Welcome Ella! (part three)

Paley stayed missing. We didn't see her at all on Saturday.

I visited Ella a lot. I held her and rubbed her, and we played. She really loves chasing ribbons.

It was kind of sad because I would go outside and call Paley, and she wouldn't come. "PAAAAALEY!!!" "WHEEEEERE'S PALEY?" (We used to play this game in my Salt Lake apartment. When I couldn't find Paley, I'd call her. "Paaaaley! Where's Paley?" while I would look for her. Occasionally she would be in plain sight when I'd do it. When I'd call her, though, she would come to me, wherever she had been, and meow meow meow urgently so that I would see her and could give her attention.) "KIIIIIITTTTTTTTY? WHERE'S PALEY?"

Nothing.

Once I saw her run across the backyard, but it wasn't her. It was a mostly-black cat that is skinnier than Paley and that I've caught in our garage, eating Paley's food two or three times. It always runs off.

And sometimes Ella would hear me calling and know that I was nearby, and she would start meowing. Which would sometimes make me think for a minute that I had found Paley, except that it wasn't Pae. I'd go pet her anyway. Ella gets a ton of attention from us.

Paley has her collar and tag, and she's microchipped, so I hoped that she would come back from her adventure soon, or that someone would call or e-mail saying that they had found her. I knew she wasn't thrilled about Ella, but I didn't think she was so upset that she would leave!

Sunday between conference sessions, we were pulling out of J's driveway and he stopped for something, and he called, "Paley?" "Paley!" I thought maybe he had seen the other cat run past. He said he'd heard a meow, but he wasn't sure from where and he hadn't heard it again. The neighbors all have cats, so who knows.

AND THEN! Sunday night we were back at J's house again and I was calling for her: "PAAAALEY! WHEEEEERE'S PALEY?" and I heard meowing. I tried to follow where it was coming from and I thought maybe she was under one of the cars in the front driveway. It was raining, so that would have made sense. But as I leaned down to look under the car, I couldn't see her, and I could tell the meow wasn't coming from there.

It was coming from an irrigation pipe that was blocked with a big brick. Paley was under the driveway. There's no way she could have gotten in there, so she must have gone in one of the irrigation pipes somewhere else and seen the light from that end in the driveway, and kept trying to get out there. Poor kitty! The pipe is about 6" wide, too, so there's no way she could have turned around.

I was so relieved to find her. We brought her stuff into the hallway between the garage and J's house, and she was HUNGRY. Ella ran out to greet her. They sniffed each other for 30 seconds or something, and then hissed. It was for sure progress, though, because Paley would not have sniffed Ella or let Ella sniff her before. So they're still not best friends, but they're warming up to each other. Good.

Next step: Sometime in the next few days we need to get Ella a collar and tag. (I know that for the tag we want a nice silver one like Paley's. But what kind of collar do we want? Ells is white and orange and gray. What color would match her?) It is also time for her booster shots. And then she should be ready to start going outside. She wants to. I've seen her chase a couple flies and they FASCINATE her. She has also tried to run outside a couple times.

Anyway, that's about the end of the cat update. The kitties are getting along a little better. Paley is found. Ella loves loves attention. (She purrs so thoroughly that sometimes when I'm holding her I think my cellphone is vibrating and it's actually not.) I think she's adjusting pretty well. She seems happy.

And we'll all live happily ever after. The End.