I truly hope you get some kind of closure on Catgate soon.
Hopefully “Phoebe” just wasn’t playing ball with the camera that day and was hiding a sneaky little notched ear. :o)

I’m just going to throw this out there, because that’s what i have to do when there are disappearing cat stories. When i was little i had a cat and loved the cat more than anything. we had moved houses and the cat was around for years, then one day he disappeared. and i felt really awful. then 9 months later the cat showed back up! he was skinny and a little skittish. but he came back the house and knew where to get the food and he ended up staying with us for another 7 years. so you just never know. maybe it was time for a vacation and cat will be back.

Haha… you feel me.

Your kids are so freakin’ super badass, it’s almost impossible. Maybe they’re super heros. (Holy crap. That would be the coolest thing EVER.)

I had a similar experience to Anne, except my cat had been gone for a couple years. She showed up, stated for a week, and I never saw her again. Outside cats are weird.

That said, I hope your cat is ok.

Phoebe is a good name for a cat only if it’s yellow colored and plays guitar while singing weird songs. The Captain repeats EVERYTHING he hears on t.v. which is why I cringe every time I see a commercial for Cialis or Viagra. God help me if he comes home with a note from his teacher wanting to know why an 8 year old wants to improve his sex performance. Oy.

Just thought I’d share that I also had a cat that ran away for an extended period of time. Turns out she was living in a neighbor’s overgrown backyard. He had a bunch of his own semi-feral cats that he just left food out for, and my cat was over there livin’ it up. I spied her one day in the alley behind our house and almost crapped a brick! I thought for sure she was a goner!

I had to go back later than night and tempt her out of a tree with wet cat food.

I think I’m watching too many Queen Latifah movies, because the other day I asked my three-year old if she wanted milk and she said “Fo shizzle”

OMG I am WEAK with hope: hope that Phoebe is Cat, hope that your book will soon be in my hot little hands.

LOVE the Wire. At least Riley isn’t picking up the F-bomb.

Fingers and toes crossed Phoebe is indeed, Cat. Perhaps you should bring a ham to weigh against this Phoebe, so you can be absolutely sure. GOOD LUCK!

The story of Cat doesn’t end here.

We call second helpings a re-up. Admittedly, I took me half way into the first season to master the lingo.

Not sure how it is where you live…but here we have 2 shelters..the SPCA/Humane Society, and the City Pound. when our dog was missing we had to check both places.

good luck! *hugs*

Fingers and paws still crossed over here ::anxious::

Meanwhile, I read the last paragraph to my fiance.

Me: ::reads last paragraph::
MB: ::pause:: Wankster

I dunno what that was all about, but I felt compelled to share :)

I really, really hope that is Cat. She has that surprised look on her face that Cat has. And the age is in the ballpark… I will be hoping really hard tonight.

Also, I am not a publisher or anyone who can get you anywhere, but I am a really good copyeditor, so if you need someone to copyedit/proofread, I’m your woman.

Maybe the kitty in the picture had her ear fuzz rearranged or mussed up and it was covering up the notched ear and it truly IS Cat. Finger, toes, eyes, legs….all crossed that it is.

Did Cat have a collar? Because my college roommate had a cat who disappeared for a YEAR. Then she got a phone call from some dude who’d been feeding her all that time. Apparently the cat was really skittish & it took a year of him putting food out for her before she finally let him get close enough to read the contact info on her tag.

That probably doesn’t help because it doesn’t give you closure on the subject, oh, NOW. But you know, she could be happy out there, wherever she is. Maybe she’s just enjoying a little summer vacay & will show up when it starts to get cold & rainy again.

Congratulations on the almost agent!!

I remember and love those poems, and in the past few seconds I have already created a mental list of who I want to buy that book for.

My indoor cat went missing for 16 long ass days a few years ago. He came back and hasn’t tried to get out ever again. I think he knows how good it is here for him.

I am really hoping that Phoebe is Cat.
My cat had an attack of Vertigo (really!) and ended up in the Amimal Shelter with a week in the animal hospital with the name of Pumpkin.
I took a chance and went to the Shelter after a month (I thought he was dead) and they were STUNNED that they had my cat.
But it took me a few minutes before I was totally convinced that he WAS my cat.
He still walks a little crooked and I get nervous in this really hot weather because that’s when the Vertigo hits him.

Sorry about Cat, but lord, that link to the Cat vs. Dog smarts show – that was the first Sundry piece I ever read and it still makes me laugh like a jackass. You, my dear, definitely deserve a book contract.

Yay for possible book dealio!!!

And that freaked out kitty certainly looks like Cat! Here’s hoping for you.

I hope it’s Cat and I hope you know it’s Cat. My tri-color collie disappeared while I was in high school. My mom called me a few months after he left and said she found him, but couldn’t get him in the car. I grabbed my keys, got in the car and raced across town to meet her. There she was, on a rural road, trying to coax someone else’s dog into her car. Granted, the dog looked a lot like mine, but come on! she didn’t even know the family dog???

Congrats on the agent, Linda! You deserve all the success in the world!

Keep us posted about Cat, ‘kay?

