I haven't logged in for a while, but I wanted to share this story:

In October, I found a free weekend to come back home for a couple of days, and I got my boyfriend to drive me. Tickle Baby has taken to yowling whenever she feels lonely, especially at night. My boyfriend was, of course, sleeping downstairs on the couch - he went to comfort her because she sounded so unhappy. She tolerated him, but was not happy he was there. We think his scent or something confused her, because sometime on Saturday morning she left the house and wandered away. Sunday afternoon when we left, we were starting to get worried; she hadn't been back. For days, my parents looked for her and kept me updated, but around Wednesday we gave up. She's a 16 year old cat, after all! I was pretty upset... I know she's old, but that seemed like a pretty unhappy way to end any life.

Then, on Saturday I received a message - she'd been found! My mom had spotted a "FOUND: BLACK CAT" sign, about a mile from the house, and my parents stopped to look at it. They called the listed number, and picked the cat up at a vet's office. She'd made it well over three blocks from the house in that week since she'd been gone, and was still alive and healthy, except for one thing - she's now completely blind. We're not sure exactly what happened, but the vet thinks that she might have a good year or two left in her despite everything. She's back to opening cabinets and jumping into chairs; now she's just added stumbling into walls and tripping over people. You can imagine my delight when I heard the news!