500 Days

Tomorrow marks the 500th day without Joey.

I still have Fiona from the first litter that was left at our doorstep in 2006, I still have Bastet from the litter of 2005 ( mother killed on the road) and I still have four of the five of the litter that was left last year by some evil person in my backyard. Together with the "guests" coming for dinner, we usually have around 12 cats passing through the house daily. But Joey was something special.

I found him in my front garden when he was 2-3 months old in 2007. He was very shy and I couldn't get to him. Then he got an eye infection. I could have saved his eye with ointment, but he didn't let us catch him. So Joey went blind with one eye. He had the cutest cross-eyed look on his face since. We still hadn't found a name for him, but that evening we were watching Friends on TV, the part where Joey tries to sneak in at Monica's Thanksgiving dinner with this mesmerizing look in his eyes :). And they say, "Don't look at him, Monica! He is doing the things with his eyes again". Since then our Joey became Joey!

Then our other cat Thomas (Bastet's brother) got very ill. All of the sudden Joey came inside the house and slept next to Thomas, caring for him, cleaning him, until Thomas died. Always when somebody was sick, Joey was around and we called him our "healer-cat". He was the most gentle, sweet thing and so smart. I would call his name and he would come like dogs come to their boss. Cats never let you call them! But he did. When I was sad, he would cheer me up. Everybody said he was too good to be true, an angel in disguise.

Then in August 2009 somebody left a box with a very skinny young mother cat and her 5 kittens in our backyard and sped off. I tried everywhere to find them a home. I had them vaccinated, spayed and neutered when they were half a year old. But nobody wanted them, so they stayed. Maybe it was too much of a noise for Joey, he loved his space and quietness. On a Sunday morning in September he went for a walk and never returned. He'd never done that before. I live in a rural settlement, not close to highways or other settlements. Nobody saw a dead cat, nobody saw him at all...as if he had disappeared from the earth.

I have a feeling he found a place somewhere else in my village. Maybe somebody else was in desperate need of a little angel to help out. I have searched daily for him, for months and not seen him or met anybody that had seen him, I called shelters, put flyers, placed ads, and nothing came out....

but every night I wish him well, hope he is happy and pray for his return.

Here is to you sweetie. Miss ya!

Linking up to debbiedoos' pet party!