I’ve got no help to offer but I am very excited about your potential parenting poetry book. I’ve been hoping you’d make a book of it since you posted some on clubmom ages ago. If it helps, I’d buy your poetry books for soon to be moms…. Good luck!

I’ve been watching for updates on Cat, everything is crossed for you today!

One step closer to a book on the shelves!! I can not wait!!!!

Please come home Cat! We all miss you!

Congrats on the agent! Yahoo!!

Oh man, I hope it IS Cat. Really really hope.

When we watched The Wire, the phrase that made its way into our vocabulary was “That’s how we do” or “That’s how I do.” The other one was…well, depending on how far into the show you are, I might just let you discover it for yourself…it’s the word Clay Davis elongates to a ridiculous degree (Prop Joe does sometimes, too).

Those are funny funny poems. Gold. Reading them, I wonder if a bit of context could be added if you include just a few of your favourite entries into the gift book? I think the poems on their own are also awesome, but adding a few entries as well could make the package a bit more personal, engaging, and well, hilarious.

Just a suggestion. I have never commented before, but stumbled across your blog through a friend’s. Nice work, it’s great!!

Have you secretly discussed the old goldfish switcheroo (Pheobe becomes Ccat). Not sure your little ones would buy it and I am in no way suggesting you stop looking for Cat, I’m just saying . . .
It would also lead to the inevitable soap opera like scene of the long lost “twin sisters seperated at birth” face off. *cue dramatic music*
My fingers are crossed for you and .

I used to have a dog, for years and years, and when she was about 14, she wandered out of my Mom’s front door when people were bringing stuff in from the car. My Mom was frantic but later got a call from a woman who said she’d picked up the dog walking along the road and she would bring her by in a few hours. Apparently this nice woman let my dog out to pee in her unfenced and woody back yard, and Dog wandered off again. No luck finding her and the woman felt awful. Dog had been kind of sick so maybe she went off to die. But it was hard, having to imagine, you know. I feel you about Cat. I’m sorry.

We burned through the first four seasons of The Wire on DVD while I was on maternity leave, then suffered the unreal torture of watching S5 in REAL TIME. Lucky you, to not have to wait a week between eps!

We have a set of three magnets:
SHEEEEE
EEEEEEEE
EEEEEIT

And that’s only one of the multitude of Wire language that has become part of our everyday speech around this house. Dog forbid the almost-two-year-old ever get ahold of some of the stuff we say …

My cat, Doodle, once disappeared after a mid-night scuffle with a large unidentified animal (raccoon? bobcat?) and all I was left with were massive clumps of Doodle hair.

A few weeks later I moved into an apartment that did not allow pets, assuming that Doodle was dead and gone. I gave away his brother Pookie (who I ADORED!) to a very nice family in the country who still send me snapshots of him.

A MONTH after Doodle had gone missing, and Pookie had been living with a new family and I was living pet-free- he showed up on my parents’ doorstep EMACIATED, scarred, starving, and very much ALIVE.

He is now a fat, happy, city cat.

So, there’s always hope. :o)

The not knowing what happened has got to be the worst part of a missing pet. Come home Cat, come home!

I’m so sorry about Cat. Sending good vibes for her return.

We LOVE The Wire and are watching it for the second time right now. We don’t quote too much, but do use, “good po-lice”, “sheeeeeeeeee -it” and “Hamsterdam”.

I understand. We have coyotes in my neighborhood (I’ve held off commenting b/c I didn’t want to mention this for fear of making a bad situation even worse, but I’m not sure I can relay the story without saying it…however, I don’t live ANYWHERE near you, so I’m positive this isn’t an outcome you need to worry about) and our cat disappeared 2 years ago. I’m almost positive that’s what happened to her, and I’ll never forgive myself for not being better about getting her in a night. I always wonder if it’s better not having proof or if I would be more at peace knowing for sure. I think the former. I see lost cat signs everywhere in our neighborhood and always wonder if it would be nicer of me to call and let the owners know what probably happened, but so far I’ve opted no to. Ok, this turned out way more depressing that I intended. Just wanted to say I understand how you feel.

Dunno if this will interest you, but Good Housekeeping is running a short story (3500 words or less) contest right now. The theme is the lives of women today, and the winner will recieve $3000 and possible publication in their magazine. The deadline is Sept. 15, but I know there are previous posts you’ve done that would totally fit the bill. http://www.goodhousekeeping.com/shortstory

I’m late to the party but had an addition to offer. In May this same thing happened with HoneyCat and I. I’ve linked directly to the post explaining how it resolved which links to the post talking about her disappearance. Lots of trips to the shelters, calls to Streets and Sanitation, 5am walks around the neighborhood and several false alarms later, it turned out she was cat-napped by someone who thought she needed a home and didn’t see my signs until almost two weeks later. I’m sorry you’re going through it but I’m hopeful too.

Да, такой блог по-любому надо раскручивать как только можно – что б как можно больше жителей инета о нем узнали! :)

Беда, что вода, — нечаянно на двор придет. :)

 it to some friends ans additionally sharing in delicious. And obviously, thank you on your sweat!