spots that morning. She almost always has to be in the bathroom when I'm in there. She always sits on the nice clean towels (which is kind of annoying since she sheds all over them) while I take a shower. My conclusion was that it must have been Sunday afternoon, I remember playing with her and the husband's cousin's little girl. Sunday we had a few people over and Ginger probably slipped out the door unnoticed. She usually just runs outside and stops realizing that she has no idea why she wanted to be outside, just that she needed to see what was out there. I keep telling her, "Ginger, you don't know anyone but us. You have no front claws and therefore no defense. Think it through buddy!"

She just wanted what she couldn't have.

Perhaps we should have let her outside with supervision so that she could explore and wander with some safety. I somehow can't help but feel that it's our fault that she felt compelled to run away. Shouldn't we have heard her cries that evening? Shouldn't we have had some sort of sixth sense knowing that she wasn't in the house?

I've been able to maintain some sort of emotional stability since I'm still holding out hope that one of our neighbors found her and is just keeping her until her owners come looking for her. Yesterday we set out a can of tuna and one of our other cats, Milo, spent the afternoon in his carrier outside. We were hoping that some familiar smells would lead her home. Unfortunately the tuna was covered in flies and Milo ended up just taking a nap. No sign of Ginger.

I made up some flyer's today and had 30 printed. The husband is going to walk around the neighborhood handing them out and hopefully will find a lead. It rained heavily last night and I was hoping that I would find her curled up on our porch this morning. No luck.

Well, here's to hoping that a feisty house cat can make it on her own out in the real world. I can't say I blame her...I too think the grass is always greener on the other side of the fence. This experience so far has taught me to appreciate what I have, and to know that change isn't always for the better.

I hope you come home soon Ginger!

UPDATE: Ginger was found at 10am this morning and brought into the Humane Society!!! We are so happy that she is alive and seems to be well. The husband says that she looks pretty worked over (perhaps a small scrape with a gang of alley cats?) and she was so tired she could barely hold her head up. Poor thing. First order of business is to make sure she is healthy with a vet check-up, then to get a collar!!! Hopefully she's had her fill of the "real world" and won't try to do this again...somehow I doubt that! We are so happy that she is home.

UPDATED UPDATE: After posting bail of $30 to the Humane Society, Ginger was then taken to a vet hospital where she was treated with a shot of antibiotics. It seems as though a car may have ran over her and she may have been drug for a few feet. Fortunately she has no broken bones and the only real damage is to her teeny tiny paws. The vet assured us that those would heal and her back claws would grow back. Luckily we are good Bob Barker followers and she is spayed (whew, no kittens in our future!) Right now she is just exhausted and recouperating in solitary confinement (for her own protection from our other two cats) in our upstairs bathroom. She is expected to make a full recovery after she gets a bath! Let's hope her "catting" around was enough for her. We did buy her a collar and an ID tag!